An Eye For An Eye

•Chapter 6•

The next morning was more awkward than the day the police showed up at my school to tell me my dad had been arrested.

There was no food at the old house, so we had breakfast at Beckett's lodge across the road. The three of us barely spoke to each other. Or rather, Beck and Casey talked about some football game while I sat in silence.

A lull finally overcame the table though, leaving forks scraping across plates and the swish of Chief's tail across the titled floor the only sounds left in the room.

Casey leaned back in his chair next to me, making it creak and moan. "Do you want to go to the store with me after this? Lola?"

I paused in the middle of chewing on a mouthful of pancake. "I'll just stay at the house. Start packing stuff up."

"Okay. The boxes are in the garage." Casey's fork resumed its steady scraping. He hadn't expected me to say yes, it was obvious in his voice.

"I can come over and help out later." Beck offered. "I have to run some errands in town, but I'll be back in the afternoon."

"Thanks man, I appreciate it." Casey said. "I'll get some burgers at the store, we can cook them up over the fire pit at my place tonight if you want."

"Sounds great." Beck said. "Like old times." It sounded like he was smiling. It was weird-- but smiles did have a sound. That was something else I'd picked up on over the years.

I mumbled a halfhearted agreement about the burgers, but they weren't even real words. I was still tired. I had gone to bed early last night, but I had barely been able to get even two hours of sleep. I'd tossed and turned in a cold sweat for I don't know how long.

After I finished my food, I left as quickly as I could, happy to be rid of the awkward tension in the room. I still had no idea what Casey had been telling Beck about his whereabouts all these years, and I also didn't know if Beck had confronted Casey about it yet. But, by the sound of their conversation this morning, I think it was safe to say he hadn't.

Both Casey and Beck offered to walk be back to the house, but I denied any help. Chief and I got back just fine. Not like that many people lived out here, there was no danger of getting ran over.

I found the stack of boxes Casey had brought with us in the bed of his truck in the garage. After brainstorming the best place to start packing up, I decided to stay in the garage. Most of the junk was in here anyways.

I ran my hands along a shelving unit that took up the entire right wall, feeling row after row of plastic bins full of God knows what lining the shelves. As I dropped my hand, it brushed against something rough and raised on one of the bins. Something familiar.

I laid the pads of my finger tips flat against the little bumps.

Books

I recognized the word right away. It was Braille. The corners of my mouth quirked up into a little grin as I remembered when mom had gone through the entire house after my first Braille lesson, labeling anything and everything she could, just to help me learn faster.

My smile quickly fell. What had happened to that mom? The one that actually cared about her kids? The one I thought would never in her life abandon us?

I shoved the thoughts away.

It is what it is.