MAD MARY

💀 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | HIDE

Mary looked up at George with pity. He looked lost. His hands shook while he stared at the documents in his hands. Mary wished she could comfort him in some way but she knew nothing of the sort.

She had faced troubles alone for three years, and now the universe had put her brain in reset mode without a backup. It was her place to receive comfort and not offer it. However, in the spirit of ethics, Mary said the words, she thought could help.

"George I'm so sorry."

George walked to her bed and grabbed one of the tin boxes on it. He should have been joyful that the boxes were found but he was not. George Beckham was far from joyous. He was enraged.

He took out the folded papers in the box and spread them out on Mary's bed. The faint smell of old ink and dust caressed George's nostrils. The wooden products smelt more like the source of their existence, after an involuntary subjection to time.

George wasn't sure of what tickled his throat. The musky scent of the papers he sorted or the tears he tried to hold back for the sake of his ego.

"George, I believe you're overwhelmed right now, and I can't say I understand that but I..."

"Please lock the door Mary." George said. He had more bass in his voice.

Mary glanced at George, walked to the door and turned a key buried below the door knob.

After a few minutes, George fell on his knees and let out a rather hysterical laugh. Tears once held back by pride broke free. His heart ached and his ribs were burning up. He had a minute -long panic attack and laughed out again. His tears grew from falling drops to rolling streams.

"It all makes sense now! All those times he hit me for no reason when he came home from work...All the school events he never attended...The way he snorted when I bragged about my high scores in class...The way he cursed at me...Of course terrible fathers with such characteristics do exist but..."

George turned to Mary. He got closer to her and held her hands. His corneas were a deeper shade of red. He looked like one void of sanity.

"How could I not see it Mary?"

"I don't know." Mary replied, completely out of words.

"Why was I so blind all these years?"

"I don't know."

"The signs were all there and yet, I never suspected a thing. Normal teenagers grow suspicious of things like things when their relationship with their parents seem stretched but me? I just walked through time thinking I was the problem."

"I'm sorry." Mary said.

"What're you sorry for? This isn't your fault Mary, it's my dad's. You know what? Screw that! This is my fault. That's right. It's my fault for being a gullible dumb piece of shit!" he flung the documents away. Paper flew on mid-air like over-sized confetti.

George let go of Mary's hands and paced around the room for a while.

After a few minutes, he stared out the window in Melody's room.

The once leafy green of tall trees had a sickly upgrade. The thin stems of trees left bare wasn't a colorful painting, but the dance of brown, red and yellow on branches was quite an appealing site to see.

Birds whistled random tunes and small rodents scurried underneath fallen leaves. There were more leaves and branches on the ground than the normal view of soil. It was the aftermath of night's sudden storm.

"I guess I don't have to go back to high school. That's a relief." George's thought tried to find a silver lining.

His thoughts were true however. Summer was long gone and the so-called short vacation proclaimed by Richard, had become an overstay.