Cold Blooded / Fransykes

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"So..."

I grasped onto my jeans, really not knowing what to do or say.

My mother smiled at me strangely. She too didn't know how to react after meeting me again. Josh just sat next to me, letting us both talk.

"Where's Max?" I asked, trying to end the awkward silence.

"At university." She responded eagerly. She seemed like she really wanted to speak with me, but didn't know how. Who could blame her, I wouldn't know what to say to me either.

"Oh." I wanted to get to know my brother again. I hadn't seen him in a long time.

There was so much I wanted to ask my mother. Why did she do this to me? I just couldn't bring myself to speak about it. I didn't know why. I should've bashed her, told her that she was despicable and that I hate every inch of her. But I don't.

I don't know how to feel anymore.

"Um, so Oli. I..." She sighed, not continuing to speak.

"Why?" Was the only word I managed to ask.

Here my mother was, unlike how I had ever seen her before. She wasn't her unfeeling, intolerable self she always was. She was speechless. Like she wasn't expecting me to be like this.

Why? What was the reason she wanted me to not remember anything?

"What do you mean?" She asked, like she had no idea what I was on about. I just stared at her for a few seconds.

My mother, the infamous multiple murderer, constantly on the run, feared by hundreds, was now sat here acting all nervous. I had never known her to be like this. Ever.

"I mean..." I looked everywhere in the room besides my mother. I didn't want to face her.

I was just confused. Why was she acting like this? Did something happen while I was gone?

"Oliver, we cant keep doing this. We need to speak." She spoke clearly for the first time since we had gotten here. I nodded, agreeing completely. If we kept going on like this, we'd never get anything out of each other.

"So... why, um, um..."

Great Oliver. You really spoke clearly there.

"Why did you put that chip in..." I didn't finish the last part of that sentence, I'm sure she knows what I'm on about anyway.

She stared at me in nothing but confusion. I didn't really understand why she would be confused. She knew what I meant.

"Chip?" She asked, not one hint of her joking. I stared blankly, waiting for her to explain. "What do you mean by 'chip?"

"The one in my brain." It was obvious, but she didn't catch on. She acted completely surprised.

"You had a what?" She pretended to be concerned. She was never concerned about me before, why would she act like she is now?

"Why are you acting like you don't know what I'm on about?" I spoke through gritted teeth. I'm not an angry person, but this was making me mad.

"I don't-"

"Yes you do!" I accidentally yelled, taking her aback.

I don't understand.

Is this my mum? The mother I knew was completely emotionless, someone who couldn't care less if she or I lived or died. Yet, here she was.

"Oliver, when you disappeared, I had no idea where you went. You just vanished out of nowhere." She furrowed her brows, seeming offended. Like she had nothing to do with this.