Scroll of Starlight

Chapter Twenty Two

            I was bewildered, Dean has never been this way around me. "I don't understand what?"

            He turned to look at me and his brows furrowed. We were trying to not speak loudly as to not alert Mom to our presence. "Branwen. The things my father was involved with were dangerous and I can't have you not tell me these things. If someone got so close to you to actually mess with your things and place something in your pocket, what else could they do?"

            I blinked. "Are you blaming me for this?"

            "Yes, no," He groaned, "I don't know."

            Was this going to be our first argument? "You're really blaming me for something I have no experience with and don't know how to deal with."

            He turned around and just stated, "Well, you should've been more careful-you know what? I just can't." Dean began to walk back to the car.

            "Dean?" He didn't look back and I was beginning to get nervous. "Dean, where are you going?"

            He just got into his car and turned it on, there was no eye contact. I slowly watched from the porch as he drove away. What? What is happening right now? Tears began to slowly emerge from my eyes as I stared at the place where he left. He left?

            I heard the door open from behind me as my concerned Mom's voice said, "Branwen? What's wrong? Where's Dean?"

            I couldn't bear to turn and look away as Mom came in front of me. "Oh no, sweetie. What's wrong?"

            I blinked and the tears finally came down from their resting place. "He left. We had an...argument and he left."

            Mom shifted her head to the side and placed a hand on my face. "It's okay, honey. Come inside, you can tell me about it."

            I let her tug me inside and tore my eyes away from where he left. She picked up my bags and I set myself down on the couch, staring ahead.

            "Branwen, what happened?" Mom sat next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

            Somehow I didn't want to speak about the note or what I felt last night. I didn't want to hide anything from her, but something inside me was telling me to keep it to myself despite the distraught feelings I had. "We had an argument on something and he just," I paused. "Left?"

            "Why did you guys argue?" Mom asked. "Usually it's all banter."

            I shook my head. "I don't know. I just, I think I messed up, Mom." I was beginning to shake with the overwhelming feeling of being alone in this problem, with the note, and with having to deal with my situation.

            She sighed and wrapped her arms around me. "Branwen, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding. You guys will be back to normal soon."

            "I don't know about that, Mom. Dean just up and left, without anything. He's never done that before." I shook my head, the tears still falling.

            She sat silent for a while before speaking. "Branwen, maybe he's also scared."

            "What do you mean?" I wiped my tears away and finally looked at her.

            "Whatever made you guys argue and let it escalate to this point made him scared, so instead of maybe making the situation worse, he left because he didn't know how to deal with it?" Mom whispered. "Dean would never do anything to hurt you on purpose, you know this."