Soul of my Soul

Chapter Seven : Solace

""WHO IS HE!"

The boy cried out in protest. Half an hour before Jed Talus was set to leave his home for the last time, his surrogate parents, his grandparents, told him a secret. A secret they had kept from him for 18 years.

"I can't tell you"

It was a mistake. Revealing this secret was completely mistimed. It was an accident. He wasn't supposed to find out like this. So carelessly, after keeping this secret safe for 18 years, he found it.

"Why not? Tell me his name!"

"No!"

"Why the hell not!"

"Don't speak to me like that!"

"Tell me my father's name!"

Dressed in a blue navy jumpsuit, he certainly looked the part. Intelligent, ambitious, driven. He achieved everything he had wanted too. This was supposed to be his moment, the day he would go to take up his role as a UEO officer. Now it's all clouded, all because of one careless moment. It was just a few pieces of paper, but they had held so many secrets just waiting for mistaken eyes to see.

"No Jed. I'm not going to tell you, you are better off without him."

"THAT IS A LIE! Pappy, tell me!"

"Stay out of it Gill"

"You can't keep this from me, you don't have the right"

"Jed! Try to understand, this will not help you in any way, let it go, believe me he is not worth throwing all your hard work away on."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"I lost my little girl to him, I am not about to lose you too…"

A car pulls up outside, its time for him to go, but he isn't ready, things aren't finished, they owe him too much, his mother, his father, he lost both because of them. So many lies. So many lies.

"She killed herself because of you! Now your taking this away from me too, you're selfish, a selfish old woman, she is dead because of you!"

Cold, cold hands violate Jed's tear drawn face with intense stinging. Swift, harsh and with disregard, they express the old woman's truth.

"Get out!" she coldly sneers.

Jed picks up his duffel bag and leaves, it doesn't matter what he says or does now, and they're lost to him. What are the chances of finding his father now? A million to one, without a clue. Jed wasn't used to being without direction. He hated it. The fear of never being given the chance made him sick with anger. He is glad to be leaving. This place isn't his home anymore.

Exiting the cold home, the old man rushes after him.

"Jed, wait!"

Jed stops

Gill hugs the boy and wipes a tear from under his eye. He hands him an envelope

"Keep the letters. You should know you are very much like him."

He doubts the guilt has torn them in anyway, but Jed takes the solace offered by his grandfather. Taking a pen from his pocket and with a forgiving hand, he writes on the envelope. He gives Jed a clue. A name. Eastern European in its decent and pronounced not as it's spelt, but these facts he was oblivious too. Jed didn't really understand the relevance, but there was a sudden lightness, a change of heart there in the old mans eyes. Jed had found a direction again.

The car beeps its horn impatiently.

He leaves his home, and all the lies, never looking back.