Wish You Were Here

Chapter Three

Chapter 3

"Atticus?" I heard from outside my door. I couldn't tell who it was, so I just let them come in.
"Come in." I replied. I was not prepared for who stepped through the door.
"Sean?" I asked. Sean was a nice looking guy who always had a friendly smile on his face. He had straight blonde hair that went to his chin. He refused to cut it. I really missed him for the past few days. I hadn't seen him in a while because he had gone to Africa to visit my parents.
"It's not just me." He stepped back, and I saw the two people I thought I'd never see again.
"Mom? Dad?" I said as they took cautious steps into the cramped room.
"Yes, sweetie. It's us." Tears were welling in their eyes, and in mine as well.
"You left me." I was trying to seem as put together as I could, and I blinked to get the tears away from my eyes.
(Let me give you a bit of background on my parents. They weren't the worst you could ask for obviously, but they were pretty awful. Why? Here:
1) They left me with my brother at thirteen years old.
2) They were never supportive of my decisions, especially coming out as bi.
3) They always compared me to my brother in the worst way possible.
4) Everything wrong was my fault and I needed to use my brain more.
These are the people who raised me. Until I was a teen, anyway.)
My dad tried to throw out one of his lousy apologies, and failed. "We're so sorry Atticus. But if you were anything like Sean and-"
They had been here less than one minute and already belittling me. I was over it. "You know what dad? I don't care if I'm not like Sean! You really think I wanted to come visit the people who spent so long treating me like a piece of garbage? Well I've had it. I don't want to see you. Anytime I made any decision, ever, if it was something you didn't approve of or something
18
that Sean wouldn't do, you did everything you could to lower my self esteem and make fun of me. I've had it. If you guys aren't going to better yourselves, I want you gone."
They stared at me, floored. I was glad I had put them in their place. Something needed to be said and I said it. But, of course, it only lasted for a second.
"Well, Atticus, I don't know what to say. Do you think your brother would talk to us like that?"
"Get out." I mumbled.
"What was that?" My mother asked.
"I SAID GET OUT. NOW."
They scurried out of the room. I needed to be alone. Completely alone.
"You too, blondie." I said to my brother. But he didn't move. "I said to get out."
"I'm not going to just do whatever you want when something needs to be done." He responded.
"What needs to be done? You've seen how they treat me, have you not? These are the parents who made me wear a rainbow LGBT shirt for a month because I said that I liked boys and girls. These are the parents who yelled at me for getting a B on a project because you got a B+. When I did better than you on the SAT they yelled at me for trying too hard. You seem to please them, don't you golden boy? So whatever needs to be done, why don't you do it? Because I've had it."
"Slow your roll, Atticus. I was going to say that they needed to apologise to you. You have a huge point and we're going to get it through to them. Now."
"Oh... But how?" I said.
"Just watch the master."
He walked outside and a second later returned with my parents by his side.
"Mom, Dad, you need to listen to Atticus. He's trying to tell you something, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.
I proceeded to tell them everything I said from the beginning and everything I told Sean. Through my explaining, tears began to form in my eyes and I was spitting my words at them like venom.
"You never listen to me! You never have treated me fairly! You abandoned me on my fucking birthday! Anytime I had any decision to make, you told me specifically to 'follow my heart' and when I did that, you got mad because it's 'not what I should have done, not what Sean would have done.' You were never there for me! Just because I act differently than my brother doesn't mean you can drag me through shit for it! I'm-" My voice cracked terribly, and I broke down into tears before muttering "I'm fucking done with it."
All of a sudden I felt four arms wrap around me.

19

"Atticus, I can't believe it. All these years and we just now realise how awful we were as parents. God, Atticus, don't ever let us treat you like that again! We're so sorry, and we love you just as much as we love your brother. I guess we were just, more expectant than we should have been."
I couldn't believe it. In the past week, I went from having my brothers love only, to having Riley, Mom, Dad, and Sean. In that moment, I felt normal. I felt loved. I felt happy. I had a family who loved me.
"Listen, we're going to get out of your hair. Looks like someone is here to see you, and she's quite the looker if you know what I mean."
I looked over and saw Riley standing in the doorway with a bouquet of blue roses, similar to the ones in her yard.
"Mom, Dad, stay, You too, Sean. You guys need to meet someone." I motioned for Riley to come in the room, and she placed the flowers next to the bed.
"You doing better?" She asked as she leaned down to kiss me softly.
"Yep. I have everyone who loves me in one room. That's more than I could ever ask for." I gave her another kiss before looking at my family, who all had their mouths agape.
"Riley this is my family. That one's my mom, that one is my dad, and Sean over there is my brother."
"Oh my god, you look just like them! But I don't know where the eyes came from." She said suspiciously, and I noticed that I was the only one who had brown and gray eyes.
"I never noticed that." I said, glaring at my parents.
"Your grandmother." My mom answered, I let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh. Anyway, guys, this is my..." I trailed off and looked at Riley.
"Girlfriend." She finished for me.
"Yeah. My girlfriend." I declared.
"Wow. Riley, huh?" My dad said.
"Yeah."
"Well, Atticus, if you're-"
I glared at him.
"I mean, I'm glad you finally found someone. I'm happy for you."
"Wow. Thanks, dad."
"Atticus, I've got to talk to you." Sean said. "And Riley."
"Okay...why?"
"I just do, alright? Trust me?"
I looked at mom and dad and they instinctively went away.
"You have something to say, Sean?"
"You guys need to be careful. I heard about the Cole Mason story. He's on the run, and rumor has it he wants Riley."