James was now in therapy. He had recovered well, but now the hardest part was ahead of him, getting him back to where he was in a matter of 6 months.
"It sucks. It feels like it's just making it worst, instead of better." He said. He was now back at home, which I thought would make things easier.
I was wrong, per usual. Seeing him in pain, and being so helpless made it that much more real. When he was in the hospital I didn't see much of that, at least not everyday.
"So what have the police said about the accident?" I ask after a pause. I was curious especially after Dad had proposed the fact that it might not be an accident.
"They're trying to find who did it. And their car. All I remember is that the car was black, and that a man was behind the wheel."
"So he just left after the accident?"
"I guess so. But enough about me, what's been going on with you?" He asks shifting his position.
"Nothing." I tell him. So much has been going on with me.
"Bullshit. Autumn told me that you're seeing a boy?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not," I protest. "I have a friend that's a boy, but not a-"
"Have you kissed him? Do I need to have a talk with-"
"James!" I exclaim as he jumps to conclusions. "No, you don't. You just need to focus on getting better." I avoided the first question for obvious reasons.
He opened his mouth to say something when Dad walked back in with an exhausted look.
"The sheriff called. He said that some guy confessed to being the one that hit you head on. Claimed that he just wasn't paying attention."
"It was a head on collision on a two way street, Dan," my grandma's voice came in. "How could someone just not know that they're driving on the wrong side of the road?"
"It doesn't matter. They have the guy. Maybe he's lying and was drunk, but they have him and that's all that counts." James said calmly.
It seemed too easy. Someone just confessed? I was skeptical. I've been skeptical ever since Dad said that it could've been on purpose. What if it was on purpose?
As evening fell I found myself looking through old albums in my room. Albums with family pictures, memories of going to the park, moments in time where everything seemed perfect. Because everything was perfect.
I could only aspire to be like my mom. She was a woman hand made by the heaven above, which is why I'm still so puzzled as to who would want to take her soul out of this earth.
At times I can't believe she's gone, and then at other times it's almost like she's suppose to be gone. Like if she were to be here, it would be weird.
I flip through the old pages filled with memories when I hear footsteps in my doorway.
"Your Dad let me in." I heard that voice say. The voice that belonged to Liam. "I felt the need to come over and apologize. For saying the things that-"
"You don't have to." I say looking up at him. I see him take a deep breath and glance at what I was looking at.
"That your mom?" He asked walking in the room.
"Yeah. Beautiful wasn't she?" I say staring at a particular picture of her at her at the beach with a small group of friends.
"You look a lot like her." He examined.
"Thanks." I breath. "But I should be the one apologizing. I'm the one that wasn't honest." I start.
"We both messed up." He finalized. Liam then leaned in towards the picture that we were looking at of my mom. "Is that my dad?" He then asks.
He was referencing the man that had his arm aligned around my mom. I've seen this picture many times and never thought of that guy being more than a friend to my mom.
"It kinda looks like him." I say quietly, starting to feel my palms grow sweaty. "It's probably just a coincidence." I say, even though I know for a fact that it wasn't.
"I'll have to ask my dad if he knew her. What was her name?"
"Grace. And I really don't think that's him." I didn't want Liam to get involved in this.
"It's obvious that it's him, Andi," He says with a small chuckle. "I wonder if he knows that she..." he started to trail off not wanting to say it.
I take in a deep breath and wait before I make my final decision.
"He does." I say quietly. "If that is him, then he does."
"What are you talking-"
"Almost everyone in Canton, Ohio knows that she passed, because she was murdered. Someone killed her and I found her body at the bottom of the stairs when I was 7. That's why we moved here." I say making sure to be precise and to the point.
Liam just stares at me, not really knowing what to say or how to react, which I don't blame him. I wouldn't either.
"Andi, I'm so-"
"I know. I don't need sympathy, I just thought that I would be honest with you."
Maybe my mom was a liar. Maybe that's really did what get her killed. Parents always have two sides to them, only exposing one side to their children. That "perfect, could-never-do-wrong" side. I didn't know my mother like how I've always thought I've known her.
All I know was that she was my mother, and that she's dead.
