The Prices I Pay ((MIKE ZACHARIAS X ERWIN SMITH X OC))

Chapter 28

It was dark by the time Silica made it home that night, and her cheeks still felt hot from her previous relations with Erwin. She struggled to power through the warble in her knees, and used the rail on her front porch to help her up the stairs.

She opened the front door to see Amelia sitting alone on the sofa, and figured that Peter and Nora had already begun their journey home. Her back faced Silica, and she couldn't help but quirk a curious brow at what she had been so intently looking at.

"Who is this?"

Amelia's question struck Silica rigid in her place by the door, and she felt the color drain from her cheeks to see that the book she kept Kenny's drawing and address in was held in Amelia's lap, and as she turned to face her mother, she held up Kenny's photo.

"What're you doing with that?" Silica asked immediately, and quickly closed the small distance between them to take it from her. Amelia held it out of reach.

"Who is he?" Amelia asked again as she stood. "And what're these weird addresses I found with his picture?"

"Amelia you know better than to snoop through my things," Silica couldn't help the rising tone of her voice. "Give them to me. Now."

Amelia wavered at her mother's tone, and finally handed her the book with Kenny's picture.

"I wasn't snooping," she said as Silica held the book to her chest. She had a discouraged look on her face. "I was putting my Titan book away and knocked it out of the bookshelf."

Silica inhaled sharply at her excuse, but ultimately decided to say nothing as she moved toward the stairs. Amelia was quick to follow her.

"Mom, who is he?" She pressed, curiosity only increasing at her mother's behavior.

"Amelia, don't." Silica warned as they entered her bedroom. She went straight for the mattress and slid the book underneath.

"Since when do you keep things from me?" She asked. Her stubbornness irked Silica.

"I do a lot of the time, actually," she snapped back. "Not everything is your business. Why don't you just drop it?"

"Because it's clearly something important," Amelia justified adamantly. "Don't you think I'm old enough now to know more about you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Silica found herself hurt by Amelia's words, but she couldn't place the reason why.

"You're my mom but I don't know anything about who you come from or where you come from," she explained. "I mean, sure, you were born in the Underground District, but whose to say that's where your family's always been? I don't get to know anything about Papa's, I should at least get to know about yours."

"Amelia..." Silica withered a bit and looked down. "I would tell you if it were anything worth knowing, but —"

"No, no excuses," Amelia defiantly shook her head. "I don't care if they're good or bad. I want to know."

Silica sighed in defeat, and after a moment of thought, she decided to gesture that Amelia sit beside her on the edge of the bed, and she quickly obliged.

"What do you want to know?"

"Who was the man in the book?" She asked.

"The man's name is Kenny Ackerman," Silica spoke begrudgingly. "He was my father."

"Was?" Amelia looked surprised. "Is he gone now?"

"No," Silica slowly shook her head and looked down again. "He's alive. He lives in the interior as an MP. But... he doesn't claim me, or you or your brother."