Superheroes Suck

Chapter 21: Vowels Are Like So Extra

He didn't say anything, not when he silently ushered me into his home. Not when he lead me upstairs, carefully sitting me down on his beautifully ornate bed. Not until a small woman dropped ice cream and cookies and soda and more crap than either of us would ever be able to eat. No, Murphy stayed quiet until he knew that I was comfortable and ready to begin speaking.

"Do you want to tell me why you called?" Murphy took a seat next to me on the bed, taking my hand in his. "We can sit here for a while, if you want to. You don't have to go home tonight, if you want to sleep off whatever is going on and then go home tomorrow or talk, that's alright too."

The only thing I had said over the phone was that I needed to get out of the house and talk to someone. He had gotten really quiet for a few moments, and then asked if I had called Penn or Mary. I simply said, "No. I want you Murphy." He told me he'd be waiting for me at his house.

Opening up to him felt a lot easier than I could have imagined. Maybe because he had admitted the strained relationship his own parents had. While my situation had none of the convoluted parentship problems, I knew that he would understand having parents at odds. "It's about my parents."

Murphy chose his words carefully, "You mentioned they're not really around a lot. Does it have something to do with that?"

"In part." I sighed and looked over at the spread laid out for us. "I think this whole thing would be better over a bowl of ice cream."

He beamed, looking down at me as if I had suddenly brightened up his day, or night. "I couldn't agree more."

So we made ourselves sundaes, though neither of us said anything more than, "Can you pass me...?"

Finally we sat back down, taking our seats once again on the bed. This time we had migrated to either side of the bed, no longer stiffly seated on the edge. Murphy sprawled out on his side while I took the opportunity to sit cross-cross.

"...I don't know what happened." I admitted as I shovelled a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. "Anyone would have guessed that my parent's relationship was strained, but I guess I didn't see them enough, let alone together enough, to have really noticed how bad things were with them."

"Well it isn't your job to notice that you're parents are fighting. It is, however their job to be there and be as stable as they possibly can for you. You deserve to have parents who are actually there for you, absent parents are a convenient plot device to explain how a protagonist is able to disappear and be a hero or get into all sorts of trouble in a book, but this is real life.

"You mentioned the talk you had with your mom," He continued, "Maybe this is a good thing, it might be better to have one parent that's really there for you instead of two parents who can't be bother to check if you're alive."

"I get that, I sat there being strong for my mother as I watched her break down in front of me. Inside I wanted nothing more than to break down, but that's what she was doing. She's the one losing her husband."

"That's fine and all, but she can remarry, preferably to the kind of man she deserves. You can't just get another father, you can't go to the store and buy a new birth father. That's a relationship you only get once, although that doesn't mean you can't get a real father. Someone who treats you the way a father should and who loves and cares enough to be there. Sweetheart, you don't always need to the grown up, I know you've always had to take care of yourself, but you deserve to be upset.

"I'm happy you came over, that you trusted me enough to open up because you obviously needed to..." He trailed off, suddenly studying me intensely. His green eyes never wavered from me, not until he spoke again and then they only seemed to soften. "Why did you come to me? I understand I'm close, maybe that's why you didn't call Mary, but Penn is a hell of a lot closer. He's also your best friend and, we have had a few heart-to-hearts as of late, but I've never been the person you ran to for help or when you needed to talk. That's reserved for Penn, or Mary if it pertains to or would upset Penn. Like White Christmas upset Penn."