The War Among Us

Chapter 13--Shit(almost) hits the fan

I walked in to see Matha working at the table and Dad watching sports like usual. I marched right to Martha and growled, "Ally needs to get out of that hospital right now."

She looked up and pulled off her glasses, "Oliver, manners, please. No...growling? Anyways she can't leave. She's not ready and we can't take care of her."

I slammed the table, "No! I will take care of her, but she needs to get out. Can't you tell them to let her go? You're her mother! She needs you now." I silently begged her to just be a good mom this one time.

She shook her head and put on her glasses. "Oliver, I can't. I'm sorry, but--"

I cut her off with tears in my eyes, "No! You aren't sorry because in your little fucked up world, she doesn't belong there! Don't say you're sorry if you don't mean it."

She actually showed concern, "Tears? Oliver, what's wrong? I'm your mother too and contrary to what you believe, I care for you. You never cry."

I wiped them away and laughed at what she said, "Yeah, but a lot of shit's gone down Martha. I know I'm not your kid okay? But Ally is and she needs you so why won't you help her? If you care so much then why do you let her get abused?"

She was shocked. After a moment her eyes hid any emotion, "Oliver, you are my child. I am your mother and stop making up such lies about your sister. She's in the best facility in the state. This is the last I want to hear about any adoption crap too."

She added that last second after a pause, "Martha, they sedate her all the time and she's losing weight. Any light she had in her eyes are gone now. This place isn't good. As for the adoption, you can't deny it. It says I'm adopted on findmyfam.com."

Martha laughed at me and I growled a bit, "Oliver! ANYONE can put that in there. It may be a switch you toggled or someone else may have changed it. It's the Wikipedia of family history. You came out of me so I know you aren't adopted. But really, stop talking about Allison, she's fine.'

I was ready to jump on her, but I probed instead, "Whatever. Are you sure that there's nothing in our family that I should know about? I'm experiencing some stuff that's definitely hereditary and you seem to know nothing about it." After a second, "And it's not diabetes."

She took the glasses off again, "What is it? What are your symptoms?"

I laughed, "It's pretty...unique. According to the doctor, it's a blood condition." I lied, "And he said that if you guys don't tell me about the family's history of this disease, I could be in trouble." Martha didn't look concerned, she looked more determined. I knew she was trying to think of what to say and that put a smirk on my face. "I'm not adopted so, I guess you can tell me about this rare blood disease that our family carries."

Even Dad switched off the TV. He and Martha gave each other an intense stare and suddenly I felt a little taken aback that Dad knew too. We were never close, but we had some respect for each other. Enough to tell each other secrets and trust that they'll be safe. Martha took a deep breath, "I'll send the right documents to your doctor and I'll be in touch with him."

I chuckled, "I need to know about it too Martha. I have it. So tell me, did Grandpa Myron struggle with it? Grandma Maurice? You, my mother?"

He lips pressed into a straight line. I knew I had them defeated. They had to tell me now. Dad came and sat at the table. He whispered to Martha so I tuned in with my super hearing. He said to her, "Tell the boy." She sat and stared at me. I raised an eyebrow. We were having a stare off and we both knew who was going to win.

"Fine." She said curtly. "I will tell you everything, but don't get mad at me. I raised you for 16 years and I really do consider you to be my child. Before I tell you, do you believe in the supernatural?"