Sweet Lies | Nathan Young [Misfits]

- 25 -

"You forgot to pick him up at school." Louise hissed. "Again!"

"It's fine." His father shrugged. "He doesn't care, right Nathan?"

After a moment of hesitation, Nathan gave a small shrug. "Yeah, I don't care."

'I don't care.'

He heard this sentence his entire life, it was just carelessly thrown around by everyone around him. He heard it so much that, after a while, it started to lose its meaning.

His father always used it when it came to him.

"Nathan doesn't care that I'm not here for his birthday, he's big now."

"He doesn't care if I can't pick him up, he'll just walk home with his friends."

"He doesn't care if I can't help with his homeworks, I'm shit at maths anyway."

While his father used it as an excuse to neglect his son, his mother was using it to lie.

"I don't care that I can't find someone else, my son is my priority, I'm perfectly happy right now."

"Oh, you're going out drinking with your friends again? No, you can go. I don't care. I'll just watch a movie by myself. I'll be fine."

It was like not caring was easier than caring. His father made Nathan understand early that his feelings didn't matter, and her mother made him understand that it was easier to bury negative emotions than show vulnerability.

So naturally, he repeated that sentence.

"I don't care about my future, I just want to be a fuck-up, it's fine by me."

"I didn't do my english homework, so what? Who cares about english anyway?"

And soon, people rolled with it too.

"Miss Young, your son just doesn't have any respect for authority, he just doesn't care. He made his maths teacher cry this morning. Again."

"It's like nothing affects you, Nathan. You just don't care."