Reticent (h.s fanfic, punk Harry)

Chapter 24

The house was quiet when I entered through the door. In our normal routine, John would be on his computer in front of the television, giving both his job and entertainment his attention, and mom would most likely be in her study, going over more files. However, I didn't pay any mind to the eerie feeling and went onto my normal day. I walked up to my room, planning everything I would need to pack for the weekend on the way. Just at the corner of the hallway, facing my white door, I heard hushed voices in the room just beside me. That room was a study; yet to be used. I knew mom never went there, John had his own and never really sightsee'd around here, and my room was enough of a study space.

I wondered why someone would go in there, sneakily whispering like the grinch who snuck into town. John and mom didn't tiptoe around the house to converse. Mom certainly never kept anything from me, along with her bitter attitude towards my recent behavior. I snuck towards the room, all the while running every possible scenario through my head. Was mom transferred somewhere else-but she would inform me, or just leave and have John explain to me. Were they planning to start off somewhere else? Were they getting a divorce?

My rapid thoughts came to halt, as did my breathing, when the door opened. I stood frozen in my spot while I watched a man whom I have never laid eyes on, exit the room. His hands looked busy fixing the buttons of his suit, while his face was set, a grim expression almost permanently set on his hard features. His neck a little wet with perspiration, his fingers now fumbling with his fly. He was a tall buff man with hard blue eyes. What in the world was he doing here?

Next came my mother, flustered and beautiful as ever. Her skin had some glow to it, her eyes shining as the stars did for the moon at night, and the swells of her breasts very much exposed from the white unbuttoned shirt.

"Ophelia," a hand flew to cover her breasts, either from modesty or just there from the scare. She took a deep breath, letting a small chuckle out through her swollen lips. "What are you doing home? You're father told me he'd be picking you up right after school." A frown set, a small crease right between her brows. She was quite possibly the most enchanting and deceiving woman I knew to be.

"I didn't know about that. Dad never told me." I let my back pack sit on the floor after sliding off my shoulder, like a foot slipping off a wet rock. My gaze went onto the man. Is that what mother has been doing lately? Is that why she never really spoke to me anymore? But most importantly was John aware of this.

"Well, darling, I suppose it must have slipped through his mind." A pause, where she twirled the wedding band around her finger. "Were you going to leave soon?"

I wanted to yell in her face, I wanted to call her every vulgar word I knew. But I settled for merely asking about John's whereabouts

The man beside her let a brief smile play on his lips. He must be so proud to have made her look his way-make a married woman look his way. What he didn't know, Darcy wasn't doing this for the first time. "Oh," I looked at her, her eyes cast down for a few seconds, then back up at me. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. He got called into work. Some important board meeting." A few more minutes passed, where all three of us were silent. Mom kept her gaze down, her shoulder resting on the wall, her big toe drawing circles on the hardwood. The man looked around the house, as if only now he was seeing what the house really looked like. Me, I was just looking at my mother, wondering what the hell was going on through her head. I wondered what was wrong with John that she needed something new. I could almost picture the future now; them getting a divorce-my mother's second divorce, and soon he'd start a new life too. Only I would be more willing to start it with him.

"Ophelia, I just want you-"

"It's dad's time for the weekend. Why don't you save it for Monday." I simply couldn't-didn't want to look at her face anymore. I had no inkling as to what I would see in those eyes when I would look at her with so much promise. But now I didn't see any of the traces I had back then, I only saw a woman who had no problem breaking the sanctity of her already shattered marriage. A step to my room and I felt her bony hand on my arm.