Born To Be Alone

C H A P T E R N I N E

I was currently  swallowing  a huge slice of  pizza at a diner I had never heard of. 

"How did you find  this place?" I  asked Wes.

"My friend introduced  it to me"
I  felt the tinge of sadness in  his voice.

"Which friend, if you don't  mind me asking?"
"It was no one important.  Anyways,  what do you  want me to tell you about what I know about you?" He asked.

I thought for a while.  I had many secrets that only my parents knew ,secrets I knew would be fatal if anyone in our  school knew. I needed to know if  he knew about my former life so I  decided to ask him about  my father. If he knew me as well as he thought he did , he would know I had two.

"Tell me about my father,"

He smiled then said ,
"You're testing me, aren't you? "

"Why would  I  do that? "

"I know you have two of them so which one would you  like to know about? The first , the second, or both? "

I  was  shocked. How  did he know that?

"H-how did you know that? Are you some kind of  stalker?"

"No I'm not and if I answer that question  it means  I  won't tell you the answer to the first.  So will  it  be the former or the latter? "

I  had to choose wisely.  On one hand, I  wanted to  know how he knew  so much about  me but on the other side,  I knew I  had a father and  I  really wanted to know what he knew. I  always knew I  had another father but i never knew much about him except that he  left us . I wanted to find him, ask him why he put our family through all that pain but when iwas adopted  I never brought up the topic. I   figured I would look for him after university  if  I still  cared enough.

"Tell me about my first  father"

"If you wish. Where do you  want me to start?"

"Anywhere would be fine."

"Ok then. His name is Leone Perez. You used to live in philly with him. He was a drug dealer , used drugs and was in a gang. He was the leader of  the  gang. It was called "the colony". He died in  a shoot out seven  years ago."

To say I  was  shocked would be an understatement.  My father was in a gang? He was the leader? What drugs did he use? That couldn't have been true. I never knew him well but I never thought  he would be a gang member. I  could  barely recall my life before I  was adopted so I  may or may not  have known about him. I  still  wanted to know  more.

"Do you know  anything else about him?"

"Unfortunately, that's  all I  know"

"Was he really  a drug dealer?  Is that why my parents never told us about him?"

"I don't  know about that. Maybe you can ask your parents later when you get the chance. "

I looked at the food in front  of me. I couldn't eat it. I  felt sick thinking that my own father was a drug dealer.  I didn't  understand why he could that. Did my parents  know? Had they kept this from me? Was that why they never kept any alcohol or or cigarettes in  the house? Were they afraid  we would be  like him? I  was angry. I don't know  at who  but I  just felt angry.

"Take me home." I  said. 
I  looked at  Wes. He didn't stand. He just stared at me, visibly  worried. 

I stood up and  walked out . It was a bit humid. The sky was lit up by stars and there was a half moon . I  could walk home but it was really late . I  would  call an uber. I took out my phone to call one.
"Don't call an uber, I'll  take you home" Wes said.
"Why did you freak out like that when I said I wanted to go home?"