Is That Mom

Part 2 of Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

The Weight of the Past

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Part 2:

A Broken Father-Son Bond

Ethan hesitated before picking up his phone, staring at the familiar number on the screen. It had been months since he last spoke to his father, Robert. Their conversations had always been brief, awkward exchanges filled with long silences and half-hearted attempts at small talk. Ethan had grown used to it over the years, the way their words felt like strangers bumping into each other without connection. But today, he was tired of pretending that everything was fine. There were questions he needed answers to, and he wasn’t going to find them in old photographs or faded memories.

Taking a deep breath, he dialed the number. The phone rang once, twice, then a click as the line connected. “Hello?” Robert’s voice was distant, almost distracted. Ethan could hear noise in the background—a television, children laughing, and the faint hum of a conversation happening just out of earshot. It was a sharp reminder that Robert had a new life now, one that didn’t include him.

“Hi, Dad. It’s Ethan,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He waited, listening to the slight pause on the other end of the line, as if Robert was surprised to hear from him.

“Ethan. Hey.” There was an awkward cough, followed by the sound of a door closing, muffling the background noise. “How are you? Everything okay?” Robert’s words were polite, but there was no warmth in them, no genuine concern. Ethan could almost picture him standing there, phone pressed to his ear, glancing at his watch, already thinking about the next thing he had to do.

“I’m fine,” Ethan lied. “I just… I wanted to ask you something.” He could feel the tension building, a knot tightening in his chest. He knew this conversation wouldn’t go the way he wanted it to, but he had to try. “It’s about Mom.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end, followed by a long, heavy silence. “Ethan, we’ve been over this,” Robert said finally, his voice tight. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“But there is,” Ethan insisted, feeling a surge of frustration. “I don’t understand why you won’t tell me anything. I have a right to know, don’t I? She’s my mother.”

“Your mother left a long time ago,” Robert said, his tone flat and final. “She made her choice, and that’s all there is to it. Digging into the past won’t change anything.”

Ethan felt his throat constrict, a familiar sting of rejection washing over him. “That’s not enough, Dad. I need to know why. What happened? Why did she leave? Was it because of me?”

“Ethan, no,” Robert said quickly, his voice rising with a hint of irritation. “It had nothing to do with you. She just… she wasn’t happy, okay? Some people can’t handle the life they’re given.” He sighed, and for a moment, Ethan thought he heard a note of sadness, a crack in the facade. “I tried to make it work, but she wasn’t meant to stay. That’s all you need to understand.”

“That’s not an answer,” Ethan said, his voice shaking with a mix of anger and hurt. “That’s just an excuse.”

Robert’s silence was heavy, and when he finally spoke, his words were clipped, as if he was trying to keep his emotions in check. “I’m sorry, Ethan, but I can’t give you what you’re looking for. I’ve moved on, and I think you should too.”

The words hit Ethan like a slap. Moved on. It was easy for Robert to say, living in his new house with his new family. He had other children now, a wife who laughed in the background, and a life that had no room for the son he had left behind. Ethan wanted to scream, to ask why he had been the one left with all the unanswered questions, but he knew it would be pointless.

“Is it that hard for you to talk about her?” Ethan asked, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Or do you just not care?”

“That’s not fair,” Robert snapped, the defensiveness clear. “You don’t know what it was like back then. You were just a kid. There are things you don’t understand, things you don’t need to understand. I did what I had to do.”

“What does that even mean?” Ethan demanded, the frustration boiling over. “What did you do? Just forget about her? Forget about me?” The words tumbled out before he could stop them, and he immediately regretted them. But he couldn’t take them back, and in a way, he didn’t want to. He needed Robert to understand how much this hurt, how much he needed answers.

The line went silent for a few seconds, and Ethan thought Robert might hang up. But then, he spoke again, his voice colder, more detached. “Ethan, I’m not going to have this conversation with you. Not now, not ever. Let it go. It’s better that way.”

“Better for who?” Ethan asked, his voice breaking. “For you? Because you don’t have to think about it?”

“For both of us,” Robert said, and Ethan could hear the finality in his tone. “I’ve got to go. Take care of yourself.”

And just like that, the line went dead. Ethan stared at his phone, his hand shaking, the dial tone buzzing in his ear. He felt a mix of rage, sadness, and something else he couldn’t quite name—a deep, aching emptiness that seemed to grow with each passing second. He had reached out, tried to bridge the gap between them, and Robert had shut him down, just as he always did.

Ethan sank down onto the edge of his bed, burying his face in his hands. He felt stupid for thinking this time might be different, that Robert might actually open up and give him some kind of closure. But his father had made it clear that the past was a closed door, one he had no intention of opening, no matter how much Ethan pleaded.

The sound of laughter drifted up from the street below, where a group of children were playing, their voices bright and carefree. Ethan envied them, envied the simplicity of their lives, the way they could find joy in the smallest things. He wondered if his life could have been like that, if his mother had stayed, if his father hadn’t left him to piece together the fragments of a broken family on his own.

But those were just dreams, illusions he clung to in the dark. The reality was that he was alone, and there was no one who could give him the answers he needed. Not his father, not his grandparents, and certainly not the memories that haunted him.

Ethan thought about calling Robert back, demanding that he explain himself, but he knew it would be useless. Robert had his new life, his new family, and Ethan was just a part of the old one—a part that didn’t fit anymore. Maybe that was why he was so unwilling to talk about the past. It was easier to pretend it didn’t exist, to erase the parts that didn’t match the image he had created for himself.

As the afternoon slipped into evening, Ethan sat by the window, staring out at the town he had always known but never felt connected to. The sun was setting, casting a warm, orange glow across the rooftops, but to Ethan, it felt like the world was dimming, the light fading from a life that had never quite been bright enough.

He thought about his mother, the woman who had been there and then gone, leaving nothing but questions and a sense of loss that had shaped everything he was. He wondered if she had been like him, searching for something she couldn’t find, something that made her feel whole. Or maybe she had found it, and that was why she left. Maybe she had found a way to escape the emptiness, even if it meant leaving her son behind.

Ethan didn’t know, and that was the worst part. The not knowing. The feeling that he was stumbling through the dark, trying to piece together a puzzle with half the pieces missing. And no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many times he reached out, the answers remained just out of reach, slipping through his fingers like sand.

But something in him refused to give up. Maybe it was stubbornness, or maybe it was desperation, but he couldn’t let it go. He needed to understand, needed to know why his mother had left and why his father couldn’t bear to talk about her. He had spent his whole life feeling like he was chasing shadows, but he was tired of running.

He didn’t know where to start, but he had to start somewhere. If his father wouldn’t give him answers, then he would find them on his own. Because even if the past was painful, even if it was full of things he didn’t want to face, it was still his. And he was done letting other people decide what parts of his life he was allowed to know.