Flares in the Dark

1.13 | a boy of forgiveness

LIAM'S MOTHER WAS STARING AT HIM, observing and analysing each and everything that was wrong because there was absolutely no chance of anything being right for her.

"Well?" She asked, her hands folded on her chest, "Care to explain where you've been and what the fuck happened to you?"

Liam flinched, his mother had never sworn in front of him, not even a word like 'fuck' and she must be really pissed if she had. Her eyes pierced through him in a way that told him that she was in no mood for any lies that Liam might tell her and that she knew half the truth already. She just wanted to make him uncomfortable and hear the rest from him.

Even Blaize wasn't here to help him, his mother had told her to stay in his room and she wasn't allowed to come down till his mother was done with him. He had to fight this battle absolutely alone.

"I'm waiting, Liam."

Liam looked straight into his mother's eyes, knowing that she hated it when people showed signs of weakness. "I joined a kids gang, did stupid stuff, stole cigarettes and booze, did more stupid stuff, got beat up and did even more stupid stuff and then got branded on my chest with the same cigarettes I stole."

If she was surprised, she didn't show it on her face. Instead, she just nodded and pointed towards his chest, "May I?"

He gulped slowly, knowing that she wasn't going to like what she wanted to see. But she always got whatever she wanted and refusing wasn't an option for him. So he lifted his shirt over his head and stood there bare-chested as she examined the damage Mason had done to her son.

Her fingers hovered over the burn, not quite touching it, but their proximity was enough to make him flinch away from the woman who had hurt him more than either of them had realised.

A shadow passed over her face and she withdrew her hand but didn't let his shirt fall back down his chest. "Does it hurt?"

Liam shrugged, not understanding why she suddenly cared if he was hurt or sick or tired. He had been all three during the war and she had ignored him then, only using him as a metaphorical punching bag to unleash her anger. She couldn't just start caring for him now, she wasn't allowed to start caring for him now.

"It doesn't look as if it's festering or infected, so I'm assuming Blaize's mom fixed it?"

He nodded, even though his mother was wrong. There was too much damage done to him to be just fixed so easily and it didn't only run skin deep- he was mentally worn out, not knowing what to believe and what not to, his body felt heavy and every movement hurt everywhere.

But the brunt of the damage had been endured by his heart- it was torn, bleeding heavily, crying tears of blood for all that it had lost. And the punctures were too deep to be repaired, the damage was too severe to be fixed.

He was too damaged to be fixed.

And he had given up on the thought of becoming the boy he had once been.

Forever.

"Why didn't you come to me?"

He looked up sharply when she said that, his eyes betraying him by leaking and his lips wobbling like they always did whenever she got through his defences. Her tone had been apprehensive and almost wounded as if she actually would've done something for him instead of ignoring him again and telling him to handle it on his own like a big boy.

He asked her, resentment clouding his judgment and forcing him to release the truth, "Could I?"

She was startled by his words, he could see that, and she was hurt too. But the words had been said and even though Liam regretted the tone, he didn't regret the message they sent across. The woman he called mother had lost his trust the moment she decided that the war, the words and her ego were more important than her own son.