Doppelgänger

Chapter 13: Pure Innocence

Malik’s P.O.V:

“Where’s Rhiannon?” I asked mommy while I tugged onto her arm. I haven’t seen her in weeks and now the house is so quiet. I hate quiet, it's dull and boring and makes me wanna take a lot of naps. “She’s spending some time with Aislinn honey.” “For so long....” I wined.

“Malik...... don’t be such a baby about this. I’ve told you this a billion times, so don’t act so surprised like you don’t know what's going on. You’re a big boy now, so no more whining.” She kneeled down to me and held onto my arms gently. Her eyes pierced into mine. Something's up, I can feel it. “Okay, mommy. I’ll stop. I’m just worried about her and.................................. I miss her.” I can see tears forming from her eyes. She tried to hide and push the tears away, but her force wasn’t strong enough.

“I miss her too Malik. But one day, she’s going to come back okay honey. Rhiannon just have to handle some things first okay.” She straighten herself up and stepped past me, grabbing the laundry and wiping her eyes with the back of her hands and went downstairs. I leaned on the wall and sat there with my hands wrapped around my knees, with a sad look on my face. I hate to see my mom upset. It's makes me wonder if Rhiannon did something wrong to leave so sudden.

“Hey, champ. What are you doing sitting here?” I looked up to see my dad, dressed in a suit with a untightened tie, staring down at me. He had just came from work. “I don’t know. I just felt like it.” I replied back.

“You wanna talk about it?” His face had a concern look on it; my dad is always looking out for me. That's why I love him so much. “Things are not the same anymore..... that's all.”  He sat down next to me. It took him awhile to come up with an answer. Maybe he's finally seeing things the way I do. “I understand how you feel Malik. I ask myself everyday how would things happen if things were different or had never happened.................. Look Malik. You’re going to turn 9 in September, right? I think it's time for you to know about your roots.”

“My roots?”

“Yeah, since you, your mother, Rhiannon and I obviously don’t share the same features.”

“Hahaha. I guess... Who's my real mommy and daddy?”

“Okay. Well, your real dad was my best friend, Devon Smith. Your real mother, Rena Taylor is your mom's best friend. I have a picture of them if you wanna see.”

“Really? Please show it to me.” He got up and walked to his room and I followed. He throw his jacket part of his suit onto the bed and grabbed a picture from his draw and showed it to me. I was speechless. My parents. My real parents. Tears came rolling out my eyes. I never felt this happy before. “When can I see them?”

“Ahhh Malik. They live very far away and your mother and I don’t have the money to carry you over there to see them.” My face fell flat. “But don’t worry, I’ll give them a call to let them know that you want to see them okay?”

“Yay. Thanks, I feel so much better now.” I gave him a hug and ran out his room. I have this very warm feeling in my heart; I don’t think I can ever get rid of it.

                                                                             ~

It's now 8:50 and mommy is getting me ready to go to bed. I brushed my teeth, took a shower and jumped into bed. “Goodnight Malik.” “Goodnight Mommy.” She place a kiss on top of my forehead and close the door slightly. I turned around under the sheets and face myself towards my windows, watching the stars. I use to do this with Rhiannon when I was much smaller. It's was the only thing that we would do without getting into a huge fight. I miss our fights, they were so funny. The way she gets mad and throw a fit really makes my day. I sound like Dennis the Menace right now. As I reflect back on the memories of me and my older sister, my eyes begins to shut down on me until I heard a boom sound. I jumped up to check if I was just imagining it. Boom. I heard the sound again. I hopped out of bed and open the door. I hear arguing and it sound like my parents..................................... Wait a minute, it is them. My curiosity grew and I found myself tiptoeing to their room door. “I’ve had enough of this shit, Clair. I try my best to keep her here with us.”

“I knew this was a bad idea to have this conversation with you.” My mom began to walk away. “Don’t you walk away from me. It's wasn’t my idea to send off Rhiannon and put her care into the hands of a seventeen year old girl.”

“I wasn’t the only one that agreed to it either okay; and it was the best decision to make at that time. Now keep your voice down; Malik is sleeping.”

“Dammit Clair!” He banged his fists onto the wall. “When are you going to listen to me? Malik is hurting from the absence of Rhiannon. We should bring her home.”

“No. I won’t allow it. After her little stunt that nearly took her away from us; I don’t want that to be an influence on him. He's too young. I don’t want him to get caught up in the heat of this drama. I want him to grow healthy - mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

“Well, this is not going to work out then. I’m so tired of the lying; I'm tired of coming in here everyday from work, pretending that everything's going great when it's not. I’m tired of seeing Malik sullen all the time; you know the only hope I had to bring some life into that boy is telling about his parents. He was so ecstatic; I almost cried rivers, oceans, and seas when I saw the look on his face, and its a damn shame that I can’t even tell him the truth.”

“You did what? John, we were suppose to tell him when he reach eighteen. How could you do that to me?” My mom folded her hands and walked away some more.

“The kid was depressed; what was I suppose to do? It kills me when he's in that kind of state.”

“It doesn’t matter!!!!!!!!!! You know what.......... I can’t do this anymore. I hate fighting with you all the time. It's an ongoing battle with you.”

“I guess we need to separate then.” Dad said now in a sullen tone. His hand were in his pockets, and stood up like he had met his defeat.

“Maybe we should. Getting some space from each other is a good idea; if that's how were going to reconcile things with one another.” Mom held her hand up to her chest and another on her side, pacing back and forth in their room.

“I meant permanently;................................................... Clair; I think our time together is past its due date.”

“You mean like a divorce? You can’t do that!!!! What about the kids? How do you think they will feel about this? They’ll be devastated.”

“Malik is 8, so he wouldn’t know what's going on yet; and Rhiannon isn’t at the right sound of music right now. They don’t have to know about this, Clair. This is between me and you. Here, I already started for you. All you have to do is sign.” He threw a big orange envelope and a pen onto the bed. Mommy was so shocked, tears had come to her eyes. I don’t understand what they were talking about, but I know that its not good.

“How long have you felt this way?” She finally said.

“Awhile now.........Our flame is no more, I feel like I’m drowning and I can’t get out. Us,..............were not working out.”

“You bastard!!!!!! I tried to keep this family together........and all you can do is quit. I’m basically the man and woman of the house. I always have to put everyone's burdens on my shoulders, but no one ever give two shits about mine. Clair this, Clair that....................... Well screw you okay. If you wanna leave, there's the door. I have nothing to with you after then.” She pointed towards the door and my dad followed her instructions. I backed up from the door and sat down with my arms wrapped around my legs from earlier. The door opened and, there was dad, staring at me with cold, heavy eyes - ones that I’ve never seen before. Mom came aside afterwards, pulled me up to my feet and took a quick glance at me, then gave me a hug, before returning me back my room where I belong. As she tucked me in for the second time, mommy whispered something into my ear: “Don’t worry. Everything's gonna be alright, honey. Just stand strong for what you believe in,” and with that; she left the room. Everything is so weird now, its like I’m losing sight of how everything is supposed to be. I just hope that things will work out. I wonder if I’m gonna be stuck in this mess......................................forever.