Angel Academy

Chapter Thirteen

Niamh’s POV

My mother sat in front of me, a worried look on her face. She had Heath in her lap, and he was drooling as he looked between the two of us. We had been here for two hours, and it was still extremely awkward because of what happened the last time we had been here. Jeremy sat beside me, his arm around my waist. I was uncomfortable with him being here, but I wasn’t able to leave him in Oregon; he had insisted on helping me through my time of grieving.

“Are you ready for the funeral tomorrow? I have to warn you, it will only be Corbin, you, and Heath.”

I jerked away from Jeremy. “What? Mom, what did you do?” I glared at her, and she held up her hands in defense.

“I promise it was not my doing. It was what Jeff wanted. It’s in his funeral preparations.” She showed me the paper and I sighed angrily.

“Jeff,” I muttered. He’s such an asshole sometimes. “When’s the funeral?”

“Tomorrow.”

“When do we have to be there,” Jeremy asked. My mother and I turned to him; the only difference was that my mother was glaring at him. “What?”

I bit my lip and took a deep breath. “Jeremy, you can’t come.”

“Why the hell not?”

I raised my eyebrow at his suddenly angry tone of voice. “First of all, watch your language in front of my son. Second of all, you’re not family, not yet anyway. You didn’t even know him.”

Jeremy stood up, scowling. “I’m not letting you go alone with that man. He kidnapped your fucking son.”

I stood up. “I thought I told you to watch your fucking mouth, Jeremy. I’m fucking sick and tired of you always cussing in front of my god damn son. If you don’t stop, you won’t be around him anymore.”

“I’m going to go in the other room,” my mom muttered as she moved into the next room before Heath could start crying.

Jeremy bent down and his nose touched mine. “I’m not leaving you with that man, all alone.”

“What do you think we’re going to do? Have sex? We already fucking did, and guess what happened? Heath happened. We’re never going to have sex again.”

Jeremy glared at me, his voice raising. “You are not going to the funeral without me.”

“Yes, I am.”

“The hell you are!” He grabbed me by the bicep and forced me to sit on the couch. I shoved him, but he barely budged. He grabbed my other bicep as well and forced me to look at him.

“Get off her.” Jeremy looked to right. We could see my mother standing there with a meat cleaver.

“Mom, just go back in the other room.” I jerked out of Jeremy’s hands. “Get out of my mother’s house!”

Jeremy suddenly didn’t look so mad anymore. “Niamh, I’m sorry. Please, don’t kick me out. Not again. I love you too much.”

“Jeremy! You’re dangerous! Get the fuck out of here!”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes at me, glaring at me. “This isn’t over Niamh,” he warned me as he turned and left the house. After he left, I turned around. My mother stood in the doorway of the kitchen. She opened her mouth to say something, but I held my hand up to silence her.

“Don’t say anything unless it’s the time I have to be there tomorrow.”

“Five o’clock.”

Corbin’s POV

 

I stood in the mirror, adjusting my tie. It was yellow with red and blue squiggly lines; it had been Jeff’s gift to me for my eighth grade graduation. I still remember my mother and the teachers scolding me for wearing such an outrageous tie, but I didn’t care. It was a gift from my uncle, and I was going to wear it. My mother stood scowling in the door. She wasn’t invited to the funeral. No one was; it was to be Niamh, me, and… and my son. My heart beat faster at the thought. Heath, my son. I looked into the mirror and could see myself grinning from ear to ear. My little boy. Niamh’s son…

“What are you grinning at,” my mother snapped.

I stopped smiling. I hadn’t told my mother or Addaline what Ms. Harvey had revealed to me. There would be rounds and rounds of “I told you so’s", and I didn’t want to deal with that. Not only that, but if I told them, they’d expect me to be a part of Heath’s life, and I don’t know if I’d be able to do that. I have Addaline. She’s pregnant. I don’t know how the news of me having a son would do. It couldn’t be a good change.

I sighed. “I was just remembering when Jeff first got Stache. It’s one of my favorite memories.” I smiled a little as I thought about it.

I remember the exact August day. It was sunny, and the wind blew through the trees as we walked. Niamh walked on the other side of Jeff because we had gotten in another argument and Jeff didn’t want to deal with us. I looked over at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me. Jeff didn’t seem to notice, so I made a face. And she made another one, and I gladly followed suit. Pretty soon we weren’t able to hide our laughter and we busted out laughing and giggling. I watched her lean forward, hair falling down into her face, and then lean back. Her hair flew back like she had just gotten out of water, and she looked like an angel as she grinned at me. Jeff ignored us.

We kept walking and sitting there, on the side of the road, was Stache. He was small and bony, with a tiny malnourished body and muddy fur. Niamh instantly rushed to pick him up. Jeff reached out to grab her, but she had dodged him and snatched him up, cuddling the poor nearly-dead dog to her chest. She whispered in his ear to calm his whining, and wrapped him in her jacket to calm his shivers. She turned to Jeff with the biggest grey eyes. He wasn’t strong enough to tell her no…

Stache bumped my leg with his nose, his sad brown eyes looking up at me. He’s partially blind so he can’t really see me, but he seems to know something’s wrong. He knows Jeff hasn’t been home in a while, and he knows that he’s not coming home. I kneel beside him and lay a soft hand on the top of his skull, running it down his back. It’s been a while since I’ve just sat and done this, and it seems to comfort both of us. He whines a little, and I take a deep breath, so I don’t break into tears.

“I’m so sorry, Stache,” I murmur in his ear, even though I know there’s no way for him to hear what I’m saying. “Jeff’s not coming back.” I continue to pet him until my mother comes back in. She takes in our appearance and sniffles. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, but she pretends like she hasn’t been. She doesn’t want to admit that she feels bad for how she’s treated her brother. She doesn’t want to admit that she misses him.

“I’ve tried to get a hold of the others, but no one’s answering.” She shrugged. “Go figure.” My mother was one of seven children, and the only girl. Jeff and her were the youngest, Jeff just slightly her elder, and they never got along with their older siblings. Most had moved out within a year of my mother’s fifth birthday, and only came around long enough to start drama or ask for money. “Jeff had nothing left in his name, so they don’t want anything to do with the funeral. No money so what’s the point right?”

I stepped up to her and took her in my arms. “It’s alright mom. We don’t need them. They’ve never been there for us before so it shouldn’t be a surprise now.”

“You have to go. You’re going to be late. If you’re late to this, Niamh really will kill you.”

Niamh… The thought hit me and a sense of dread and nervousness settled into my stomach. I am going to see my son and his mother. I am going to see my son. My son…