Empêchement

Secrets Out

When I got home from school, the entire family was in the kitchen talking about something in hushed voices. My brother was home again, and his ever-present girlfriend had her arm threaded through his, her head leaning against his shoulder. My mom and dad were sitting across the table from them.

I walked past the doorway catching a quick glance. None of them saw me.

I knew that if they did see me, they would stop talking and probably dismiss themselves from the table. I still had no idea why they were doing this, but after my sob-fest last night, I had found some sort of peace with it and considered just going upstairs to finish reading and signing my parts of the syllabi that were handed out today.

Or, a little voice in my head said, you could stand by the doorway and figure out what's going on.

I shrugged, couldn't argue with that. The likely hood they were talking about me was slim, but I listened from behind the wall by the doorway to the dining room anyway.

"Okay, we can't keep doing this. We need to figure something out right now, or just tell her what's happening. We can't just ignore her until something works itself out." It was my brother. "She's my sister, I love her, and hearing her crying in her bedroom alone last night hurt."

Wait, what? Was my first thought. Then they started pouring through my head at a million miles per hour. He heard me crying? I didn't even know he was home last night. What do they need to figure out? He loves me? But then why is he shunning me? What is going on?

"Dave, we know. It hurts us too." My mom said. "But I just don't know what we could possibly do about this. You know that we don't want to tell her because she's finally making friends and is doing well in school. Bringing this up- something that is probably just a hoax- will just distract her from everything."

Now I was just thoroughly confused. What are they talking about? But if they were not telling me something important, it could explain why I was being ignored. Not necessarily because they wanted to, but because it's easier to keep a truth away from someone when you avoid them altogether. It was probably unintentional. It still didn't make it okay though.

And the police won't do anything?" My brother asked.

My mom shook her head. "No. They looked at the letter and told me it was blank and then handed me a card for a psychologist. I went to three different police stations."

"How the hell can they not see anything?" My dad demanded. "We can all see it!"

"I know, Hun. We've been over this." My mom said obviously just as frustrated.

Okay, wait. I had to internally scoff. Ink that only appears to some people. What kind of bullshit voodoo is this? Whatever it was, it must have been driving my dad insane. He was a very logical person, and he didn't like it when he didn't understand things.

"When are they coming to get her?" Dave's girlfriend asked. I still didn't know her name.

"If they come," my mom corrected, "The letter they sent said within 2 weeks to a month of receiving the message, and I got the letter about a week ago."

My heart stopped. My brothers' words played on repeat in my head, "When are they coming to get her?" What. The. Fuck. Are they keeping from me?

"This is stupid!" My dad said, slamming his hands on the table in frustration. I imagined that he stood up as well. "This is my daughter! She is not going anywhere! This letter," I heard him wave a piece of paper around "is ridiculous. This isn't Harry Potter and I will not keep this from her anymore! She has the right to know what's going on and to make her own damn choice about this."

"But what if this is just some stupid hoax? Then we'd have her all up in arms for nothing!" My mom countered. "Not only that, but the letter said it'd be easier for her to go if we..."

My dad cut her off, "If we what? If we cut emotional ties with her?" He laughed hysterically, "Are you nuts, woman!? If she has to be kidnapped at all, I'd rather it be done with her knowing that we tried all that we could to keep her because we love her, then her leaving thinking that we hated her. We followed your idea for long enough, and it's ruining our daughters' emotional health. Now it's my turn."

What the hell is going on? I was too shocked to be angry, too devastated to move and much too confused to do anything else.

I watched my dad storm right past me and sit roughly on the sofa, fuming. I just stared at him, wide-eyed and on the brink of tears.

My brother walked through the doorway and jumped immediately when he realized I was there. "Ena." He said softly

Dad looked up in surprise. There was a brief moment of silence. "How long have you been there, kid?" My dad asked, just a softly as my brother.

"l-long enough" I stuttered.