Teenage Baby

Chapter 35

Chapter 35:

"Before I tell you." Daddy breathed out nervously. "So, what do you think would've ruined Aaron's entire escaping thing?"

Mommy knew the answer, but she didn't speak for a moment, wondering what that had to do with anything. "If his door was locked," she said. "He wouldn't have been able to do anything. How did we make such a stupid mistake? We trusted him too early. I didn't even know he could get out of his crib."

"Yeah, about that..." Daddy let out the slightest laugh slip; every particle of the air that was pushed out along was heavy with the worry. "I wouldn't call that a mistake, I mean..."

Mommy frowned. "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean that I purposely always kept the door to his room unlocked. I wanted him to escape at some point."

"Wait. What?" Lou spoke this time, voice curling up in the end into a questioning pitch. "How... why?"

"Dominic..." Mommy stepped closer to Daddy, slowly, stiffly. Her eyes didn't carry an unsure shine, or questioning twinkles—they'd flared with flames that burnt down the forest green in her irises to ash the moment she heard what he'd said. "Say that again."

Daddy looked at the door, then focused back on her with urgent eyes. "Shhh. Careful with the names. We don't want the boys to hear! Especially Aaron."

"I don't care! Why the hell would you want him to escape!"

"Let me explain!" Daddy put his hand out in a coaxing manner. "I didn't want him to escape exactly. I mean I wanted him to, but like... to try to. Not actually do it. I wanted him to do it, and fail at it."

"What the hell? Why? Why in the world would you want that?"

"Because." Daddy leant forwards, carefully looking both Mommy and Lou in the eyes. "I wanted him to stop bottling his emotions. I knew he'd never actually let it out until this would happen. I could always see it in him; he just needed a prod and he'd burst. I left the door always unlocked so he'd actually try to escape at some point. And he did it. And when we caught him, he felt so devastated he just burst out everything he ever felt before. The breakdown was good for him, don't even deny it."

  Lou frowned to himself as he took in every word he'd heard. He wanted to speak, but Mommy did instead. Her lips pulled up into a tight smile.

"How sweet of you, Dominic." She stepped closer, almost stomping. "You care so much about Aaron and you did all this just to help him handle his emotions. Seriously, what a good father." Her smile dropped, and so did the sweet pretense. "Did you not think about the fact that he could've dropped down on his neck and cracked it when he as escaping! He could've died! Did you not see that bruise on his arm? And his shoulder? My baby jumped down the fence, with Leo too!"

  And suddenly, she lurched forwards, her hands grasping the front of Daddy's sweater and pulling him closer. "You risked both my baby boys for something so stupid. You could've helped Aaron with his emotions in another way. You don't know how to deal with kids, you idiot!"

  Daddy didn't react when she kept tugging at his clothes; he could understand that right now she was confused and hurt and worried. "I know, I know. That's where I messed up," he confessed. "Of course I didn't want to risk Aaron or Leo falling down on their necks and dying. When I wanted him to escape, I didn't know he'd do it out of the window. I didn't know he'd make it up to the fence, on top of it. I didn't want that to happen. Hell, I even forgot about it. I planned this when he first came, and he just suddenly did this shit now."

Mommy pulled back, allowing him to speak further. Daddy briefly patted the wrinkled fabric she'd gathered in her fist until it flattened. He fidgeted beneath the tension, but he went on. "I thought Aaron was going to go through the front door. Not the window. I imagined that he'd go downstairs, find the keys I left beneath the flower pot, and then he'd go out. I was a hundred percent sure he wouldn't be able to climb the fence; there's absolutely nothing that can give him a good boost. But I knew he was going to try, and he was supposed to touch it then the alarm would go off and we'd catch him."