Hypophernia; a vague feeling of sadness, seemingly without cause.

Daddy Dearest (vi)

I felt like I was staring at Freya for years trying to process what she just said.

Thaddeus had a kid. Weird.

It was really weird, I didn't know why but it was fucking weird.

While I was trying to process this new piece of information, Freya was floating around me dusting things off in the room while I stood there like an idiot, spaced out. It took me a few seconds to zone back in and realise she was talking.

"... really a good kid, but he gets in a lot of trouble. He's just so uh.. rebellious and Thade never knows what to do ya know? Teenagers I guess. Reed is smart, so smart and if he just applied himself he could go so damn far! He's so good looking too, a gorgeous boy really!" She was blabbering with curling her blonde hair around a perfectly manicured finger. I nodded slowly, following her perfect form pacing the room.
"How, how old is he Reed I mean?" I asked curiously. Maybe he was Only young. I could imagine a fourteen year old version of Thade, scowling and smirking.
She looked up at me, smiling slightly, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously. "Oh god.. He should be about eighteen now? I think? We haven't seen him in over six months! See he got kicked out of his school for smoking marijuana in the bathrooms. Which I mean is hardly that bad right? I did that when I was your age and no one ever cared" she said solmly.
I almost laughed. Not only was he my age, but he seemed like the type of kid I would be friends with. I was kind of disappointed he didn't live here anymore. I played with a faux fur carpet in the ground with the toe of my shoes, kicking it up and pressing it down again.

"Did he used to live here? With you? You said you haven't seen him in six months?" I cursed myself for sounding so interested cus Freya was definitely noticing. She was smiling wide now, blind me with her pearly white teeth. She sat down in the cream arm chair across from me, fidgeting with the cushion, fluffing it.

"Reeds mom.. She's a complicated woman. Selfish if you ask me. But I suppose you have to pity her, she recently lost her son, Reeds little brother Milo. Awful honestly, I can't imagine losing a child. But she completely lost it, starting doing a lot of drugs. Eventually she couldn't take care of Reed anymore, so he had to come here and live with us because you know, Thade is his dad. Imagine a fourteen year old coming all the way from New Zealand all by himself to live with his dad whom he's never even met before. It's ridiculous, he hated us for the longest time. I'm still convinced he does. So anyways" she swallowed between sentences, her eyes shifting to the door way and her voice getting quieter,"Reed and Thade came to like this silent agreement, they tolerated each other at best I guess. Kind of like, you stay out of my way I'll stay out of yours. But Reed started to lash out, smoking pot, drinking heavily and you know doing boy stuff. And Thade just out his foot down. They fought a lot and Reed would disappear for days, sleeping rough or staying at friends house. Eventually he pushed it too far, he got kicked out of school and Thade lost it. Kicked him out and told him not to come back and he didn't.. He was troubled, incredibly so and still is. I loved him regardless, he has this way about him just.. he charms everyone so easily" she was looking down at her fingers, twisting her engagement ring around her finger. I don't know how I didn't notice it before, it was huge. The light hit it and a thousand rainbows danced off the ceiling and walls.

I was kind of shocked. I always find it weird how someone can portray them self as so together and happy almost yet have all this underlying bullshit. I seriously misjudged Thade and I felt super bad about it. I say mulling over what Freya said, not even noticing she left the room at that stage. I glanced back at the photo of Reed. I wondered where he could be, if he was okay. The child in the photo looked so happy, obvious. Poor thing didnt even know what was going to happen to him, he had no idea what life was going to throw at him.