Burnt Cities

Chapter 11

Maya:

Whatever you are doing with that boy needs to end NOW. He is your brother.

My body goes numb as I turn to look at Phoenix. This can't be true. So many questions are running through my mind at once that my mind blurs out everything around me. I feel a squeeze on my hand that brings me back to my senses. The boy I am sitting next to, who I appear to be having a romantic relationship with is my half-brother. Not only did my father abandon him when he was a baby, but he's been keeping him a secret from us. Does mom know about him? Do I just tell Phoenix now and let him meet his father for the first time ever? And has Savannah known who I am all along and pretended that she knew nothing? My head spins a bit and a rush of nausea overcomes me.

"Maya?" says Phoenix.

"You look pale sweetheart should I get you some water?" says Savannah.

"No thank you, I would like to go home."

The more I think about it, the more things start to come together. My father has hated the idea of me seeing Phoenix from the time he saw his car parked outside. He has never cared about anything I've done with my life but this really set him off. Phoenix spoke about his father being a rich man who sent them money and took care of them. And the eyes. Charles's eyes.

"We just got here, if you're feeling a bit unwell feel free to go and sleep in my bedroom," offers Phoenix clearly unwilling to leave just yet.

We're an hour away from home so there is no way that I am walking back. But I also cannot stand being here right now, the whole situation is too much to handle. I look at Savannah who is looking back at me with her big blue eyes. For years she has managed to keep her son away from his father, and all I need to do is tell Phoenix the truth, and things will go crumbling down. If I keep this from Phoenix, I will have to act like everything is still fine.

"Please call me an Uber Phoenix," I say.

"Maya are you serious right now? We were planning to spend the whole..."

"Well plans change and I would like to go home. Please call me an Uber."

"Right."

Phoenix picks up his phone and starts fiddling with his screen.

My phone buzzes for a text message.

Something isn't right and you need to tell me what's going on right now Maya.

My fingers hesitate over the buttons not knowing what to reply back.

Sorry but my dad wants me to come home again.

He turns to look at me and then back at his mother.

"Maya's dad wants her to come back home and I think that it is only fair for me to return her as I was the one who fetched her. I'll try to find another time when we're both not busy again to come and see you."

"That's a pity, I was so eager to get to know your friend Phoenix." She says this while looking at me with a straight face. "Let me walk you kids outside."

I get up quickly unable to hide my discomfort, looking too enthusiastic to be leaving the house.

"Phoenix don't forget the jacket you left here last time you visited it's getting cold honey," says Savannah.

Phoenix jogs to his room and Savannah and I are left in the room together. She turns to look at me.

"My son and I have a very tight relationship. I am the only person he has. His father doesn't deserve to be in our lives and I have every intension of making sure that absolutely nothing and no one changes that," she says in a quiet but mildly threatening tone.

"Okay, we're good to go Maya," shouts Phoenix from halfway down the stairs.

Savannah gives me a light smile and we all walk out of the house together in silence.

***

Phoenix stops a few blocks away from my house, being careful not to be seen by my father.

"I don't think you're being fully honest with me about what happened back at my mom's house. You just turned cold and I think you're definitely hiding something from me. And you haven't said a word to me the whole car ride home. Did I do something wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong Phoenix. And I'm really sorry that you had to grow up without your father around."

"I'm a grown man now I don't need him anyway."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"If you had the chance to meet your dad after all these years, would you want to?"

"Uhm, I don't mean to sound cold but I learned to adapt without him all these years, so seeing him wouldn't be an ideal thing for me."

"I understand."

"Maya?"

"Phoenix?

"I love you."

I look directly into his eyes and I see a reflection of Charles in them. My heart breaks as I think about how he was robbed of a proper family all this time.

"Yeah, I love you too Phoenix."

I get out of the car and walk up to my house alone. Dad is sitting at his usual spot at the dinner table with his glass of whiskey. He looks cleaner, with his hair combed and his beard shaved.

"Let me get this straight dad, for 22 years now you have been okay with letting your own son live without you being there for him? I knew you were cold, but this is some messed up stuff dad."

"You know what I thought about when I heard about Charles Maya? Phoenix. I felt so horrible about myself, I felt so horrible about not giving him a chance."

"Oh look at you, World's Best Dad for feeling a bit under the weather about shoving your son out of the way for 22 years. And here I was thinking you have absolutely no conscious." I say sarcastically. "And if I hadn't met Phoenix when exactly were you intending on making contact with him?"

"I don't know Maya. Everything is just so muddled up and confusing."

"No shit."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you sorry for making me feel as though I had to beg for your attention? Are you sorry for beating my mother up or are you sorry about the part where you also beat me up because you felt so shitty about your own actions and horrible decisions? What exactly are you sorry for?"

He puts down his glass and buries his face in his hands.

"Maybe I haven't been your favorite child over the years, maybe I wasn't the perfect girl you wished for. But I have opened a path for you to make things right. And I do not know exactly how you're going to do that with 22 years worth of abandonment issues following you around, God knows all the money you've made in your life won't save you from this one, but you have a son and that son needs to know his dad."

I walk up to my bedroom.