Greetings! Season's greetings! It's still Christmas day, and I decided to post another chapter… Enjoy..
"I'm home…" Mike announced.
"Oh, hello honey!" His mom said, walking out of the kitchen. "Well you're home later than usuaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! What happened to you?" his mom asked, taking his noticeable wounds seriously.
"Let's talk about it when Dad gets home," Mike growled.
"Already here!" His dad sang. He too noticed the cuts and rushed over.
"Great, now we can talk," Mike forced.
"Oh, but our food is getting cold. Why don't we talk at the table?" His mom suggested.
So as the family sat down, Mike told him about the good things first. "So, today, I beat the math challenge, and I met up with Zoey."
"Oh, Sweetie, that's wonderful," his mom laughed, looking relieved for some reason.
"Yeah, but there's one thing I don't understand," Mike said, trying to enjoy the last few moments with his parents keeping their little secret.
"What's that, kid?" his father asked.
"Um….why didn't you tell me the truth about Aden?" Mike asked. His parents looked like ghosts. They were all white and Mike's mom had even dropped her fork. The clatter rang through the silence.
"…Who…who told you?" his father asked in the exact same hoarse voice he used when they found Aden. Mike hated that voice.
"Oh, I just remembered it today. For 30 minutes I remembered you guys telling me lies. For 30 minutes I suffered next to his dried blood." By now, he was yelling. "FOR 30 MINUTES I FOCUSED ON THOSE LIES, LETTING MY PERSONALITIES ESCAPE! FOR 30 MINUTES I WATCHED MY LIFE CRUMBLE. FOR 30 MINUTES I WATCHED ADEN LAY THERE, DEAD. THE TRUST WE USED TO HAVE IS GONE…. I CAN'T EVEN LOOK AT YOU GUYS! YOU TOLD ME HE WAS IN THE ARMY. I THOUGHT HE WAS A BIG HERO! I WROTE MY BIGGEST HERO ESSAY ON HIM 10 YEARS AGO! I GOT AN A ON AN ESSAY BASED ON LIES! GO TO HELL!"
"Chad, do something…" His mom whispered.
Mike's dad stood up, grabbed a pineapple, and threw it at Mike's head. Mike blacked out.
Wow, there are a lot of YouTube videos starring us. Thought Zoey. She clicked on one titled, Mike and Zoey's Relationship. As she watched, she realized what she had put Mike through. She cringed when she thought of herself being mad at Mike for kissing Anne Maria. Even if she had known Mike had this condition, she shouldn't have just blamed him. They weren't even dating at that point. She guessed she was jealous because she really liked Mike too, but that really didn't make a difference. Oh well, they were together now, and that's all that mattered to her. When the video ended, Zoey looked out her window to the house next door. To her surprise, she saw Mike's parents easing him onto his bed. He looked fine when he left…. Zoey thought of Mike's outburst. Zack! And Lake! I hate them! First they bully me because of my personalities, and then they give them back? Zoey wondered who Zack and Lake were. Bullies, duh, but she wasn't aware of the fact that he was being teased.
"Zoey, we're going to meet the neighbors in 15 minutes," Zoey's mom called from downstairs.
"Okay mom!" answered Zoey.
As Zoey and her parents made their way to the house next door, Mike's parents appeared at the front door.
"Welcome new….SWEET JESUS! Look Chad, Zoey lives next door now!" Mike's mom yelled.
"How do you know our daughter?" Zoey's father asked.
"We're Mike's parents," Chad explained. "I'm Chad, and this is my wife, Jen."
"I'm Jack, and this is my wife, Gillian. And of course, you know my daughter." Zoey's father introduced.
"Umm," Zoey spoke up. "Is Mike sleeping or something?"
Jen looked scared for a moment. "Well, he had a rough day… so he's just resting.."
"Oh, okay.."
"I'm sure he'll be down soon. While we're waiting, why don't we all sit down?" Jen suggested.
Spotting the pineapple on the counter, Jack said, "Why don't we cut up that pineapple?"
Jen ran to the bathroom to puke.
When Mike woke up, he remembered nothing. He heard talking downstairs so he went to investigate. As he made his way into the living room, he spotted his parents on the sofa, looking tense at the sight of him.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Zoey's family is here. They just moved in next door," his mom replied.
"No way! Nice to meet you!" Mike said happily.
Jack and Gillian stood up to shake Mike's hand. They held up a plate of pineapple cubes.
"Would you like some pineapple?" Jack offered. Mike turned to his parents. The pineapple brought him back to the alley scene.
"HOW COULD YOU? AFTER THE SUFFERING I ENDURED IN THAT ALLEY YOU THROW A PINEAPPLE AT MY HEAD? WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU? DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ADEN'S DEATH? DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME SORT OF GAME? I DON'T CARE IF WE HAVE COMPANY HERE, I DON'T CARE IF THEY ARE ZOEY'S PARENTS! YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO APOLOGIZE…..NOW!" Mike screamed.
At that outburst, Zoey's parents looked positively frightened. They were seriously wondering if their daughter's boyfriend was having some sort of breakdown due to pineapples.
As Chad and Jen apologized to Mike and Aden, Mike looked the most frightened. He couldn't believe he had said that… The two people he loved the most were like putty in his hands… It wasn't a good feeling…
I'm not gonna open my mouth for anything. I'm trying to starve myself, thought Scott as his mother tried to feed him some potatoes. She had tried to trick him with the airplane trick, but he was way past falling for that. Finally, she just reeled back her arm and jammed the spoon into Scott's mouth. His eyes filled with tears at the jolt. Again and again she drove spoonful after spoonful into his mouth. So much for that plan. As soon as dinner was over, Scott bolted from the room in the chair.
Two weeks had passed, and Scott hadn't seen his Pappy yet. Scott wondered if it was possible for his Pappy to know about his apologies. Oh boy, he would've blown a fuse if he had known. Scott was really worried for his Pappy's sake. He hadn't come down for dinner in a week. Scott moved his chair to the corner of the hallway where his parents were whispering. It was listening to their conversation that killed Scott inside….
More suspense…. Ugh, I'm so sick of writing about that damn pineapple! Well, R&R! Peace out!
