You, Me, And The Divide

Chapter 3

"How?" Allen shouted suddenly. "How is she your mom?"

"Did somebody never have the birds and the bees talk with you?" Daniel replied sarcastically.

"She wasn't your mom. She was married for thirty two years. Thirty two happy years," Allen said gritting his teeth. He started flying down the road thirty over the speed limit.

"I don't know why or how it happened, but Clara Boggs was my mother. Where do you have any room to say she wasn't?" Daniel protested furiously.

"Because she was my mom too!" Allen finally said.

His eyes burnt with chilling fury. I've never seen him so mad. Daniel was pale. He looked terrified and angry, but mostly, he looked like he was going to be sick. There was silence. Nobody said a word. The only sound was the sound of Allen speeding across town. I reached out to touch Allen's shoulder, but it didn't soothe him in the least. My hand retreated, and I held it in my lap.

Daniel rolled down the window quickly, and his head was hanging out it immediately after. He threw up the last of what was in his stomach, and I tried to think about anything besides the boy hanging out the back window. I picked up a water bottle that had been rolling around and passed it back to him. Allen glares over at me.

"What? Just because you're mad doesn't mean I have to be mean. Can everyone here recognize it's not his fault for being born? Like that's just ridiculous," I rambled on.

Allen covered my mouth with his hand to shut me up. "Just stop. Nobody talks," Allen finalized.

We obeyed that without protest. When we got to Daniel's house, Allen didn't get out while I dragged him to his porch. His feet were working to an extent. His house was huge from the outside. He sat down on the top step and hung his head between his legs. For a moment I thought he was going to be sick. I was in no rush to get back in the car after all of this, so I waited for him to pick his head up. Nothing in me was prepared to see such raw emotion on the usually collected boy's face. He didn't mirror the anger Allen held, and he didn't seem as light hearted as the people at the party. Instead, his face was complete and utter sadness. His lips curved down gently into a frown, and his entire face had fallen.

"I always thought you didn't know your mom," I blurted out regretting it immediately after they left my lips.

"I didn't know until two summers ago. I've been worried about running into Allen ever since I found out," he told me.

"I know it may not mean much right now, but I'm really sorry for your loss," I told him gently.

Daniel looked up at me confused. "You're the only person that's actually said that to me today."

I didn't know what else there was to say, so I pushed the doorbell twice before going back to the car. Someone answered the door, but Allen was already driving away. I never saw who helped him in. Allen was furious. I didn't know what to say, so I just didn't say anything. He opened his mouth several times as if he was going to talk, but each time, he just closed his mouth again. Music played so softly that I almost couldn't hear it. I didn't have it in me to turn up the volume though.

"How? How could all of this have happened? My mom was a good person. She wouldn't have cheated on my dad."

"I don't know, Allen."

When we reached a traffic light, I reached over the back of the seat for a stray jacket or blanket to cover up with. I picked up a leather wallet from the floor of his car. My search for a blanket was forgotten as I opened the wallet. It was Daniel's. He must have dropped it when he flew forward that first time. There was a quite a bit of money tucked into it. A few credit cards showed from the pockets. I slid his driver's license out of its pocket to examine it closer. He looked as handsome as ever. Nobody ever looks good in these pictures, but I guess he perfected the art of picture taking. Something was folded up under where his license had been. I pulled it out and carefully unfolded it. It was a picture of Clara and him. They were dressed to the nines with their arms around each other. He looked happy, but surprisingly, Clara looked happier. I folded the picture again and tucked everything back into the wallet.