"I am not ready to raise a kid."
"No one's signing you up for a Father of the Year award."
The universe is made of stories. And Maeve Fluer-Reyes had her own.
With pictured misfits in her life, the twelve-year-old was up for anything as long as she...
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MAEVE FLUER-REYES
Crouching beside the flower beds, I breathed in the earthy scent of the soil, my fingers embracing the essence of its blooms, easing into the grounding presence.
"Hey, why don't you come inside?" Mrs. Noelle said, her voice buried in as much warmth as she could offer at the moment. She frowned when I shook my head, unable to tear myself from my comfort place. "It's getting late, sweetheart."
The woman gently placed a hand on my shoulder, kneeling down to my level, and I instantly gave in. Her fingers lightly squeezed my side, her eyes conveying nothing but concern, and I leaned closer, accepting the assurance in her touch.
"Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to distract ourselves, worries have a way of lingering. But remember, your uncle is strong, and he will be back soon. You are not alone in this, my dear."
My watery eyes silently conveyed my heart having crept to my sleeve, a mismatch of my assumptions and beliefs. I was, in fact, all over the place. I had my cheek pressed against her shoulder, blanketed in the warmth radiating from her, yet I felt like I was surfing on the waves, struggling to stay afloat.
The phone call from the authorities had left me restless. It was eight at night, almost five hours since I last heard from Kai. As the moonlight slowly overpowered the greens, I also lost the ounce of peace surrounding gardening as the only form of distraction I was familiar with. My uncle must have called Mrs. Noelle, who sure enough made her way to our joint backyard, and from that point onwards, refused to leave me alone.
I stayed outside for longer than I would have realized. When I wasn't standing in the midst of the blossoming flowers, nervously fiddling with the trowel, I was gripping the edges of the planter, my knuckles turning white. My hands were dirt-streaked, and my fingernails carried a tad bit of soil. I was trying to keep myself from letting my fear swallow me whole, thus I tended to the garden beds, watered the plants, got rid of some weeds, and even whispered sweet nothings.
Trust the universe.
The night wore on, and as the world slept, I remained awake. The moonlight began disappearing in the thick clouds but Kai was still somewhere out there. Mrs. Noelle had reclined under the watchful branches of a maple tree, while the food she brought earlier, sat untouched, mirroring my inability to focus on anything other than the obvious.
Then, just as fatigue knocked by, the sound of the engine revving sprang my senses to life. I immediately got to my feet, my pulse quite literally fluttering as I ran inside, and there...there he was.
Before I could reach out for a hug, he moved past me and focused solely on removing his coat, my outstretched arms now awkwardly dangling by my sides.
"Kai?" I then whispered, processing the amiss of instinct thrown on his face. "What took you so long?" I inquired quietly, only for him to turn his back on me and head straight to the bedroom.
