Crossing Paths

Chapter 12

Kayden

The uneasy feeling in my stomach worsened the longer I sat there and stared at Aliyah. She had multiple books in her lap and was busy sorting through them, a focused glint in her eyes. Once she finally found the notebook she was looking for she began to thumb through the pages. I leaned in her direction to look over her shoulder and saw that there were pages and pages of notes and questions that she wanted to ask me. The thought of having to talk that much about myself and my past was enough to make my stomach do another acrobatic flip. I had hoped that we would start out easy, but based on the determination that was etched across her face, it didn't look like I was going to have much luck. Great. Just great. 

I sighed in exasperation under my breath as she pulled a pen out of the backpack next to her feet and crossed one of her legs over the other. I tried to ignore how much that position reminded me of my therapist. It only made me more irritated that I had let Tyson talk me into this. 

"Okay," Aliyah started, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "Let's get started on the basics." When I didn't say anything, she glanced over at me. I must have looked like I definitely was not ready, because her eyes suddenly softened in sympathy. "You ready?" She asked gently. I heard a little apprehension in her voice. For some reason, I found it oddly assuring. Maybe she was just as unsure about this whole thing as I was.

"No." I answered honestly, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly. She gave me a small, comforting smile. Despite the fact that it was a fraction of her normal smile, it gave me enough courage to keep going. "But let's get started before I change my mind." 

"Alright..." Her words trailed off as she started to jot something down on an empty page. As I watched in patience, I found myself noticing the small things about her. Like how tightly she was gripping her pen, and the way she bit her bottom lip in concentration. Afraid that she would notice me staring, I forced myself to advert my gaze. The only noise in the entire room was the ticking of the clock, so once again, I found myself fixated by it. The time told me that she had only been here for less than 10 minutes, but it had felt like hour. Why does time always seem to go by slowly when you wanted something to be over? It didn't seem very fair considering the fact that it always sped by when you were enjoying yourself. 

"Let's start out simple. What's your full name?" Her question immediately reeled in my wandering mind. My eyes snapped over in her direction to see her watching me expectantly. 

"Kayden Jackson Hughes." I answered simply, leaning back comfortably into the couch. So far so good. If all the questions were this easy, I was stressing out over nothing. Aliyah took a couple of seconds to write it down before she moved on. 

"When's your birthday and where were you born?" 

I hesitated slightly. I knew when my birthday was, but I had no idea where I had born. My parents had never bothered to tell me and I hadn't cared enough to ask. "September 15th." I replied quickly, purposely leaving off the second part of her question. 

"And where were you born?" She repeated with patience. I hated having to repeat myself. It was one of my biggest pet peeves. But I studied her face for any signs of annoyance and saw nothing. Being as though I was a difficult person, I was guessing her tolerance was going to be much thinner by the time we were finished. 

"I don't know." 

Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. She had started to press her pen against the page, but my answer caused her to pull away. "You don't?" 

"Nope." I short answered her, not interested in giving any sort of explanation. The simple truth was that my parents had never bothered to tell me and I had never cared enough to ask them. There were a lot of things about me that were a mystery even to myself. If Aliyah thought that picking apart my life story was going to be an easy task, then she had another thing coming. I was the one living the story and I didn't even know half of my own origins. It was yet another reason to hate my parents for how much they had neglected me. I could feel the tenseness in my jaw as my face hardened. Aliyah noticed instantly and decided to let that particular subject go.