Little Lion Man [A Short Story]

Little Lion Man Part 2 of 2

[This is the last installment of Little Lion Man]

-Present-

Dilan stood on the porch of the cottage. His left hand held a suitcase and his right hand held mine. 

As the black car drove up and figured out how to park the only thing I could think of was "What a shitty pa am I?" He trusted me. She trusted me. And what'd I do? I fucked up everyones lives. 

I killed the love of my life, but you won't find me sayin' this out loud. 

I betrayed my son's trust. That alone is the worst thing I could have done. 

I squeezed my Dilan's hand and looked up at him. He was crying.

::Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart::

He was holding his bottom lip between his teeth. He was trying not to sob.

::weep little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start rate yourself and rake yourself,::

His hand was trembling in mine.

::take all the courage you have left wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head::

I squeezed it reassuringly as a tight young woman approached us and took his bag out of his hand. "Follow." She commanded.

She had a bitter tone.

Dilan followed her hesitantly and climbed into the backseat.

He turned and pressed his hand to the window to look at me. He was crying now. 

He was 15 that day, but all I could see was a 5 year old boy with so much of his mother in him. The same eyes. The same hair. The same smile. The same tears.