When tragedy struck not once but twice, throwing Liam and his father in a pool of grief and jeopardizing they already dying relationship, David Lewin knew that they needed to leave in order to save what was left of them. Sending his son to live wit...
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Liam lost his leg almost one year ago. He didn't remember much of the accident or at least, that's what he wanted people around him to believe. He was so tired of people constantly trying to get answers out of him, trying to gauge how much of a mess he had become while looking for the inevitable trauma that he was left with. Liam was fed up with all the attention he suddenly got from random acquaintances that started popping out of nowhere, acting as if they cared all along in order to satisfy their misplaced curiosity. The very same people that never bothered to ask him or his dad about their day before, instead gossiping behind their back about the recluse life the Lewins had been living. He was just so done with those neighbors who suddenly got interested with stopping by their house with a pie just to get hold of a testimony straight from the boy who was made a cover of their local newspaper. Liam hated it.
Thankfully, he figured out early that he was better off telling them he couldn't remember anything in order to put an end to this parade of disgusting hypocrisy . As he kept on with the lie, he quickly realised that it actually killed two birds with one stone : noisy people were quick to lose interest and leave him alone while his own father's army of therapists finally gave him the space that he needed. In the end, pretending to have no recollection of the accident was easier for everyone and a part of him hoped that, if he tried really hard, he too would forget all about it someday.
However, as he was struggling to walk side by side with his dad in this particularly cold night, he couldn't help but be thrown back to this fateful evening one year ago. The memory was incredibly clear, filled with details that made it all the more poignant and painful. He had been seating in the car with his father driving on their way back from one of their fruitless 'father and son's night out'. It was back at the time when they were still trying to mend their life back together and had instilled an outing once a month.
Truthfully, this one hadn't been as bad as the other. The movie they went to see had been decent and gave them a safe and easy topic of conversation all throughout their dinner. They had both agreed to go to an ice-cream parlor afterward as the weather was nice, thus enjoying one of the last warm nights summer had still to offer.
If Liam tried hard enough, he could faintly remember the taste of his pistachio ice-cream, the timid but authentic laugh they had shared when half of David's treat had landed on his chino, right at the most inappropriate place. It hadn't been perfect, they still had their fair share of awkward silences, clumsy gestures and strained chuckles. But it had been real, it had been genuine. And if Liam thought about it enough, he remembered thinking that it hadn't been so bad and that he wouldn't have mind doing it again.
Not knowing that he never would have the chance again.
The change came quickly. The weather suddenly turned bad, thick clouds filled the stormy sky and the air growed heavy with electricity. They hurried back to their car while the storm was brewing and left town just as it started to rain and the first thunderstorm broke out. The wipers were frantically going back and forth on the windshield, valiantly battling against the downpour that fell upon their old Ford. The wind rose, slightly making their car sway under the pressure it exerted. They weren't scared, though. Hurricanes were pretty frequent at this time of the year in Florida and it was nowhere near as bad as it appeared, just a powerful but short storm that soon would pass.
