pull me back | a drag me down spin off

【twenty eight】

I anxiously fold my hands together as I look around the quiet cafè. My leg is quickly bouncing up and down from underneath the table. My hands are awkwardly placed on the small red bag in front of me, with white tissue paper peeking out of it. I can feel my stomach tighten as I click the home button on my phone. The date flashes in front of my face. Tuesday, May 6th.

The bell above the glass door rings, and I turn my head in that direction. I watch Mom look around, trying to find me. When her light eyes come into contact with my own, I flash her a weak and nervous grin. It's been awhile since I saw my parents. My head has been all over the place and I've been struggling to come to terms with their recent lies.

As she walks over to me, I can't help but admire her. She's looks gorgeous today. Her blonde hair is as bright as the sun, and her blue-gray eyes are still my favorite color. My mother is beautiful and fierce, and has always been my role model. She flashes me a grin as I stand up to give her a hug. I wrap my arms around her back and squeeze onto her.

"Hi, sweetheart." She whispers while closing her eyes.

"Happy birthday, Mom." I whisper back.

"Thank you." Her voice trembles as she lets go of me and takes a seat at the table.

"Here, I got this for you." I slide the bag toward her.

"Oh, honey, you didn't have to get me anything." She inhales a breath and begins to rummage through the gift.

"Of course I did, it's your birthday." I slowly nod, pressing my lips into a line.

I lightly grin as she pulls the heart shaped necklace out of the little box that was placed in the bag. Her eyes widen in shock at the sight of it.

"Oh my god, this is stunning." Mom gasps, admiring it.

"I saw it and thought of you." I lowly grin.

"I love it so much, thank you." I watch her place the gift onto her neck before looking back at me.

"Mom, I'm sorry for walking out on you guys." I blurt out, needing to get a lot of things off my chest.

She lets out a breath, knowing this is going to be a tough conversation. "Grace, if anyone is going to apologize, it's going to be me. When I felt you were old enough, I should have sat you down and told you everything that was going on."

"My whole world just fell apart. It makes me sick to even think about Dad doing those horrible things." Chills take over my body just thinking about my father robbing banks with a ski mask on.

"I know." She whispers, looking down.

"How mad is he that I walked out?" I gulp.

"He's devastated, but not at you. He's upset at his own actions. Being in the masked phantoms has been haunting him since he joined it. He hates himself everyday for the mess he created for himself and others."

"It's sick to think of. I mean, that's a major part of his life. He will always be a criminal." I shake my head, thinking back to his mugshot on the front page of the newspaper.

"Trust me, I know. I will never forget when I found out. I was sick for days." Her broken eyes look back into mine.

"How did you find out it was him?" I can feel my voice shaking.

"It's something that will always be engraved in my memory. Duke and I were on watch one day. We sat outside one of the banks and waited to see if the masked phantoms would rob it. They did, and we chased after them. I ran after your father without knowing it was him. During the process, I fell on the pavement and my arm started bleeding. I didn't want the man in the ski mask to get away, so I continued to chase after him,"