Empty - 4. Two Sides, Same Coin

Life and death are on two sides of the same coin. The same can be said about lies and truths. You either tell the truth or you lie. You either live or you die.

Dinner that evening was rather tense. Mom was brutally cutting her steak while dad was essentially killing the already meat with the way he was stabbing it. Isaac was calmly eating his food while I had no appetite at all. My stepdad was trying to keep a conversation going but the crowd tonight wasn’t having any of that. Cameron still hasn’t come down after his explosive episode earlier. I don’t blame him though as I was about to do the same the same thing the moment dad poked his head through the door. I still don’t know why I am still sitting here at this table because it is not out of respect for my stepdad or our guests. Maybe I’m curious as to why they are here.

“So, what brings you back to town, David?” mom begins the interrogation.

“Didn’t know that you ran this town now, Catherine,” dad replied coolly. “I came back because I have to work here and to give Isaac the best education money can buy. Is that so wrong?”

“Not at all David. I guess being a single parent has opened your eyes huh?” mom snidely replied.

“Now, now you two, you’re embarrassing yourselves in front of the kids,” my stepdad said trying to cool the now heating fight. They backed off, but only to make way for a new fight. A fight between the kids themselves.

“So, Arnold, how’s Alex? Isaac asked knowing the answer to this question.

“I don’t know. How about we go visit his grave tomorrow and you can ask him. While we’re there, maybe we should start digging your grave as well. A lot of accidents have been popping up lately and I'm sure you're prone to end up in one of them,” I replied with a real dark look on my face.

“So scary. Gosh, where did the happy-go-lucky “Arnie” go?” he asked mockingly.

“Oh, that guy. He walked out of my life the exact same way you and dad did.” I replied, not backing down from his attacks. As soon as I said that, his face resembled mine now and we both looked like we were going to kill each other. Sadly, looks cannot kill so the bastard isn’t dead yet.

“ENOUGH!” my stepdad shouted as he banged his fists on the table and rose up from his chair in an almost blind rage. “From the moment these two entered it’s been this cat-and-mouse game to see who gets the other angrier or who gets the other to snap first. Whatever game it is, I don’t FUCKING CARE! I just want to eat my dinner in relative peace so can you all just SHUT THE FUCK UP???!”

And just like that, not a single word was spoken and not a single death glance was shot across the table. As dinner ended, however, my curiosity came to its climax and I had to ask the one question mom has been evading.

“Dad, why did you walk out of our lives all those years ago? Mom keeps dodging the question and telling me you two were “unhappy” together, but I feel that there is more to the story than meets the eye,” I asked looking him in the eye.

“I don’t know if I should answer…”

“FOR FUCK SAKES ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION!!!” I screamed getting fed up with the deceit in this family. “I PLAYED THE NAÏVE SON ROLE FOR LONG ENOUGH! EITHER YOU TELL ME, OR I FIND OUT AND WHEN I DO, PRAY TO GOD THAT HE HAS A SEAT THERE FOR YOU!”.

“ARNOLD JAMES WILLIAMS, YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO YOUR FATHER THIS INSTANT!” my mother screamed at me.

“You have some nerve. YOU OF ALL PEOPLE ARE TELL ME TO APOLOGIZE? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?” I screamed at my mom.

SMACK!!! The sound echoed throughout the house. I touched the cheek that my mother had just slapped. Utterly stunned, I sat in my chair unable to process what had just occurred. My mother stood opposite me with a look of rage at first, then a look that probably resembled mine. Never in my life has she ever laid a hand on me in this manner. Isaac himself looked terrified.

“A-Arnold, I-I didn’t mean to…” mom started but didn’t finish as I bolted from the table and out the front door. With no car, I just ran out of the now opening big gate and into the streets. For some odd reason, tears were rolling down my face. I had absolutely no idea where I was going but I had to get away from that house.

*Isaac’s POV*

Whoa. That was scary as hell. I’ve never seen that look on mom’s face and I don’t think dad was expecting her to do that. She was always this sweet mother who would still smile at you while serving your punishment. She never hit us once in our lives and that was the first time I had seen such happening. I immediately felt sorry for Arnold and was about to go after him when his stepdad told me to stay and he’d go.

After that, mom broke down and started crying. I always thought I was tough but sitting there and watching her cry made me want to go over there and comfort her while shedding a few tears of my own. Dad was looking at her with the same look, but he made no move to implement his plan.

“Catherine…” dad started, “What happened to us?”

Mom, unable to reply just looked up at dad and cried even more. I started feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation, but mom held up a hand to indicate that I must not go anywhere yet. After a few minutes, she got her breathing under control and turned to face me but kept her head down the entire time. She looked defeated and helpless in that moment and I was close to discarding my pride and hugging her.

“You remember my parents?” she began.

Who could forget those monsters? I hated them from the first visit. They disliked me and Arnold, and only cared for Cameron. They were the incarnation of evil if they did not care for you at all. They also treated dad like shit and disregarded him every time they came to visit. Dad always kept a brave face the entire time they were here and as soon as they left he’d curse like a sailor and lock himself in his office, which usually indicated that he was going to drink himself to sleep. The died 2 years ago and I feel no remorse whatsoever towards them.

“Well, they found out that Isaac and Arnold weren’t Toby’s children.”

“Wait, who is Toby?” I asked, a little perplexed by this revelation.

“Toby was my first husband before your father. He is Cameron’s biological father. He walked of Cameron’s life before he even turned 3 years old. He grew bored of me apparently, or so my parents would always say. They believe that I wasn’t satisfying him in bed or that I was not doing all that I could to keep him in my life. I was heartbroken when I found David on Cameron’s 3^rd birthday. He was friends with my older brother and that’s how we met. Anyways, after my parents found out that the twins were not Toby’s, they started treating them and you horribly in hopes you’d up and leave. When you showed no sign of leaving, they threw an ultimatum at me. That I find someway to get rid of you, or they’d do it themselves and heaven forbid anyone or anything that got in their way. I was so scared then, because they hated you and the twins and wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if that was all it took to get you to leave. Out of fear of losing everything, I started to do things that eventually put you at the doorstep of our old house with Isaac at your side. I wanted to tell you to stay and tell you about my parents and their threat, but I feared them finding out and implementing their methods to rid you of me. That day I lost the love of my life and one of my children, although Arnold wasn’t the same after you left until Alex came. That boy was his world. I saw it in his eyes. He would have killed for that kid if he’d been asked to. When Alex shot himself, I lost another child and essentially, my parents got their wish.”

Mom looked dead after telling her story, but she also looked like a massive burden was lifted from her shoulders. She sort-of resembled the mother I’d grown up seeing at that moment and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I stood up and walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms. She began sobbing as soon as I did this, and I couldn’t hold back my emotions and stared crying with her. Dad sat there stunned but oddly calm. He looked at mom with a look I couldn’t decipher at the time but would later recognize as odd admiration. The strength mom displayed that night was something that touched dad and me. As all this was happening, I couldn’t help but wonder where Arnold had run off to.

*Arnold’s POV*

As soon as my legs tired out, I staggered into a slow walk and began to take in my surroundings. It looks like I was at the park Grayson, Rudolph and I were at earlier. I strode towards the spot we sat at and plopped down heavily from the exhaustion that I was experiencing. I began to recollect the past hour or so and I still could not believe my mother had hit me. I’d always believed her to be a rock that I could lean on and would never hurt me, no matter what I did. I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that she raised her hand at me.

After some time, I started getting tired of sitting alone and was about to go home when I saw a figure sitting under a tree, enjoying the sunset. The longer I looked at him, the more I realized that it was the creepy guy from earlier. I turned to leave when I heard some shout “Hey!”. I ignored it and was starting to walk away when I heard someone run up to me and lay a hand on my shoulder. Scared, I froze and didn’t move for a bit. Then, I slowly turned to face the person who’d given me such a fright. Standing in from of me was the person who had been stalking me, and as I’d later find out, the person whose entire existence revolved around mine.

“Hey, I noticed you didn’t hear me or ignored me, so I decided to run over and introduce myself,” the green-eyed, auburn haired, freckle-faced guy said to me. Oddly, I was mesmerized by his eyes and found that I couldn’t turn away even if I wanted to. “The name’s Chuck, what’s your name?”