Prompt- Did Alexis's father and mother ever regret disowning him?
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"Calla, are you still awake?" Anna Beirne peeked into her daughter's room.
Calla met her mother's eyes, fully dressed, car keys in her hands. "I'm going out."
"No you're not. It's late," Anna said.
"So?" Calla's eyes flashed with challenge, as though reminding her mother that Alexis had been thrown out late at night and no one had stopped him.
"Calla, please don't start a fight with me. You're not going out and that's final," Anna said sternly. When her husband used his stern voice, there was no arguing with him. But Anna didn't have the same effect, and Calla moved to walk past her.
"I'm going out with my friends," she said.
"No you are not! It's late and I don't want you out there!" Anna stopped her. "Do you know how dangerous it is for a teenage girl to wander the streets at night?"
"It's dangerous for anyone to wander the streets at night," Calla said, meaning clear. She pushed past her mother.
"Calla." Anna's voice was scary now. "Get in your room."
Calla pictured Alexis's terrified face, the tears streaming down his face as he begged on his knees for his parents not to do this to him, the way his chest heaved for air as it was knocked out of him by the force of their cruelty. She recalled the icy quality of their words as they spat them at Alexis. The way they slammed the door and locked it after Alexis reluctantly stepped outside. How he wandered off, dazed and confused and choking out sobs.
Calla went into her bedroom and quietly shut the door.
Anna sighed and left, heading into the kitchen where her husband, Derek, sat at the table. She took his empty plate from him, setting it in the sink.
"She's a lot less rebellious," Derek said.
"She misses him," Anna said.
"Anna." Derek slammed a fist on the table and glared at her. "We don't speak about him."
"Maybe we should," Anna said. "The temperature is dropping outside."
"He made his decision and he stuck by it. We gave him a choice, but he was determined to be a faggot," Derek said.
Anna crossed her arms. "People are talking about us."
"Let them talk. He was ruining his own life with this illusion that he was some homo," Derek said, snapping open the newspaper.
"He was mentally ill. Maybe we should've taken him to a therapist," Anna said.
"And what? Pay for them to tell him that he's fine? You know people are arguing that there's nothing wrong with homos. I wish I knew where we went wrong with him. Calla has always been difficult, but at least she's never been that sick in the head," Derek said.
"She's rebellious but she's stable," Anna said, sitting down.
She looked around the kitchen. They had removed all pictures of Alexis from the house and locked his bedroom door so that no one could go in there. Except for a few small traces, it was as though he'd never existed in the house at all.
It was better that way.
She had loved her son, but something had gone wrong with him. Something was messed up in his head, and Alexis had made it quite clear that he wasn't willing to accept their help to change it. So they'd done the only thing left; kicked him out.
Derek couldn't help himself as his eyes scanned the paper for any news of a dead teenager being found. He wasn't sure what would happen if he did see it in the paper someday. He imagined a picture of a smiling red head accompanied by a tragic headline.
But Alexis had chosen that life for himself. As much as it pained Derek, there was just no fixing his son. He was broken in ways no one could fix.
"Don't bring him up again," Derek said.
"Believe me, I won't," Anne said, leaving the kitchen. They had Calla to worry about. Calla might have her problems, but at least she wasn't anything like her younger brother had been. She was right in the head. She could make them proud. She deserved their love and support.
Alexis had dug his own grave. They'd tried to help him and he didn't want it. They couldn't keep torturing themselves over his mistakes.
So Anna and Derek pushed their lost son out of their minds, forcing themselves to move on with their days. Alexis was too far gone for them to save.
