See In Him

23

  "If you don't leave now, I'm calling the police. I want you gone," she growled, arm waving. It was too late for Kennith to go back, so he did the only logical thing.

  "You're really going to sit there and tell me that one page—no, one sentence of the Christian Bible is worth more than your son?" Kennith spat.

  "It's a sin! He will burn for it!"

  "So, what, you don't eat cheese burgers, right? No wearing mixed fabrics? Have you ever touched pork meat? That's a sin, lady. What about gossip? You ever bitch about someone to your friend?"

  A heavy wheeze left her. She was angry and confused. Kennith was smug, eyes narrow. Margie had heard the commotion and darted down the stairs into the living room nervously. This didn't deter Kennith.

  "Shanna, you should be ashamed to call yourself Christian. It's obvious that you're only using your religion to hurt the people you have an issue with. What the fuck happened to loving each other as you love God? It's not your job to judge people. That's His job. Who the hell do you think you are?!"

  "You bastard!" Shanna yelled, lurching forward. Kennith didn't see it, but Margie was there to stop her from laying that punch on Kennith like she wanted to. The bitch was about to hit a blind kid, and although Margie hated Kennith for disrupting what little peace they had, she couldn't stand by and let her mother assault him. While Margie grabbed Shanna's upper arms and pulled her back, yelling for her to settle, the sliding door behind him opened.

  Kennith could hear Jesse's boots on the doorframe and then on the creaking hardwood. Michael was behind him. The boy's heart should have been sinking; he was realizing what he did, but he didn't regret it. His father had just given him an entire lecture on what not to do...

  Michael stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. Kennith could feel it shaking with realization.

  "...What did you do?"

  ——

  Kennith had sat in uncomfortable silence with his family before, but nothing like this. To be honest, Kennith wasn't even sure if he could fix the kind of anger his father was emanating.

  As soon as Shanna had calmed her brain enough to actually speak, she was cursing them and kicking them off her property. Robin had hopped in their truck after watching them hastily grab their belongings and began driving them to the airport. They would be at least six or seven hours early for their flight. So, stuffed beside Michael in the backseat, Kennith brewed with a kind of fear—his father could explode at any second. Not that Kennith thought he would do that in front of Jesse and his brother. Kennith just wanted to get home, away from everyone, and see Lucia. School was the only place he looked forward to visiting. Home would become a war zone now.

  Robin dropped them at the airport, only staying a few moments to say goodbye to Jesse. Their conversation was almost silent, but definitely sad. Kennith sat by the entrance while Michael moved to the front desks to enquire about their flight. If the odds were in their favor, there would be some connecting flight that would take them closer to Seattle. If not, Kennith was completely and utterly fucked. He had a feeling that nothing good would come out of the day.

  With a heavy sigh, Jesse sat down beside him. The sadness rolled off him like a contagious disease. Kennith was guilty now, but not enough to say anything to fill that horrible, awkward silence. Jesse sniffed once. Kennith couldn't tell if he was crying. The boy still didn't understand--why would Jesse be upset if Kennith told off the bitch who ruined his mental health for the first twenty years of his life?

  "They have a flight to Chicago in forty-five minutes. Then we can catch a flight to Seattle from there. It should lessen our wait time by at least a few hours," Michael declared, coming to stand in front of Jesse. The man nodded. Michael deflated. Now he had two moody kids with him.