Destiny's Witch (BxB)

Chapter 15: Broken Pieces

Perry

After Alan left, I did as he asked. The room looks as good as new, despite the furniture being slightly out of place.

I am dumping the pieces of the broken basin in trashcan as the back door opens. Penny enters the kitchen, smiling at me as I stand straight up. She stares at me cautiously as she places her brown suede purse on the kitchen counter.

Penny asks about my day as she pulls out a French-style cheesecake. I watch carefully as she cuts pieces from the cheesecake and slides them on a plate. She tells me to sit at the counter as she sits a plate on the counter where she intends for me to sit.

Never one to ignore a good cheesecake, I take a seat at the counter and begin eating. Halfway through the cheesecake, I feel my mother's eyes watching me.

"You know, it's weird when I'm sleeping and it's just as weird now." I say.

"I'm sorry. It's just so strange to see your child, whose giant head you pushed from your pelvis be so...grown up." She says.

The thought of springing from my mother's pelvis drains all notion of finishing my cheesecake. Luckily, only the crust is left. I sit the fork down on the plate and stare up at her.

"I just feel like there is something going on with you lately. I know you well enough to know you're not training for football practice like your father says." Penny says. "Does Alan have you as part of some teenage fighting thing?"

"No! Wait, is that a thing?"

"You tell me." She says.

I sit back on the stool, resting my back against the hardwood. "I know I'm—I've been sketchy lately. There are just things happening. Guy things."

"You're further away than usual." She says. "You do know I have raised a teenage boy before, right? Porter—"

"Is the gold standard? Yeah, I'm aware. Maybe the truth is I'm not him." I say. "I'm just trying to make sense of everything right now."

"Like?"

"Just teenage stuff, you know? Like teachers' bodies being found in the library and demo—strations running amok."

"Demonstrations? What kind of demonstrations?" Penny asks.

"The long kind."

Penny nods as she speaks. "Does your dad have anything to do with what's going on? Is there something I should know?" She asks.

The soft, kind tone of my mother's voice makes me want to free myself. Her words make me remember a time when none of this existed. I was just some dumb kid in love with an even dumber kid with a spotty concept of responsibility.

The truth is I am a mix of emotions, and none of them have been spoken into the air. Alan convinced me I could not tell people because they would not understand or they would be in danger. The prospect of having a secret with my father that could pull him closer than he has been in the past was enough to convince me he is right.

Now, with my mother telling me how far away from myself I am, it feels like I am stranded on an island alone. I can sense Alan is not being truthful with me. It is clear Alan did not take his place as a mentor because he cares, it is because he wants to control me.

It makes me angry and confused.

It makes me sad.

I am alone, and I was not aware until very recently.

The emotions rush me as I break eye contact with my mother, looking down at the plate. Penny reaches out, resting her hand on my shoulder. Her concern is bare to me. Her emotions are leaking into me.

"Can I ask you a question?" I ask. "Why doesn't granny come around? Why don't you speak to her?"

Penny's hand on my shoulder tightens before she withdraws her hand. A long pause separates her answer from my question. It feels as if I have asked her something unforgivable.

"We had a disagreement. Sometimes, that happens between adults. Even parents and their kids. I don't want that for us." She says.

In just a few seconds, I feel a shift between us. It was a clear side-step of the question and an omission of the truth, whatever that is. I stand from the stool and fix my face to the best of my ability.

"I'm good! Just regular things. College, friends at each other's throats...things like that. I'm good. We're all good. Right?" I ask.

Penny agrees as I excuse myself to my room. I no longer feel the need to be around my family or friends. It suddenly feels as if the entire world is against me.

"God, I am so dramatic."

The moment I walk into my room, I shut the door behind me. I reach into my pocket and pull out the tonic Katrina gave me. The thought occurs to me to drink it, but I do not know her from a can of paint.

But I know someone who does know.

Within minutes, I am listening to a dial tone before an elderly woman's voice answers on the other side.

"Granny? I think I need you."