Bloodline

Chapter 2

"Shut and lock the door, would you?"

The lights flickered on, and the door creaked closed. "You leave anything in my car before I do?"

I sighed, looking around Mom's place, "It's my last night. If I did, can you give it to me later?"

"Fair enough."

My mother's portrait was the first thing I noticed sitting atop our fireplace. I walked to it with wobbly feet, touching the metallic frame as if it were made of thin glass.

"Caliya..."

I sobbed. "It's been years, Jakobi."

"Shhh," he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.He held me up as tearless, boa-like, constricting sobs wracked my body. 

"I should be ready to move on. She—"

"Caliya." He said louder.

"No! Jakobi, she would want me to move on. It's been years, and she would want me to move on. Her husband has."

Warm hands turned me around, and Jakobi gently pulled my face towards his. "The amount of time passing doesn't mean it'll hurt any less."

I watched him behind blotchy, tearful eyes.

"Caliya, this is your mother. That kind of bond can't even compare to your dad. Let's leave him out of it."

My father was always conveniently left out of it. Out of the discussion, dismissed out of providing assistance, out of our lives.

My cries were faint hiccups. "Why?"

He rocked me back and forth, "There's no why. There can't be. Your mother is in a better place, that's all you need to know."

I nodded. Yes. Ma was in heaven, shining amongst the brightest stars. I was sure of that more than I was sure of anything in my life.

"Kobi?"

"Yeah?"

It was barely a whisper, "I'm so tired."

Without saying a word, he hitched me over his shoulder and took me to my childhood room. The patter of his footsteps on the creaky wood stairs reminded me of all the times my sister and I ran up and down the stairs, chasing one another.

My Mom would be in the office preparing a weekly schedule for her elementary class. Those kids loved my mother, not because she brought cookies to celebrate their high test scores or let them play Kidz Bop during recess. They loved her because my mother saw in them what she saw in us; limitless potential. She was so personally invested in bettering the lives of everyone around her, including my sister and I and my father.

"You okay, sweetheart?"

"Mhmm," I say. "You can put me down; I'll walk the rest of the way."

Jakobi had surpassed the record of being my longest friend. When everyone else had left, my pledge sisters, girls I thought would have my back until we wrinkled. It all seemed silly now. But Kobi had always been there. He had never left.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?"

I squeezed his arm, "No, it's okay. I ate all the Macaroni balls and Edamame at the banquet."

The thunder of his laugh made me smile, "So, that explains why Christine was yelling at the caterers."

"Oops."

He shrugged, "Nah, you're good. I sneaked a six-pack of beer when no one was looking."

I collapsed onto my bed, back first. I wasn't ready to leave my mother's house. She'd entrusted it to me. As her youngest child, Ma knew how much it meant for me to grow up here. Mariah was her first, but she was four when we moved into—