Missing Time

Chapter 2: They're Fighting

"What were you doing with Nathan Blue?" Lucas growled, holding out his phone where Nelvin could see the screen. Nathan's message was there, sent at 6:34 p.m. "Well? Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Why do you think I was with that guy?" Nelvin asked with an edge to her voice.

"Because he asked me who my son is, and it happened to be while you were out eating with your friend." He glared, his vibrant green eyes eating at her. "Now, tell me, why would you tell Nathan about Matthew?"

"Because he asked me," Nelvin said quickly. "I don't just go around telling everyone about you and Matthew, you know."

"Right... but what prompted his question about Matthew?" His eyes met hers, and she quickly avoided his gaze. "You were talking about me, weren't you? Heh. And you said you didn't tell everyone about me."

Nelvin clenched her eyes shut but admitted, "Yes, I guess I was talking about you."

After a moment of silence, Lucas slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Come here, Nel," he said softly... too softly. The tone was warm, unlike Lucas was.

Did Nelvin dare succumb to the sweetness in his voice? Honestly, it sounded nice. He was always using a nasty or bitter tone, but this was like music. Was it to be trusted? Reluctantly, she walked up the steps to him.

Matthew sat in his room, messaging with his online friend Ghoast on Discord, when he heard a thump on one of his walls. He put his phone down and listened.

"Why did you talk to Nathan?" He heard Dad's muffled voice through the wall. "What were you hoping to achieve by talking about Matthew and me? Were you trying to learn something?" Another bump on the wall.

Oh my God... They're fighting. Nelvin and Dad argued and yelled at each other a lot, but now they were actually fighting. What was he going to do? 

No, not what he was going to do, but what was going to happen to him? Was Dad going to kick Nelvin out? Would he have to live alone with Dad until he was eighteen? He shivered at the thought. He had been relieved when Nelvin moved in. She was nice, and she made sure that Matthew was well cared for; she had even offered to take him to Windstone's earlier. But Dad... he wasn't much of a dad, was he? He was a total jerk. Matthew often had to go hungry in the morning and night, because Dad didn't cook. Matthew was lucky that he got lunch at school, or else he probably would've starved a long time ago.

A really loud thump. "Oh, I know I can fight you." Tears began flooding Matthew's eyes. He recognized the voice; it was Nelvin. They really were fighting. 

Why? What happened? Why did they have to fight? Matthew felt the tears streaking down his face. More thuds and angry yelling... it was getting louder. They were fighting. 

His phone vibrated near his knee. It was a Discord message notification from Ghoast. "Are you ok?"

Matthew had been talking to Ghoast about how afraid he was in his own home, but he was too afraid to leave. He was already living life without a mom, but living life without a dad too? He couldn't bear the thought. He didn't want to become an orphan. His classmates were always making fun of orphans. No, not just his classmates- his entire middle school. Plus, where did orphans even go? As much as he hated Dad, he hated the idea of not having a dad even more. Where would he live? On the streets? 

He heard a crash. It sounded as if a glass plate had been dropped, but he suspected worse. On of them must've hit the other with it. And he bet it was Dad hitting Nelvin. It was always Dad. 

"If I ever catch you talking about Matthew and me again," he heard Dad threaten very loudly, "I swear I won't hold back the way I did this time. You're lucky it's just a few cuts."

Matthew picked up his phone and sent Ghoast, "im okay, but dad and nlv are fighting, so i gtg" He closed Discord and set his phone on his bedside table. He laid back in his bed, trying to wipe the tears from his face and eyes, but they wouldn't stop coming. He hated feeling like this. 

Lucas walked away from Nelvin and down the hallway to his son's room. He opened the door to see Matthew's face buried in his pillow. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"Resting," came Matthew's muffled voice, but Lucas recognized that voice. It was the voice of someone who was upset, very upset. He knew it all too well. 

"You don't look very restful," Lucas said. 

"That's because you came in and interrupted my resting," Matthew retorted.

But Lucas knew that wasn't the true reason. He sighed. He hated approaching people when they were upset. He really messed up on that note a long time ago. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Leave Matthew alone," Nelvin growled. "If you're still mad, then hit me again. I don't want you to lay a hand on your son." 

"I wasn't going to hit Matthew," Lucas hissed, pushing Nelvin's hand off of his shoulder. "Now, I'm going to go sleep. Clean up this mess you made, eh?" He walked back to his own room, slamming the door behind himself. 

He sat down on his bed and pulled his phone out to re-read Nathan's message. Sometimes, he missed Nathan. He missed a lot of people, but only sometimes. Just sometimes. 

He scrolled up to one of his old messages. "Are you okay?" was from December 28th, 2019, five days after the accident. Every few days, Nathan had sent him things like, "How are you?" "Where are you?" "Did something happen?" until 2021. "I just went to your house," the message from January 1st read, "and you werent there." 

Messages of that nature kept coming once a week or so until May 16th, 2022. On that day, the message said, "I know it's been 2 and a half years, and I still have no idea what happened to you. Wherever you are, I'm sorry. I kept trying to find you but maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe you left for a reason but I didn't want to accept that. But I do now. I don't know where you are or if you even will read this, but I miss you and I will keep missing you. I just hope you're okay. Happy birthday." The next and only message after that was from 6:34 p.m.

Lucas had read every single message from Nathan and all of his other friends, but he didn't respond to any of them. He wanted to disappear. Most of them had forgotten him after about a year, other than Nathan and Becky. Nathan had stopped after, as said in his message, two and a half years. But Becky would still message him sometimes. She would send him memes and random thoughts as if he were never gone. It's kinda sad, but I guess she's still in denial. He sighed. He remembered when he was in denial. He kept trying to help people, to do something for someone else. But when the accident hit him, he knew it was over. He couldn't help. 

After he was sure that Dad was in his room, Matthew turned his phone on again. Ghoast was, thankfully, still online. Matthew sent him, "im back" 

"Why were they fighting?" Ghoast replied a few seconds later.

"from what i heard," Matthew typed, "nlv told one of dad's old friends about me, and he's mad about that" 

After about a minute, Ghoast asked, "Why would he be mad about that?" 

"i don't know." Matthew sighed. "i think dad was trying to hide from all his old friends" 

"Why would he hide from them?" 

"again, i don't know. i wish i knew, then maybe i could do something about it" 

Ghoast's online indicator turned gray, meaning that he was offline. Matthew clamped his eyes shut. He wished he could do something. He wanted to help Nelvin and Dad, but he didn't know how. He was stuck. 

After awhile, he decided that the only useful thing he could do now was study. So he pulled out his middle school chemistry textbook and stared down at all the carbon bonds. They were confusing, but he was beginning to understand. If only I could understand Dad.