~*~Jayson Clearwater~*~
Chapter 3: That empty chair syndrome.
Sometimes you know something's wrong by the absence of people in your life.
That was my disposition in the world that I was born in. My mother, Leah Clearwater, gave birth to me on her very own with no witnesses. She took care of me completely on her own for the first few months of my life (which as I got older I had no idea how she accomplished either of those… But she did… And I fear a further explanation...). My grandmother and uncle stepped in when they saw the horrible inner city (hell hole) apartment my mother had called home. I was born in Seattle but lived most of my life in a small Indian preserve known as La Push. I was different and everyone on the block knew it, If you're depressed now than I'm doing my job right.
It's sad when a kid wakes up early on all his birthdays just to be able to hear the roar of a motorcycle on his house's road. Just to be able to run out of the house and see their biological father for five seconds before their father nearly throws a horribly wrapped box at them and burns rubber away. That's pretty sad, huh? But you know what? I've never thought badly of my father, not once. I was always looking forward to those few seconds that I could see him. Deep inside I always loved him, I always wanted to hug him and tell him I loved him too.
My name is Jayson but to others, such as the crazy -and senile- old lady who lives next door, I'm known as Sunshine Kid…Which in itself is a pretty obnoxious name…The name comes from my VERY abnormal, yet natural, sandy blonde hair (just in case you were wondering). My eyes, features, and skin color show that I'm really Indian though, which probably saves my mother a lot of speculation…
To sum up my social life: My only friends pick at my life while the reserve elders look down at me as an abomination. All of their hatred towards me is not because of something understandable (Such as the way I might treat people or behave) But instead because of well… THE FACT that my father left my mother and I for a woman they called "blood-sucking-leech" whatever that meant! To narrow that long explanation into one runoff sentence: They hated me just because my light hair was abnormal and my family was torn by death and scandal… And leaches… I know stupid huh?
But I never hated my father. (Somehow we got back to the father note….?)
At the moment; I stood near one of the few windows my grandmother's house contained, my face plastered to its glass which was fogging up from my breathing on it. Thinking through my existence was a hobby of mine. I always tried to find a reason for why the world had left me in the back of the pack. I was only seven and was having trouble keeping up with my classmates. I feared being sick at least one day because whenever I came back it seemed like someone my height had grown a foot taller. Or in some cases it seemed like my studies had increased in difficulty tenfold. Though with other misfortunes in my life I got sick a lot, Heart failure, liver problems, weak immune system, and even asthma ran in my family's gene pool. I was sick constantly it seemed and for the longest periods of time. Yah my life was pretty f**ked up (My mother really liked the word f**k… so I kind of liked it too!), but enough reminiscing.
It was a cold cloudy month of April, the middle of the month in fact, April 15th. I was turning 8 today at precisely 9:34 AM. It was 6:00 right now though and I could barley hold still in anticipation. As I stared outside my mother walked into the room and stared at me for a moment like I was some alien. When I realized she was there I turned around and looked up at her my hands still pressed to the window.
"What?" I asked self consciously. My mom rolled her eyes.
"Don't 'what?' me. Why are you up so early, and why are you pressing your face up against the window? You know grandma doesn't like that." She told me upfront her eyes squinting from the morning sunlight shining in and her hand in her hair (Which was currently a mess from her sleeping).
"I'm waiting for Dad!" I whined expecting her to already know this. Her expression flashed with pain though, the emotion I did not want to see on her face. I wanted my mother to be happy! Not sad! Why were adults so sad? They needed to learn to be a kid again! I responded instantly by walking over and -feeling bad for my bluntness- hugged her.
"WHY don't you go get dressed, and then go outside and play instead?" She yelped instantly pushing me away, my mom didn't like hugs for some reason. But I liked hugging her! And that was ALL that mattered. At her comment though, I had to wrinkle my nose in disagreement.
"But, but! What if he comes early this year!" I said childishly. She rubbed her eyes and sighed disapprovingly.
"Jayson, honey, he's probably not going to come until tonight. Last time he came right before your bed time. Why don't you go have fun? It's your birthday isn't it?" My mother told me pushing me away from the window and up the stairs to get me dressed.
"BUT! What if I miss him! What if something happens?" I complained trying to push the opposite direction.
"You won't be late! Don't worry you won't miss him. Now come on let's get you dressed." She sounded annoyed. I frowned and didn't object for fear of getting a whooping, but I continued to push against her hoping to make some ground. Finally she got fed up with my resistance and picked me up bridal style, then carried me the rest of my way to my room. I made sure I was pouting the whole time.
When we reached my door she dropped me in my room and I began getting dressed (since she had already succeeded in getting my stubborn self Into the room) with the clothes my grandma laid out for me every night. After I was dressed I walked out of the room to brush my teeth peeking over the stairwell to see if anyone had arrived. No one was though so I took a deep breath and went to the bathroom. I got out my tooth brush and the toothpaste tub, as I squeezed the toothpaste tub nothing came out as usual. I shook the tub quickly to try and get it to work with no success. After a few minutes of wrestling with it, I peeked inside the tub where I could faintly see toothpaste and sat it down. I took my fist and slammed it down on the tub. Sure enough there must have been some toothpaste left, because it squirted absolutely everywhere... I took my tooth brush and dipped it into a newly created pile of tooth paste located conveniently on my shirt, a grin of achievement on my face.
After I brushed my teeth and cleaned up the toothpaste, well most of it, I walked out of the bathroom and headed down the stairs. The sound of people talking came up and into my ear making me smile widely. Was my dad here? Already?
"Hel-l-l-l-oh?" I said hurrying into the kitchen with a huge smile on my face. I stopped processing the faces in the kitchen. My mother, grandmother, and uncle stood before me a cake was in my mom's hands and a grin on all of their faces. YUS! BIRTHDAY CAKE!... So I like cake? Is there a problem with that? HUH? Other people I kind of knew stood in the kitchen waiting for me more than likely. Two of my classmates and the weird boy at my school (Jordin) came up to me and pulled me into the kitchen. I looked up at my mom as she sat the cake, she had more than likely baked, on the table. My eyes widened at the sight of the yummy cake that was SOO going in my stomach. My classmates made a circle around me and sat down at the table which had more than likely every chair in the house pulled up to it. My uncle picked me up before I could respond and sat me down right in my spot. The cake sat in front of me only a few inches away… totally tempting me. Soon everyone else had picked a seat and my mother took her place right behind me. I looked at the cake covered in white icing with 8 candles on top. Sure it wasn't perfect or something you'd buy in a bakery. But it was unique just like me. I opened my mouth to say something only to be silenced by their singing of;
"Happy birthday Too you!-." I looked up at my mom's grin in time to grin back. My grandmother leaned over and started lighting the candles moving my attention back to the cake. When their singing ended my mother leaned down and kissed my forehead.
"Make a wish." She told me softly I looked up at her to see her loving expression.
"I already got what I want though." I said my grin taking over my whole face. She kneeled down and hugged me (finally! I FRICKEN LOVE HUGS!). As I wrapped my little arms around her tears started stinging my eyes.
But before I could blow out my candles… The sound of a motorcycle rumbled in the distance.
"Shit!" My mom yelled standing up and turning to the door. I blinked my eyes taken aback and my arms still extended in confusion. Two of the parents covered their child's ears a few steps behind, well at least that's what I thought until more curses came rolling off my mother's tongue. I got out of my seat in confusion though my grandmother reached out to stop me. My mom was walking down the hall now toward the door the sound getting louder.
"Mom what's….?" I started to ask what was wrong then a smile spread across my face as I realized what the sound was.
'He came after all.'
I kicked it into high gear and ran past my mother making her stop and stare at me. As I put my hand on the door knob I could hear the rumble outside the house. Filled with excitement, I turned the door knob and started to open it.
"NO!" My mom said slamming it closed. I looked up at her in surprise. "NO! NO! NO! That man is not coming close to you!" She yelled throwing a tantrum. My lips opened and closed trying to form something to say but my mind wasn't catching up with my body. I looked over to see my uncle and grandmother heading down the hall, toward the two of us.
"Leah…" my grandmother said reaching out to her. My mother slapped her arm away… Feisty…
"He's not coming in here." My mother yelled curtly. My uncle frowned at her, gesturing to me. I looked up at her as she looked down at me. I opened my mouth to ask 'why' but she had already moved her angry attention back to Seth. "He's not seeing MY Son." She placed extreme emphases on my. My grandmother stared at her blankly obviously speechless like I had been just a few moments ago.
"Jacob deserves to see Jayson." Seth said defending my father which set fire to my mother.
"How can you say that about him? He's a double crossing, two faced jack ass! A-." the next part was something that should not be repeated. My uncle just shook his head and grabbed my mom's shoulders trying to comfort her; she placed her hands on top of his trying to pry them off and totally letting go of the front door. I took advantage of this and ripped the door open running out as quickly as I could. I heard my mother yell behind me but all I could think about was the person in front of me.
He took off his helmet and kicked his bikes kick stand down. He looked over at me as I ran forward a surprised expression on his face by my appearance. He got off his bike as I approached him and I extend my arms and ran toward him faster than I had ever ran before.
But before I could even touch him his hand was on my forehead holding me back.
"Whoa! Whoa! Let's not scratch the bike." Jacob said pushing me back. I looked at him disappointed but kept on smiling. He looked back momentarily a fake smile on his face. There was an awkward stand still as my mother got out onto the lawn.
"JACOB!" She called making us both look over at her.
"Hey there!" He said a grin on his face.
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SH*T." My mother said walking over to me and grabbing my arm tightly... To the point where it HURT!
"I sense some hate in that comment Leah. Is something wrong?" He said, at that time I thought he was hurt by her yelling. But now I know he was mocking her. She narrowed her eyes nearly snarling at him as I looked up at her in fear.
"I hate you Jacob Black, I never want to see your ugly face around here again." She screamed at him. I frowned at her she was acting like a 4 year old, I wasn't even that immature (I WAS 8 NOW!).
"Ohh so now I'm ugly, even though before I was the most beautiful thing on the earth." He said narrowing his eyes (mocking her again).
"GO away JACOB." She said unable to come up with another insult. I knew she still loved my dad inside (MAYBE, Just maybe, THEY WOULD LOVE EACHOTHER AGAIN! [What the hell are you thinking Jayson?]).
"Aren't you mature?" Jacob said teasing her. She just grumbled at him when he didn't budge.
"Go away." She said pleadingly. He laughed selfishly.
"STOP! STOP FIGHTING!" I yelled totally upset and looking between the both of them (now I realize I should have spoken up way before this point..Stupid caught in the moment garb…). Jacob just shook his head and reached into his pocket pulling out a box with a horribly done bow on it. He tossed it at me and got on his bike. I looked down at the present curiously as my mother pulled me into her protectively. Jacob started the bikes engine and looked over at me.
"Oh right, happy birthday…. However old you are." He said putting his helmet on, though it sounded mean there was a hint of regret in his voice. Before I knew it he was down the road and a cloud of smoke was in my face making me cough.
My mother escorted me inside; before I could look up at her she walked up the stairs and turned the corner hiding from the rest of us. I opened the box (not caring that my mother was sobbing) to find a rock on a string. I picked it up and looked at it for a moment, before I knew it the rest of the party had arrived and were going outside (though the guest of honor was gone) my uncle looked over at me and grabbed my arm starting to pull me toward the door. I accidently dropped the rock my father had given (the stupid rock on a string) me near the stairs. I reached over to grab the stupid rock on a string but my uncle kept on pulling me. I grabbed the stair well to stop him from pulling me and went to grab it. He thought I was being stubborn though and kept on pulling me. This ticked me off and I pulled my hand out of his and grabbed the stair well with both of my arms. He grabbed my legs and started pulling me laughing like we were playing a game. But I wasn't playing games with him. Soon we were the only ones left in the foyer. I coughed as my body was stretched. Soon his laughing stopped and he started sensing my mood.
"Jayson come on." He said pulling me I squeezed my eyes shut.
"NO!" I said childishly, he pulled harder but I held on still, my back bone started popping as the air was released from my vertebres. I dug my nails into the stairwell hearing it crack with the force I was enacting on it. I opened my eyes realizing that the world was starting to become shakier. The forms of objects were starting to mix with each other, almost like they were ghosts of themselves. The stair well started cracking as the wood began to weaken. My hands started digging into it making divots that were abnormal. Finally my uncle gave one last tug. And the stair well broke in half coming back and hitting me in the face (OF COURSE).