Grayscale | Miniminter AU

21

"Hey, I'm going to see JJ. I'll be home in a few hours." Megan closed the door behind her again before walking out the flat.

"Do you want some privacy whilst you're talking to your mom?" Simon looked over to me as I sat with my head in my hands.
"Yes please, don't worry if you hear shouting we haven't had the best mother daughter relationship."
"Seems like we never really had the best families, you and your mom, me and my dad." He'd never actually mentioned what had happened with his dad, he always managed to change the topic.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your dad? It's just, whenever it comes up in conversation you talk about something. I don't pressure you to talk about it because I know it can be hard talking about it."
"He left the day before my 7th birthday. He'd said he was going to get me one of my presents from the toy shop around the corner from my house but he didn't return. He'd left a box on the front garden though: with a bike and the skateboard I really wanted." Every time we spoke about families and our past life he always messes with the ring on his finger
"And that ring." His head snapped up, the tears in his eyes now visible.
"I'll explain the ring later, call your mom first please." He wiped his eyes before walking out of the room.

Picking up the phone, I scrolled down to my moms number. After a minute of hesitation, I finally called her number.

1 ring
Nothing.
2 rings
Nothing.
...
6 rings.
Voicemail.

I called again hoping that it what just missed because she didn't hear. 6 rings later and it went back to voicemail.

Calling James

I decided to call my brother, after all, he was always moms favourite.
"Hello? Kayleigh, what's up?"
"Hi James, do you know why mom isn't answering her phone? She hasn't been paying the fees for my course at uni and I'm being kicked off if I don't pay for the last 3 months by the 24th."
"Kayleigh. Mom died 3 months ago." My heart dropped.
"What do you mean? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I called you, Megan said you were out and that she'd pass the message on. Has she not told you?" That bitch.
"Of course she hasn't fucking told me."
"Ok, Kayleigh listen, Megan loves you so much, you're her best friend and I'm sure she'd probably forgot about it or something."
"Thank you James, I'm sorry about mom."
"Come home soon, I miss you."
"I will. Definitely." Now to go question a bitch.

I walked out of my bedroom and hugged Simon and without questioning me he hugged back.
"She's gone. She died 3 months ago." He kissed my forehead as he guided us over to the sofa.
"Why didn't your brother tell you?"
"He called me but I was out so he told Megan but she hadn't told me." I rested my head on his shoulder and messed with the ring on his finger.
"It gets passed down. The ring. It goes to the third child born or the first if only one child is born. My dad left it in the box with the bike and skateboard."
"That's cool. I think it's nice that you have something directly from your dad." I sat up more when I remembered what had happened a few minutes ago. "Can I stay at yours for a while? I don't want to have to see Megan every day knowing that she kept my moms death a secret."

10/07/19