The Devil is in the Details (Book 3)

Shadow

-Amelia's POV-

I lay looking up at the ceiling in my room. I had been laying like that for half an hour already, thoughts spiralling around my head. I wasn't sure what to make of what I had heard, what it meant in terms of my parents and me. What was there that they weren't telling me? 

I sighed, this wasn't getting anywhere and I was just wasting my time at this point. 

I got up and put some nicer clothes on before heading back down the stairs, the rest had finished their card game at this point and were watching some kind of movie together. I found the scene cute and very family-like, I would have wanted to join them any other day, but right now I wanted nothing more than to keep my head from spiralling any further. 

"I'm going out to the bar," I say out loud, making my mother look back at me. 

"Do you want anyone to drop you off?" She asks which makes me smile a little but I shake my head,

"No, it's alright! I want to walk," 

My mother was about to let me go when suddenly, "I'll go with her," I look at uncle Jake who starts standing, "I've been meaning to take a walk too," he says and at that point, I can't convince him otherwise so I wait for him to get ready and we start heading out together. 

By the time we start walking towards the bar, it's 9 in the evening, the night dark. 

"You alright?" uncle Jake asks, breaking the silence we had held until then, making me look down from the small stars in the sky to look at him. 

"What do you mean?" I ask, putting on a smile. 

He doesn't seem to fall for it though, "You have the same look as my brother when something is bothering him, what's wrong?" He asks me the question a bit more seriously now which eventually makes me give in. 

"Is there something my mother is keeping from me?" I ask sincerely, watching his reaction to my question for any type of answer. His head stays forward though, the only difference being his stoned glance towards me before looking forward again. 

"Why do you think she's keeping anything from you?" He asked me back, his voice just as nonchalant as it can ever be.  But that in itself was weird to me. He wasn't surprised at me accusing my mother? It was almost as if he were trained for this response. 

Uncle Jake was one of the closest of my uncles when it came to my family, I should have known that if there was anything that they were hiding, he'd be the most loyal to it. He was the most loyal person I knew! 

"Nevermind,"

He looked at me again when I sighed, giving up on trying to get anything out of him. Besides, I wouldn't want him going to my parents about my suspicion either. My parents had just come back from their trip and we've always had a good relationship, I wouldn't want to ruin any of that now. 

"Look," Jake then said which caught my attention, "I don't know what's got you on edge but listen to me when I say this. Your parents love you, they love you more than time could ever tell. The past, the future, it wouldn't matter to them if something were to happen to you. So you take care of yourself, alright? Take care of yourself the way they would take care of you if they had the opportunity."

He ends that with a warm smile which I mirrored as we kept walking. Something about that satisfied my curiosity. My parents are constantly looking out for me and although I knew that already, it was nice to be reminded. 

We got to the bar not too long after and I greeted my usual group of poker guys, it seemed they already had a game set up so I sat back as I watched them finish. When they resumed, I thought back to the card game that everyone else was playing back at home. Jake had gone somewhere else at the time so I couldn't ask him, although I should have as we were walking. I looked around at the other groups also playing other sorts of games, wondering if anyone would know the answer to the questions that had been bugging me that night. I watched the card players but the dominating games tonight was Black Jack and Poker so it was useless watching for too long.