Matt
I couldn't tell what my Mom was thinking; trying to call Doris names in front of the kids. Sometimes, she can be really hard to understand, it's no wonder James stayed away from her. Just when Claire's beginning to warm up to me, she wants to ruin it and take me back to square one again.
I wasn't even one to vent my anger, I always leave the arguments and the harsh words to Luciana.
"Could you be any less impossible, Mom? What was that back there?" Luciana began as soon as we got into the green house. Abigail and I sat down at the tea table and watched Mom and Luciana yell at each other; it was getting old.
"Can't you at least buy a heart? It's barely two weeks since those kids lost their mother and now they are turning to their Dad's family for support, you want them to find out that you hate their mother? How terrible is that?"
"Luciana please be quiet, I'm not going to argue with you right now." That was new! Mom never misses an opportunity to argue with Lucy. Maybe James's reaction was taking its toll on her.
"I hate that slut and I am not ashamed to admit it." Mom came over to sit across from me; Luciana followed suit.
"Matthew, how are the funeral arrangements coming along?" Mom asked.
"We haven't decided yet. Mark wants the kids to be ready for it before we even mention it."
"Ready for what? Just dig up the ground and throw her corpse in! It doesn't even matter where."
"Mom!" Luciana snapped. I rolled my eyes; I knew she was kidding but I didn't like that she could talk about someone's body like that.
"Relax, I was kidding. Matthew listen, the sooner you bury that... that... person, the better for everyone. Claire and James can move on and you and Abigail can get married immediately."
"What?" Abigail and I said in unison.
"Whoa, Mom, hold it. First, Doris' burial can't be rushed judging by the circumstances. And second, who said anything about Abigail and I getting married?"
"The woman was killed, too bad for her, that's over; let's bury her and move on."
"Give it some time, Mom, it's just been weeks."
"No one asked you, Luciana. And Matthew, aren't you two planning on getting married soon?" Mom narrowed her eyes at me.
"We're not."
"Why is that? Are you still hooked on your dead wife? You know you were supposed to be married to Abigail before that thing came into the picture."
"'That thing had a name, it's Doris. Can't you at least show a little respect?" Mom turned to Lucy as if she'd grown a second head.
"Respect? For who exactly? That... That..."
"Mom..." I said in a low warning tone. She put up her hands in surrender.
"Alright, I'll call her name from now on. So, tell me, why aren't you getting married soon?"
"Listen to yourself for once. I just lost my wife, my kids just lost their mother; I'm finally reunited with my children and you want me to drop the news of me remarrying on them? How do you expect them to react to that?"
"Matt is right." Abigail reached for my hand under the table and held it. "You saw Claire's hand, she got hurt because she was overthinking my presence. Matt and I were supposed to be together before Doris, true, but that was a long time ago. A lot has happened since then and we have to think about the children right now."
"Yes..." I agreed, giving her hand a little squeeze. "And if we want to get married, it'll be our decision." I turned to Mom and narrowed my eyes at her for effect. "Not yours."
"Are you trying to say that the decisions I make for you are the wrong ones?"
"Clearly." Lucy answered for me.
"Excuse me?"
"Look at my marriage, Mom! You made me marry Thomas... What am I saying? You forced me to marry Thomas. And now, fourteen years later and after two kids, he wants a divorce."
"The divorce isn't happening, Luciana. And don't blame it all on me, you were happy to be married to him in the first place."
"I was eighteen! I was trying to get away from you and he wasn't a monster then. My point is, if you didn't butt in where you weren't needed, maybe I'd be married to someone I loved and still love."
"Oh, I see what's happening here. You feel you're grown now and you can make decisions for yourself."
"We are grown Mom, open your eyes."
"Good. Then I guess I'm not needed anymore." Mom stood up, nodded at us and left immediately.
"Oh, Luciana, I think you hurt her feelings." Lucy shrugged at Abigail's remark.
"She had it coming. Besides, her sweet boy here will definitely pacify her." They both turned to me.
"What? She's my Mom. I know she can be a lot most times, but it doesn't mean she is the worst human alive."
"She is."
"Lucy, you've got to stop blaming Mom for your divorce, it's all on Thomas. He's a dick and if you'll just let me handle him, I'll..."
"No way! Just stay out of it, the divorce is almost over and the sooner it is, the sooner I can concentrate on myself and my kids. Excuse me, I'll go kiss my children goodbye, the jet lag is kicking in."
"James?" Claire's alarmed voice caught our attention. I was on my feet in no time and was already out of the green house. Claire was bent over James' sitting form; she looked really worried and he wasn't moving.
"What's wrong?" At the sound of my voice, she shielded his body with hers.
"It's nothing, he just wants a nap."
"But he's so still." I heard Abigail say over my shoulder.
"He gets like this when he needs a nap." She was lying, clearly. Anyone would believe her if they didn't know her as well as I do. She bites her upper lip when she lies.
"Wait, I'll carry him." I offered.
"No!" She protested immediately. Lucy was next to her instantly, holding her shoulders.
"Claire, relax. Something is definitely wrong and we all know that, there's no use hiding it anymore." I watched her as she calmed down a little, but she was really chewing her upper lip.
"What is wrong with James?" I asked.
"He's okay, he's just..."
"What?" She looked at me, pressed her lips together, then exhaled.
"He's not with us right now."
"What does that mean?" Abigail asked.
"Sometimes when he's upset, he goes into his special place. I call it his private world but the doctor calls it... Schizophrenia." Luciana and Abigail inhaled sharply. I still couldn't process what I was hearing; my four-year old son has schizophrenia?
"How's that possible? He's so little.""Well, that's what the doctor said." Claire snapped at Abigail. I could see that it was a hard topic for her, hell; it was hard for me too."It just started one day; he had a fever so I went down to the pharmacy to get him some drugs, when I got back, Frank and Mom were fighting, right in front of him. When I took him away to his room, I noticed that he wasn't moving at all, it was as if he paused in time." She stopped and looked at me. "That was two years ago. The doctor said it's really rare for kids, yet here we are."Damn! Why does everything have to be so wrong? Schizophrenia? Isn't that just too much?"He's coming back." Claire muttered under her breath so that only we heard her. James blinked twice, then stretched."Claire!" He sounded cheerful. "There are so many pictures of you here and none of me.""Sorry, Buddy. It's just that Dad doesn't have any of your pictures.""What about t
ClaireAs much as Jacey couldn't stop talking, Antonio couldn't even say a word. All day, I've tried different ways to get him to talk to me but it was as if I was talking to a rock. He never responded and I couldn't take it personal because he didn't speak to anyone else either. Maybe it was his thing, the deep melancholy. But I couldn't give up on being great friends with him; it made more sense since he's only a few months older than me.The next morning, after I had gotten ready to leave for my old home, I decided to ask Antonio to join me. Even though I told my Dad I would go and was very stubborn about it, it spooked me out to go back there. I would have easily asked Jacey but she's just ten and she mentioned going somewhere with Grandma. Dad had insisted that I take a bodyguard or he'd ask some cops to escort me but I turned him down flat; I made him promise to let me do it myself.He would have kept pestering me if Abigail hadn't interve
I put my hands over my mouth to suppress the frightened cry that left my lips. I was looking at him, I was looking at my mother's killer. I pressed my eyes closed to calm myself down, and when I reopened them, Jason was already making his way towards Frank with a kitchen knife. I didn't know what was going on in his head; was he about to commit murder? I turned to Antonio, he had his eyes fixed on Jason but he made no attempt to stop him."Jason, stop!" I screamed, going after him. Frank opened his eyes immediately and in a flash, he went for the knife, fighting to get it out of Jason's grasp. I stopped in my tracks, unable to do anything. I turned to Antonio, only to find out that he was gone! Gone to where?! I just couldn't imagine Antonio running away, more like fleeing and leaving me to deal with the situation myself.Jason successfully pushed Frank away from him as he stood beside me, reaching for my hand."Clary? Who's this brat?" Frank was panting hard, m
MattIt was bad enough that I couldn't discourage Claire from going back to the murderer's house; I also had to deal with my jackass business partner Nathaniel, who just wouldn't stay away from Abigail. Don't get me wrong, I know she doesn't belong to me and she's a free woman; yet it's so annoying to see him all over her.Abigail doesn't even like him! I mean, she's definitely not entertaining his flirting.But, it would have been a whole lot better if she was speaking properly to me. Forget about speaking properly, she was clearly avoiding me; speaking formally to me, barely touching me. In fact, she only made physically contact with me when she pushed me out of Claire's room, every other time, she either looked away from me or spoke with monosyllables.I didn't know what her deal was and she also refused to tell me. I felt I did something wrong, but how do I apologise for something I don't even know about?
As expected, Abigail focused solely on James and I didn't get any chance to talk to her at all. I didn't want to say anything in front of James but I needed to know what her problem was. When she wouldn't give me even the tiniest attention, I left them alone and stayed in my study room burying myself in work.I called Antonio again and asked how Claire was doing. She was still unconscious. It worried me but since Antonio assured me she'll be fine, I had to wait for morning; no matter how tormenting it was. Usually, it's times like this I have Abigail beside me. Now, I'm alone and Abigail somehow hates me. We've never argued before so seriously, never. It felt as if we're just going around in circles.I couldn't remember doing anything wrong, so why did she want to break up? Why am I saying breakup? We're not dating, right? Do I want to date her though? Yeah, definitely. Forget about dating, I want to marry her. She's the only person I want by my side every second.
ClaireWhen I awoke, rays of sunlight were already peeking through the curtains. I sheepishly yawned and stretched on the bed, absentmindedly reaching for Antonio. He wasn't there."I might as well get up." I turned to the bedside clock, it was already past 7 am.I went to the bathroom to wash my face or maybe shower, but I didn't want to wear my old clothes on a clean body. Luckily for me, there were clean clothes on the bathroom sink with a sticky note on it. It wrote: 'It's a good thing we're the same size. You won't mind me lending you this, right? Tyler'. How sweet of him! I held up the tee-shirt and skinny jeans; definitely guy fashion but they would do. With little touch ups here and there, no one would guess they belonged to a guy.I took a quick bath and dressed up; I knotted the tee shirt at the side to fit me more and pulled up my hair in a loose ponytail. For all it's worth, I looked ready for a jog at the park.
I was so thankful when we pulled into my Dad's house. Dad stopped the car at the entrance and turned to me. "James believes you spent the night at your Uncle's because you missed Tyler. Nick dropped by with the stuff you got from..." He didn't finish that statement and turned to Antonio instead. "Lucy's here, she knows about yesterday. What did you see?" Antonio quickly put up a hand to his cheek, looking down. "She's in a bad mood, I'll definitely get slapped." "Then I guess I'll try to slow her down while you make a run for it." Dad said with a grin. I was like, totally confused. What were they talking about? "Too late, she's coming." I looked up at the entrance and Aunt Luciana was really coming towards us; James was behind her. That wasn't important; what I wanted to understand was, how could Antonio know that when he's been looking down?! "Seriously, Claire, not now." He snapped at me. Uhm, excuse me? "I didn't even say anything."
I decided to mind my business and finish my meal. Antonio did the same, although he had a huge frown on his face."What happened?" Aunt Luciana was by the door, looking disappointed."We had an argument about Dad." Antonio's reply was nonchalant."I've told you, don't indulge her. Jacey is fragile and this whole situation is not easy for her." Antonio threw away the egg he was about to eat and got up so fast, his stool fell over."You know, I feel like you care about everyone else more than you care about me. I'm a boy, I need to protect Claire, but you didn't think that I could have gotten hurt there as well. Rather than scolding Jacey for hiding important stuff from us, you want me to be less normal and do more. Now, Jacey is fragile and this whole situation is not easy for her, what about me? I'm an outsider, right? You don't think it affects me?" No one needs to be told how hurt Antonio felt; his voice was really pained. Aunt Luciana couldn't even say