For those of you who wonder why all of my characters have surnames named after wood, my answer:
No two trees are the same, and every root takes a different path.
- Sian
Morlen saw himself in the reflection of the window, catching his eyebrows as they raised high into his forehead. He spun around and his brows plunged into his eyes with alarm. "Excuse me?" he said loudly.
Miss Pecan connected their gaze. The vulnerability was well hidden on her face, but it leaked from her voice like she was ready to explode with emotion. "I'm your mother," she said again, this time with less confidence.
Morlen, for the second time, caught himself listening to the sound of the clock ticking to itself on the wall. He stared until the art teacher looked mildly concerned.
"Are you and your little blind friend working together to confuse me until I'll believe anything you say?" Morlen asked.
"I'm not lying. You are my son."
Morlen's eyes traced the old woman standing before him. If he were to pass her on the street, he would never think she was the Grim Reaper or his mother. They looked nothing alike. Her eyes were bright green, his were a dull hazel, her face was round and plump, Morlen had a jaw that could cut through wood. Her hair was streaky blonde, Morlen's was the colour of a standard brown in a paint set. Though, Morlen had never met his birth mother, so why would he know what she looked like?
"Is this another one of your cruel games? You know, like when you made Connor lie about not knowing who sent the flowers to our home?" Morlen's fists were clenching.
"Do you think I would lie about something so personal?" Miss Pecan raised a brow when Morlen scoffed. "Right, I'm Death, of course."
"Get out of my house," Morlen growled. She was hitting a nerve when all he wanted to do was get stupidly drunk, so he would stop feeling so heartbroken. "You are not my mother."
"Just like you're not Connor's medium? You can deny it all you want, but the facts won't change."
Connor entered the room when blood raced around Morlen's body. Morlen was angry, and sad, and tired. His actions overtook his rational thoughts and he stormed up to Connor, grabbed the mugs from his hands and threw them across the room. The mugs smashed and the tea splashed all over the walls.
Connor almost tripped when hands pushed his chest and he backed out of the room. "I just saw my wife's body lying on a slab, and now you're throwing all of this stuff in the air like I haven't just lived my worst nightmare?" Morlen yelled and shoved Connor out of the front door.
Connor fell on the step and scuffed his knee on the drive. Morlen was too furious to care and turned back to the living room. Nikki Pecan was gone. When he turned back towards Connor, Pecan was suddenly standing beside the medium, helping him to his feet.
"You're right, we should have given you time, but you shouldn't be alone right now-" Morlen slammed the door shut, silencing the Reaper of souls.
* * * * *
Two hours past and Koda shook Alfie awake to make sure he was okay. Alfie grumbled a response and lifted his head from Koda's shoulder.
"You okay?" Koda asked. He had spent the past few hours staring around Alfie's room and thinking about what happened at the college. Time went by surprisingly fast when he had a lot to think about.
Alfie nodded, though he didn't plop his head back onto Koda. He watched for longer. "Are you?" he mumbled. Koda nodded, and Alfie didn't move. "Well, this room is full of your sadness, but sure, you're okay."
Koda sighed with a faint smile. "Of course I'm sad, but I've been worse."
Alfie stopped himself from pressing on the subject. "Did your dad bring your stuff?" he asked before yawning and sitting up.
"No, actually. I've texted him but he hasn't replied. Molly came in about half an hour ago. She said my dad hadn't come back."
"Are you worried about him?"
Koda nodded. "He shouldn't be alone."
They studied each other for a while, both knowing what they should say but not wanting to say it out loud.
"You should be with him tonight," Alfie said quietly. "We should be with our parents."
Koda agreed. As much as he wanted to be with his boyfriend after so much stress, his father had been through worse. "Who's gonna wake you up through the night?"
"I'll sleep in mum's room." Alfie carefully got off the bed and waited for Koda to get up too. They hugged tightly, and for a generous amount of time. Alfie felt Koda's heartbeat, slow and calm.
"I'll see you tomorrow, nice and early," Koda said with a hint of humour.
"I'm not getting out of bed till after eleven AM."
"We'll see," Koda chuckled and leaned down to kiss Alfie's forehead. His arms squeezed around him. "I really wish I could stay, but I think my dad needs me more."
"He does tonight. I can wait till the morning." Alfie tilted his head up further and Koda kissed him on the lips. The sparks were always strong and warm, exciting and comforting. Receiving a kiss from Alfie's long-term crush was a dream come true, one that Alfie had dreamt about multiple times. He had an easier time believing in dragons than the fact that Koda Oaks was his boyfriend.
After comforting one another enough until they could accept that they were leaving each other for the night, the boys went downstairs to find Tom and Molly talking and eating in the kitchen. Alfie relaxed at such a normal sight. He expected to see his parents at each other's throats like animals.
"Dad, can you give Koda a lift home, please?"
"Sure!" Tom jumped at the opportunity, feeling like he owed Koda a lifetime of favours for lying about his mother.
Molly frowned to herself and didn't question why Koda was leaving, but she stopped Alfie from going with them and took him straight back to bed.
Koda felt a little awkward when he got in the car with Tom. He thought Alfie's dad didn't like him, but his reasons for his odd behaviour made their situation even more awkward. Being an eighteen-year-old, Koda wasn't prepared for situations that required high levels of uncomfortable silence.
Even after they set off and drove through the dark streets, Tom couldn't bring himself to say anything and instead, he turned on the radio. Koda turned and watched out of the window. He was nervous about Morlen, worried about Alfie's health, feeling a little sick about having to go back to college, and relieved from the harmony in his mother's soul. So many emotions were certainly overwhelming, but now Koda didn't feel quite as heartbroken.
When left to his own thoughts, the journey for Koda went quickly and only five short minutes past until they were pulling up outside Koda's house. Tom turned down the radio when Koda unbuckled his seat belt.
"Hold on a sec," Tom said and Koda turned. "For what it's worth, I just want to say I'm sorry. You had a right to know about your mother and the danger you were in. Also, I'm sorry about what happened to Enya. I can't imagine what you're going through."
Koda looked down and dug his thumb into his palm when he felt the emotions growing stronger. "Thank you. I accept your apology, and I understand why you lied. I would have lied like that to protect my family too. And thanks for the lift."
Tom's lips curled towards a smile, but his eyes remained guilty. When Koda got out, Tom rolled down his window when Koda started walking up the driveway. "Also," Tom said to grab his attention one last time, "I think you're great for my son. I support your relationship with him. Thank you for making him happy." Tom didn't wait for a response and drove off, leaving Koda staring after the car feeling instantly lighter.
When the streetlight nearest the driveway suddenly came on, Koda looked around and shivered. He didn't like the dark, and he didn't trust the shadows after the event from earlier that day. Koda hurried into his house and it was even darker than the outside without the silver beam of the moon overhead.
Koda switched on the lights and listened to any evidence that his father was home. Morlen's car was on the driveway, so Koda assumed he had gone to bed.
After checking every room apart from the living room and his own bedroom, Koda stood by the couches. His eyes slowly traced the living room like he expected his dad to be curled up in the corner with a whisky bottle cradled against his chest.
Koda started to text his dad and wandered down the long corridor and towards his bedroom. The moon shined in from the big windows on the right, and Koda started feeling exhausted both mentally and physically. When he reached the end of the corridor, he paused when light from his bedroom streamed around the cracks from the shut door. Every light in the house was off when he entered. Why would his bedroom light be turned on? Unless someone was occupying his space.
Very carefully, Koda opened his door, stopping it just before it creaked and peered through the crack. His eyebrows raised when he saw his dad curled up on his bed, fully clothed and on top of the duvet. Morlen did have a bottle of alcohol in his grip.
With a sigh, Koda edged around his bedroom as quietly as he could, avoiding the parts of the floor that would creak. He changed into his pyjamas and tiptoed to his dad to take the bottle of rum from his hands. Koda thought about waking his dad to send him off to his own room, but it was clear that neither of them wanted to be alone.
Morlen murmured in his drunken coma when Koda started to peel his dad's fingers away from around the bottle. Morlen had spilt a bit on Koda's floor, but that was a problem for the morning.
When Morlen started to turn around, Koda, in one swift movement, plucked the bottle from him before his dad spilt it all over the bed. Koda put it on the bedside table and climbed into bed next to him.
Koda left the light on in case he had a bad dream and buried himself under the duvet. He tried to pull the duvet from underneath Morlen, so he didn't get cold, but he was too heavy. Koda gave up and relaxed into his pillow, feeling instantly warmer and safe with his dad close by.
Morlen looked relaxed like there was nothing in the world for him to worry about. Koda hoped his dad managed to sleep through the night. Morlen deserved to be at peace, even if it was just for a little while.