Aftermath [manxman]

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

I sat at the top of the stairs, watching my living room through the metal railing because I knew I could hide in the shadows of my dimly lit house. My Dad was sprawled out on the couch while Caleb was sitting in his lap, holding his hand and they were just being an awfully cute couple. In the past I would have gotten mad at my dad for displaying affection towards his boyfriend because I took it as an offense against my mother but I had come to terms with it. My parents were happier without each other. 

My dad had taken Nolan's death rather easily which had surprised me since they had been fairly close. Instead of breaking down like Iolas and Mateo, he had accepted it and seemingly moved on the next moment. I couldn't tell if it bothered him since he had remained mostly quiet during dinner and had fetched Caleb afterwards. Now they were busy being affectionate and it made me wonder if he had told him what had happened. Surely, the nymph deserved to know if his best friend died. 

Something moved in the corner of my eye and adrenaline rushed through my veins in order to be able to defend myself but it was just my mother coming out of one of the guest bedrooms. Theron had gotten cranky during dinner as children tend to get when tired and she had stuck him into bed in of my guest room. He had warmed up a little to me but he still didn't want to be alone in a room with me and had remained completely silent the entire time. I thought that was a bit weird for his age but I wasn't going to bring it up.

Instead of going downstairs to pester my dad and make his life harder than it had to be like she used to, my mom sat down beside me, resting her head against the metal frame with a heavy sigh. I raised an eyebrow at that but she shrugged and turned her head to watch my dad and Caleb. She didn't get angry like she used to, she just squinted her eyes at their public display of affection before she turned her attention to me. I hoped the lighting was bad enough that she wouldn't be able to assess the extent of my injuries.

"My poor son." My mom murmured, inspecting my face.

"It's not as bad as it looks." I lied to her. "Most of the scars aren't even visible anymore."

I didn't want her to worry about me and I didn't want her to have a closer look at my face and see what I had turned into. I was already ashamed enough and I had tried my best during dinner to hide the scars but I was pretty sure she could tell that I was limping. I couldn't hide the fact that I was injured from my mother but I could hide the extent and stop her from worrying too much about it. She already had too much on her mind since my siblings managed to create problems out of thin air, she didn't need me to make it worse.

"Just because most of the scars are on the inside, doesn't mean they are not there, honey." My mom said softly, brushing my bangs out of my face. "You don't have to go through this on your own."

The tiniest bit of parental affection from my mother threatened to break down the wall of self composure I had desperately tried to keep so far. Pity was shimmering inside her eyes and it broke my heart. I wanted my mother to be happy and healthy like the rest of my family, I didn't want to weigh her down with my problems. I had to take a deep breath to get rid of the lump in my throat and I brought my hand up to rub my face, making sure my hand was hidden inside the sleeve.

"Thanks." I barely managed.

"It's not going to be the most exciting life for you but you can come live with us for a while." She offered, making me sniffle. "Theron rarely gets to see his brothers and you don't have to work through what happened on your own. I don't want you to feel like we don't care about you."

Tears were threatening to overwhelm me and I quickly blinked them away before she could notice them. I had missed my mom so much and after everything that happened, I was glad to see her again. I just wanted to put adult responsibilities on pause for a moment and have my mom jump in. She had always been so strong, she raised us in a sphere with danger lurking around every corner and I wanted to go back to that time in my life when she protected me.