I'm Just Curious Too: Reconciliation

Chapter 10

The doors had been opened for Fabiens' arrival and the sound of laughter from his mother and brother filled the house. The scent was familiar and inexplicable to most when labeled home. Words that could come close were fresh butter biscuits with a hint of orange flowing through the spaces.

.......

My chest slowly tightened with each step I took: the fear of judgement from my family causing the tension. Once I stepped into the hallway, I bumped into someone –  my brother upon observation. He steadied himself by grabbing onto my shoulders, and all it took was the look on his face to solidify that gut knot that I had been walking with since I left Kiel. His eyes searched me from head to toe and his brows furrowed. He clicked his tongue and let me go, taking a step back before pocketing his hands.

"You could have been more presentable. Why do you look like that?"

My eyes lowered to the ground while the grip on my satchel tightened.

"Sorry. I guess I wasn't organized enough so I didn't thi-"

"It won't hide it."

That comment snapped my attention back to his face. It needed no specific mention but he knew I caught on to what he meant. That sunk my heart and shrunk my confidence, the step back begging me to follow through with a sprint out the door but the sudden appearance of my mother next to him stopped me.

"Mama," I whispered, the muscles still squeezing my windpipe.

"Bibi!" she yelled before her arms flung around me.

It was an awkward hug that had to be adjusted. She miscalculated my height and had to lift her arms higher to lock me in properly. The strength of the hold was comforting and eased some of my worries but the look on Jacque's face resurfaced the fear. Would this be my last hug? Would he tell? Did he tell? I predicted this visit would rock my world. I don't think I had the strength to go through with it. My eyes glossed over at the thought and I held on to my mother for dear life. It squeezed a hum out of her as her right hand rubbed the back of my head. To my surprise, Jacque's hand rested on the top of my head.

"Welcome home Bibi," Jacque said with a brief pat before continuing his walk to the kitchen.

I hesitantly withdrew from my mother to look back at Jacque briefly before turning my attention back to her.

"It's been so long since I've seen you I'm so sorry Fabien," mama managed to say through tears.

I dropped my bag and wrapped my arms around her once more.

"Don't apologize, please. It's my fault. I never visited when I should have."

"I love you so much."

What could I say? My head began to ache with all the questions that popped up. I stood silently in my mothers' arms as her tears ended and she began to laugh and chat away. Nothing made sense to me and I guess I stood still for too long because she broke my focus by patting my shoulders rather hard. I let go of her and looked at her with my eyebrows lifted.

"You must be tired after traveling a long way. Your old room is still yours so please go use it. Go wash up and rest a bit. We will relax together in the evening," she instructed with a tip-toed kiss on my cheek.

"Y-yeah. I'll do that. I'll come down to get water too."

"And food!" she added with a pat to my arm.

I feigned a smile and nodded, picking up my bag and walking down the hallway until I reached the stairs to climb. I vaguely remembered this house. It was the second house my father bought after the nightmare we experienced in the old one. Unfortunately, after my incident, I had been sent to live with Mandy and her family. It was for my protection but I felt isolated from everyone. A lot of negativity seems to be clouding my mind and the opening of the barely familiar door to my old room only flooded more memories that I hadn't thought about in years. All questionable memories as they weren't exactly vivid in the reruns, but most not the best to recall as the timing from incident to my moving was swift. I dropped my bag at the foot of the single bed and fell face-first onto it. The tension in my body became uncomfortable and the cold covers of the bed helped eased it. My room was redecorated and probably used as a guest room. A great addition as I remember having a lot of Pokemon and Yu gi oh posters plastered on the walls with terrible drawings that I thought were worthy of display at the time. That was a little bit of a good memory.