I Only Know Hatred

Chapter 2

There they were. Looking like a picture-perfect family. The most perfect copacetic suburban family in their perfect white kitchen. Harold, my dad, was behind the big marbled island, with his thick well-trimmed beard. Mom hated that thing and still Harold would spend way to much time grooming it. I was not entirely sure if it was despite or because of her avowed dislike. He had a fascinating brain, being the most intelligent person I knew, but he could never know that's what I thought, I rather let he assume I though of him as a bore. Otherwise the fragile power balance between us would skew in his favour. He was wearing his vintage round turtle glasses and this fraying old tweed jacked over a cardigan. He looked almost purposefully slovenly. And yet, in all fairness, he didn't looked that old with that abundant wavy hair of his, despite his somewhat dishevelled looks. Right by his side was my mom Melinda, fixing sandwiches with one hand while helding with the other our little Shih Tzu Hendrix. She was impeccable as always sporting her tight floral dress with hem right below the knees, the mandatory high heels and her coiffed blond hair. She was tactful, uptight and well-mannered. One could say she was a living parody of a Stepford Wife, only she was so intense and methodic she actually managed to have it all. Be the ideal spouse, the envy of the neighbors and have a career, being pretty good at it. I love to shock her with my diableries especially in front of her estimated girl friends. Aside from me, they had an unblemished life. Only neither of them were the sort to conform. They were both too perfect and they would handle the insurmountable amount of their expectation over my own success like a sharp blade with what they would constantly shank me.

My dear brother Caleb was nearer the entrance, towering over everybody with his 6'3" of pure stupid. His big legs somehow reached some balance on the small kitchen stool. Clean cut as always, I could see the same chummy face, full cheeks, big nose, rosy complexion and pouty lips of ever. The same squinting dark brown eyes with those long lashes under the bushy browns. Except that there was something eerily different, something about his eyes I didn't recognize, something I couldn't pinpoint. Scratch that. I sudden realized, it was a entirely new self assurance. There was grit and a unfamiliar strength in his gaze I've never seen before. Like he finally found a backbone laying somewhere and had the idea to try it on himself. Felt out of place and yet suited him somehow. And, like a shot, I had an inkling Caleb wasn't exactly as meek as before. It immediately put me off.

It's been a while since my brother was home. He was barely a semester in college, when he came up with this algorithm and was snatched up by this big company in Norway like a year ago. I was pretty sure the said algorithm was a hack and he was in borrowed time in his fancy job. Maybe they noticed how dumb he really is and he got fired. That thought put a smile right back to my face.

"Why we're all so happy chatting like a bunch of crows?" I asked with a smile full of disdain.

Caleb had grabbed my attention by surprise when I entered the room, so I kept my glance into his face as I walked towards him, but just when I came really close to him I walked right past him and went directly to the fridge, grabbing a soda. Hendrix barked to me excited. I ignored him. I purposely acted like Caleb wasn't there, like I was all the time looking at something behind him, like he was invisible. It was a tad passive aggressive, I know, but it was the best show of insurgence I could come up with since I was thrown off by the surprise. I just had to communicate that the schism was still there. The little ruse was worth it, though. The fiery red in his cheeks and the way he suddenly seemed uncomfortable in his stool was all I needed to know to be sure that I managed to piss him off.

"Oh dear Lord! You silly! We're excited your brother is back, of course!" Mom said as she turned to him:

"We missed you a lot and we really wanted to have visited you but between the new position of Harold within the college board and your aunt Delilah passing away we just cound't," she said squeezing his hand.