Note: This is rated T for drug references and a sexual innuendo.
Additional note: Don't own MMPR
Because Letting Go Is Hard To Do
Prologue
It happened back in November 1993, one time while Mr. Cranston was having his lunch break in the university lounge. He was about to start eating when this woman approached the table he was seated at. "Excuse me, but is this place going to be occupied?" She asked him.
"No. Um, please, have a seat." Mr. Cranston replied, reaching over and pulling the chair out for her.
"Thanks." She sat down with her lunch in front of her. "I don't believe we've met before. What's your name?"
"Edward Cranston. And yourself?"
"I'm Karen Faulkner, and I'm one of the accounting professors." She replied.
"Then no, we haven't met. I'm way over on the far end of the university, in the Sciences wing. I'm a Physics professor." Mr. Cranston said.
"How long have you been teaching Physics?" Karen asked.
"Since 1981, when I started out at the University of Pennsylvania. I've only just begun teaching here very recently, which was since 1992. That's the year I was offered this position, and when we moved here. Of course, my two sons objected to having to move across the country, but now they actually like it here."
"Sons? You have kids?"
"William and Bryan. William is 16 and Bryan is 12." Mr. Cranston replied.
"Oh. Then, I guess you're married." Karen said.
"No, it's just myself and the boys."
"For how long, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Since 1989."
"Is it alright if I can ask, what happened with your wife?"
"Well, she was working late this one night, and she was going to be home at 9:00. But she never returned home."
"Oh my God. I- I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Karen stammered, embarrassed.
"No, no. Don't be embarrassed. It's okay. Really. It's been four years since she went missing, and I've decided that it's, time to move on."
"Have you been told what happened, if she's still alive?"
"The police found evidence of blood, which could've been hers. But her blood type is very common that they can't be absolutely sure that it was her blood. There was also two bullets found by the place she parked in underneath the office she worked at, but that also didn't necessarily mean that she was shot, because there wasn't assigned parking there. Anybody can park wherever they want, so might've been somebody else that could've been shot."
"So what's happening now? Is she still listed as missing?" Karen asked.
"For now, yes. Nothing new hasn't come up." Mr. Cranston replied.
"But, how can you move on, without really knowing for sure if she's dead or not?"
"Well, when this much time has passed, I think it's safe to assume that something did happen, and that it's unlikely she's still alive. And it gets more like that with each passing day. However I would be lying if I said I never have had the occasional doubts of that. There has been the odd time that I've wondered if she's still alive and when she'll return home. But like I said, it has been four years, and that's a long time for anyone to be gone and still be alive. Now I just want to know where she is so that we can say goodbye to her properly, the way we were meant to."
"How about your two sons? How has this affected them?"
"Billy is finding it difficult to move on, as he and Janis, that's her name, were pretty close as any mother and son should be. Because he's gifted, Billy sometimes blames himself for her disappearance, that he didn't sense that anything was really wrong up until then. So he has doubts as to whether she isn't alive, and believes she'll come home. Bryan, well, he used to ask me everyday when Janis was coming home. Now he doesn't talk much about it. Both were in counseling, but with Billy, it was more for problems with bullies. I had to send him to a regular public school, because I couldn't afford the rising cost of tuition for the special institution for gifted children and teens that I had sent him too ever since he was five. Billy is way ahead of people his own age, especially when it comes to Science and Math, and the kids were really cruel to him because of that."
"Has it helped? The counseling, I mean."
"With Billy, it helped him in dealing with the emotional stress and trauma brought on from the bullying, but that was only after I found out he had tried to commit suicide. That's how bad the bullying was."
"I'm surprised the school did nothing to help." Karen remarked.
"From what Billy had told me, he complained many times but all he got were excuses like, "They're just jealous", and "Boys do that kind of thing to other boys all the time".
"That's not right. Someone should've intervened. But at least the counseling helped."
"It has helped him in that area, yes." Mr. Cranston replied.
"And Bryan?"
"I think it has too for him, but like I said, he doesn't really discuss it with me that much." Mr. Cranston sighed. "You know, I really hope you don't think I'm dumping too much emotional baggage here.
"No, you haven't. You've been through some pretty rough patches, and I'm, rather amazed at your resilience."
"Well, sometimes I think it's that resilience that has hindered my sons' abilities to deal with their own emotional issues. I tend not to show my emotions, and I think it's something they've copied. Billy especially. He hid his emotions from me so well that I had no clue as to the bullying that was going on." Mr. Cranston replied. He looked down at his watch so that he could see what time it was. "Oh no. Sorry to cut this short, but I have another Physics lecture to give in a few minutes, and I don't want to be late. Maybe we can see each other again?"
"Why not? I'd like that." Karen replied, smiling.
"Okay then."
Several weeks later...
Billy was home from another day at school one afternoon, watching TV, when he heard the front door open downstairs. I guess that's dad, he thought, listening to the voices downstairs. One was his dad's, the other...Is that a woman? Billy thought. His thought was interrupted by his dad calling him. "Billy, I want you to meet someone." Mr. Cranston said when he saw Billy at the landing between that first and second flight of stairs. "I've been meeting with her at lunch for the past several weeks while at work, and I figured that it was time to bring her over to introduce you and your brother to her, and have her over for dinner. This is Karen Faulkner."
"Oh. Hi." Billy said, his tone lacking in enthusiasm.
"Karen is one of the accounting professors." When Billy heard that, he was hit with an eerie feeling of deja vu, as his mom used to be an accountant before she vanished. Is this a flagrant attempt to replace mom? Billy thought, feeling sick to his stomach.
"Nice to meet you Billy. Your dad tells me you're quite the budding scientist." Karen said to Billy.
"Where's your brother?" Mr. Cranston asked him.
"Bryan informed me that he will be arriving back here by 5:00." Billy replied.
"Well, just as long as he isn't late for dinner. I'd also like him to meet Karen."
"Oh, that's nice." Billy said, and went back upstairs. After flicking off the TV, he went into his room, and the next sounds that were heard was him blasting his Duran Duran "Notorious" CD on his stereo.
At dinner, while Bryan didn't seem to mind having Karen over, it wasn't the same with Billy. Having his dad seeing another woman didn't sit very well with him. What about mom? Don't you even care anymore? Billy wanted to say, but he kept it to himself. He forced himself to be nice to Karen for the sake of his dad, answering any questions she asked him, and talked to her. Even though to Billy, it felt like he was betraying his mom. Billy tried not to sound enthusiastic when talking to Karen, but Mr. Cranston didn't seem to notice this.
When Karen had to return home so that she could work on grading her students' papers, Mr. Cranston gave her a drive back to her place. Billy and Bryan came along for the ride as well. "So, what do you guys think of Karen?" Mr. Cranston asked them on the way back to their house.
"She's nice. I like her." Bryan said.
"Billy?" When he got no response, Mr. Cranston looked and saw that Billy was wearing his earphones, listening to his discman. "Billy?" Mr. Cranston tugged on the earphones gently to get Billy's attention.
"What?"
"I was asking, what do you think of Karen?"
"She's, acceptable." Billy replied, with slight hesitation. He wanted to tell his dad how he really felt, but figured it would just make him upset.
"That's all? Just, acceptable?"
"Affirmative. That's it. She's okay." What do you want me to say? That you're betraying mom, and that I dislike Karen because she's nothing more than a replacement? Billy thought angrily. Again, it was what he really wanted to say, but still kept it to himself.
"Alright then." Mr. Cranston said, and decided not to press the issue further. He figured that Billy was just being like that with new people because of the bullying, that the bullies had worn down his opening up to new people, and thought that Billy would adjust to having Karen around.
However, it was still not the case. Over time, Karen started to become a regular presence at the Cranston household. While Bryan didn't seem to mind having her around, it still upset Billy deeply. Not just at Karen, but also his dad. As Mr. Cranston spent more time with her, Billy would wonder if he was trying to forget about his mom completely, treating her situation like she was dead when there was still no definitive proof of that. With Karen, Billy was upset that she was trying to take his dad away from him. This was not jealousy, since Billy had a girlfriend and friends he could turn to, but with his mom being gone, his dad was the only parent he had left to turn to for advice if he wasn't comfortable with talking about things to anyone else. There were also times where Billy and his dad would do things together, and Billy felt that with Karen around, she was also taking that away.
Like this one particular time. Billy had just gotten this nice telescope for Christmas so that he could get a better view of the stars from his room at night. Billy's room had this small balcony, and it was the perfect place to do some stargazing, as Billy was also into astronomy. On their evenings they'd spend together, Mr. Cranston would also join Billy in looking through the telescope, while Billy would take notes. But on this one evening, things were different. Mr. Cranston came into Billy's room to tell him that he had made plans with Karen to go out to dinner, and he found Billy already setting up the telescope. Uh-oh, I knew I forgot something, Mr. Cranston thought. "Are we going to be continuing with our astronomical research that we did the previous weekend?" Billy asked, then he noticed the look on his dad's face, and got the feeling like something was up. "Well, are we?"
"No, Billy, I'm afraid that it will have to be next time."
"Next time? Why?"
"Billy, I had made plans to meet with Karen for dinner, totally forgetting about this. But I promise that next time I won't forget, okay?" He said. Billy sighed dejectedly.
"Alright." He replied, sounding sad.
"Maybe you could invite one of your friends over to help, like say, Jason. Or Sarah could even help you out tonight." Mr. Cranston offered.
"Yeah. I guess I could do that." Billy said.
As Mr. Cranston's dates with Karen increased, Billy began to have that recurring nightmare about his mother, the same one he used to have at age 12, when she disappeared on that night in June 1989 when they were living in Philadelphia. The number of nights Billy would have this nightmare also increased in frequency. One night, there was a thunderstorm predicted, and sure enough, it hit right over top of Angel Grove. "MOM!" Billy cried out, waking up with a sudden start, from having the nightmare again. A few seconds after, there was a loud clap of thunder, causing Billy to jump slightly. He could feel his heart pounding rapidly and hard under beneath his chest, and he was drenched from the cold sweat. Normally Billy was not afraid of thunderstorms, and he could sleep through them. But because the nightmare was so disturbing, Billy was finding it difficult to go back to sleep. However what was about to happen next would be even more frightening. As Billy got up out of bed, he caught his reflection in the mirror on the wall across from his bed. At that moment, there was a flash of lightening, which illuminated his room in a brilliant light, and for a moment, Billy saw another reflection in the mirror, standing behind him. It was an image of his mother, with her skin this ghastly white-blue colour, and her eyes sunken so deep in their sockets that there were these dark circles surrounding them. Billy turned around suddenly, but saw that there was no one standing behind him. Get a grip! He thought, scolding himself. Science still has yet to prove conclusively, the existence of supernatural entities. You're only imagining things. This thought reassured him, albeit slowly. Billy clicked on the light that was on the night-stand next to his bed, and picked up a photo that had been leaning up against the lamp, beside his alarm clock. It was a picture of him and his mother. Billy was nine years old when it was taken, and they had just celebrated his birthday. The present he was holding in front of him in the photo was a chemistry set. On the back of the photograph were the words, "Happy birthday, my little scientist." which his mother had written. She used to call him her little scientist when Billy was younger, and of course as he got older, it got a little embarrassing whenever she called him that. But tonight, Billy longed to hear those words spoken to him again, to hear her voice. Tears began to stream down his face as Billy started to cry. He put the photo back up against the lamp and turned it off. Still crying, Billy laid back down on the pillow. Where are you mom? He thought, wiping the tears from his face, crying himself to sleep.
A couple months passed, and one night in March 1994, Mr. Cranston was getting himself ready as he and Karen were going out for dinner, just the two of them. Karen was at the house too, and while she waited for Mr. Cranston, she checked to make sure her make-up and hair were still okay. When they were ready to leave, they both went downstairs to get their shoes on. But Mr. Cranston forgot to tell Billy that they were leaving, and he was in charge while they were gone. "Oh, Karen could you just head back upstairs and let Billy know that were on our way out?"
"Sure." Karen replied and went back upstairs. Billy was in his room, and he had his music blasting. So when Karen knocked on the door, Billy didn't hear it. "Billy?" She called out. Still no response. After a few seconds, Karen opened the door and went in, catching Billy completely by surprise.
"KAREN!"
"Oh God!" Now she knew why he had the music up really loud. Billy scrambled off the bed as he zipped up his overalls.
"Vacate my living quarters immediately!" He snapped.
"I- I'm sorry!" Karen stammered and hurried out of there, slamming the door behind her. Billy sat back down on the bed with his face in his hands, totally embarrassed.
"Karen, what's going on?" Mr. Cranston asked, coming upstairs. He had heard all the ruckus and was wondering what had happened.
"Billy, I accidentally walked in on him, and he- he was, was..."
"What?" Seeing how flustered Karen was, he figured it had to have been something really embarrassing for both herself, and Billy. "What was it? If he was getting changed into something else when you walked in, I'm sure it was a mistake."
"He wasn't changing." Now Mr. Cranston put two and two together, and knew of only one other thing that Billy had been doingwhich Karen accidentally saw, that would be this embarrassing.
"Alright. I'm sure that if you explain to Billy that this was just a mistake, I think he'll understand."
"But, I can't face him. Not after that. I'm too embarrassed to even look him in the eye."
"Okay. You can wait until we get back. Let me talk to him for now." Mr. Cranston knocked on the door. This time Billy had the music turned down so that he could hear it. Karen went back downstairs to wait.
"What?" He asked sharply. Mr. Cranston went in and closed the door behind him.
"Billy, I know you're embarrassed-"
"Really? What made you come to that conclusion?" Billy replied sarcastically.
"Don't get snippy with me young man." Mr. Cranston said sternly.
"She had no right to just, walk in here! It was something she was never meant to see!"
"Billy, I understand that, and I know you're embarrassed. Karen too. Because you're right, it is a private thing, never meant to be seen by others. However, Karen did knock before she came in here."
"I don't recall hearing her knocking on the door." Billy said.
"Well maybe if you didn't have your music up, you would've been able to hear her knocking. Now, what Karen was going to tell you is that she and I are going out to dinner. We'll be back afterwards, around 8:00."
"Yeah. Sure." Mr. Cranston was turning to leave, but then he stopped. "Billy, is there something else that's bothering you?"
"Negative." Billy replied.
"Are you sure?"
"Dad, nothing else is bothering. I'm just- It feels like I have no privacy now. And I'm feeling like I should be ashamed."
"Don't be. This was just a mistake. Only because it's a wonder you can hear anything at all with your music up as loud as it was." Mr. Cranston said and left the room. Billy paced back and forth, then sat back down on the bed again. My mom would've never done anything like this! She would've knocked louder if I didn't hear her! Billy thought angrily. His resentment of Karen continued to grow stronger.
Billy's being resentful of Karen was bad enough, and now it seemed that Bryan was beginning to change too. But how he dealt with his feelings was different from Billy, and it would all come to Mr. Cranston's attention one day, when Bryan was caught smoking at school, and it wasn't cigarettes that he was caught with. A phone call was made to the house, but Mr. Cranston wasn't home to answer it. Neither was Billy. It was to let Mr. Cranston know that Bryan had been sent home with a week-long suspension. By the time Bryan returned home, there still wasn't anyone else in the house, so Bryan was able to erase the message from the answering machine. However, there was a Parent-Teacher meeting that night, as it was the beginning of the second semester at his school. Bryan hoped his dad wouldn't be going, but that hope was soon dashed. On the way up to the school, Bryan now was hoping that the subject of him being caught smoking and the subsequent week-long suspension wouldn't be brought up.
Again, Bryan's hopes were dashed that night when Mr. Cranston, Bryan and Billy, and Karen, because Mr. Cranston had a dinner date with her again, arrived at the school and were stopped by the school's principal, Mr. Harland. "Excuse me, but are you Edward Cranston, Bryan's father?" He asked. Uh-oh, Bryan thought, getting a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going.
"Yes, I am." Mr. Cranston replied.
"Ah, good. Because there is a matter concerning Bryan which I need to discuss with you." Then Mr. Harland saw Karen with them. "And you must be Mrs. Cranston." Mr. Cranston was going to correct Mr. Harland, but didn't get the chance.
"She is NOT my mother!" Billy replied sharply, angry.
"Billy!" Mr. Cranston scolded, noticing the hurt look on Karen's face.
"I, think I should, head back home." Karen stuttered, embarrassed.
"Damn straight!" Billy added.
"William Richard Cranston! That is enough! How dare you talk to Karen that way! That was extremely rude!"
"Oh like you really care!" Billy retorted.
"I'm going home." Karen said and turned to leave.
"Karen wait!" Mr. Cranston stopped her.
"It's okay. I actually had something to take care of tonight. I shouldn't have come." She proceeded to walk out of the building.
"Call me later? Please?"
"I will." Karen replied as she walked out the door. Mr. Cranston grabbed Billy by his arm, pulling him aside.
"I can't believe you had the nerve to hurt Karen's feelings like that!" Mr. Cranston chided him sternly.
"So now you place more importance on her than on us? More than MOM?" Billy hissed, sneering angrily at his dad.
"Billy-" Mr. Cranston was going to respond, but decided against it. "Never mind. We'll discuss this when we get home."
"Is there a problem, Mr. Cranston?" Mr. Harland asked.
"No sir. Just a little, family issue. It's resolved for now. What was it that you wanted to discuss concerning Bryan?"
"How about we talk about it in my office?"
A few minutes later, they all arrived at Mr. Harland's office. They went in and sat down, with Mr. Cranston and Bryan facing the principal. Billy was sitting off to one side. "So what is this all about?" Mr. Cranston asked.
"Well, I regret to inform you, that earlier today Bryan was caught smoking on school grounds, which is of course, against the school's zero-tolerance policy."
"You were smoking cigarettes?" Mr. Cranston asked Bryan, completely shocked at this revelation.
"It, wasn't cigarettes, sir." Mr. Harland added. Mr. Cranston hit the roof.
"YOU WERE SMOKING MARIJUANA?" He roared at Bryan.
"Dad-"
"Don't you give me ANY excuses young man! How many times have I told you that stuff is hazardous to you health? Not to mention a gateway to getting addicted to that AND possibly other drugs? And what about the fact that you could end up in prison if you were caught with it in public? Did you ever think of that?" Mr. Cranston railed. Bryan rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Hey! Don't you roll your eyes at me Bryan James! You are in big trouble!"
"He has been suspended for a week, and I phoned you about it. But all I got was the answering machine. You didn't get the message?" asked Mr. Harland.
"I guess not. Somebody, must've erased it." Mr. Cranston sarcastically replied, looking at Bryan. He sighed, totally exasperated, and got up. "Come on, we're going home."
"Now?" Bryan asked.
"I am in no mood to stay now, and anything your teachers say, positive or otherwise, will do nothing to change that. You really screwed up here."
"Yeah really." Billy muttered.
"You're not exempt either William!" Mr. Cranston told him.
"What did I do?"
"Don't play absent-minded. You know exactly what you did. We'll discuss it when we get home."
"I'm sorry this unpleasant news had to come at this time." said Mr. Harland.
"Well I'm just glad I found out now, and not later."
It was a very silent car ride on the way back to the house. The radio wasn't even on, as Mr. Cranston usually listened to it in the car. Nobody said anything, not one word.
When they got back home, Bryan just stormed upstairs, without even taking off his shoes. "I can't believe you would do something so stupid Bryan." Mr. Cranston said as he followed Bryan upstairs. Bryan headed towards his room.
"I don't care! And I don't want to talk about it!" He shouted.
"Oh no, we are going to talk about it. Right now!" Mr. Cranston replied as he went into Bryan's room and shut the door behind him. Billy meanwhile, was still downstairs. He threw his shoes angrily into the closet, growling under his breath. When he got upstairs, Billy could hear Bryan and his dad arguing loudly, even with the door closed. Billy went into his bedroom and put on his CD player and earphones, while waiting for his dad to come in and lecture him about what he said to Karen. I don't care, Billy thought, still livid. I can't believe that guy had the bloody nerve to call her Mrs. Cranston!
An hour passed, and Mr. Cranston was done lecturing Bryan. But little did he know that this was just the first step in the beginning of a downward spiral with Bryan. Billy didn't hear his dad come into his room, or see him walk in as his back was turned to the door, until Mr. Cranston grabbed Billy's earphones and gave them a hard yank, pulling them out. That got Billy's attention. "Hey! What was that for?"
"Don't you start William! I am not in the mood for it! With the way you acted towards Karen, I really don't give a damn about your earphones! Now what I want to know is why you were so rude to Karen." Billy snorted sarcastically.
"Why? She's not even my mother!"
"No, but she is an adult, not to mention someone I care about, and she deserves to be treated the same respect. But this isn't the only thing I've noticed. Ever since you first met her, anytime you talk to her, I have noticed this tone of disdain to your voice." Mr. Cranston said.
"But didn't you hear what Mr. Harland called her? He called her Mrs. Cranston!" Billy snapped.
"It was an honest mistake! You still didn't have to take it out on Karen like you did!"
"Nobody should be called Mrs. Cranston except for mom!" Billy shouted.
"Is that what this is really about?" Mr. Cranston asked. "Billy, you're just going to have to accept that Janis is gone!" With that, Billy got up with a start off his bed and proceeded to storm out of his room.
"I wish to be left alone, and I don't care to discuss that right now!" Billy replied sharply, pushing past his dad.
"Where are you going?"
"Out!" Billy shouted.
"Oh no. You're not going anywhere." Mr. Cranston walked out of Billy's room and stopped in front of the stairs, blocking Billy's way.
"Let me by!"
"No, we are going to get to the bottom of this. One way or another." Mr. Cranston said firmly, folding his arms.
"No! I said that I don't want to talk about it!" Billy yelled.
"Alright, fine then. If you won't talk to me, then you can stay in your room for the rest of the night, thinking about what you did and how you can apologize to Karen for how rude you've been to her."
"Whatever." Billy replied, heading back to his room.
"No. Not 'whatever'. I'm serious. And that also means that I don't want to hear any music coming from this room. Give me the discman too." Mr. Cranston held out his hand.
"What? Dad, no!"
"I said, give me the discman." Billy reluctantly handed his CD player to his dad. "Not one note, you hear?" Mr. Cranston said sternly. But the only response he got was Billy slamming the door behind him. Billy flopped down onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow so that his dad couldn't hear him crying.
By the time that the last class of the day rolled around the next day, Billy was so tired that he almost fell asleep as Ms. Appleby was explaining the experiment the class was going to be working on. And this was Physics class, Billy's favourite. He had had another nightmare that last night, and anytime he was about to fall asleep, the fear of having another nightmare would reawaken him over and over again. In the class, everyone was now working on their Physics experiment, and something went wrong with Billy and Sarah's, getting Billy upset and frustrated very easily. Too easily, and Sarah couldn't help but notice. Even before then, anytime she talked to Billy, or when his friends talked to him, he was unusually snappy with them and herself. "Billy, is there something bothering you?" Sarah asked, concerned.
"Negative." Billy replied curtly. But Sarah didn't believe him.
"Billy, I would think I've come to know you better than that. You don't get this upset when something goes wrong with a science project."
"Nothing is wrong okay?" Billy replied sharply, and loudly. The whole classroom went completely silent. No one had ever heard Billy yell at Sarah like that before. Ever. Just then, Billy gathered up his books and started to leave the classroom.
"Billy? Billy where are you going?"
"Out!" He snapped. Sarah quickly wrote a note to Ms. Appleby and placed it on her desk at the front of the room as she followed after Billy. Sarah waited until they were outside.
"Billy, what is wrong with you?" She asked.
"Sarah, leave me alone! I don't want to talk about it!" Billy shouted.
"I don't think so William Cranston! I'm going to stay with you, and keep on you until you tell who or what put the hair up your ass!" Billy sat down on this giant rock that stood at the edge of the school's front yard, and Sarah sat down beside him. "Now what is going on? Is it Brad Stephenson again? Or Bulk and Skull?" Sarah asked. Billy still wasn't saying anything. He struggling to hold back the tears, but couldn't. "Billy, please talk to me. I'm here to listen. But I can't help you if won't tell me anything." Billy sighed, crying.
"My dad is in a relationship with another woman." Billy finally told her, wiping the tears off his face.
"Oh. Well, I don't want to sound callous or anything, but, shouldn't you be happy for him?"
"You don't understand. It feels like he's betraying my mom, like he's purposely trying to replace her. No one asked me before taking my mom away from me, no one consulted with me about if I wanted a new mother. Dad talks about her like she's dead, but how does he know for sure? There hasn't been any new information about her case. As far as the police know, she's still listed as a missing person." Billy cried.
"Billy, I know you don't want to give up hope, but four years is a long time for someone to be missing and still be alive. Maybe your dad has decided that it's time to move on to a new relationship. But that doesn't mean he's forgotten about your mom completely. She was his first wife, probably his first love, and the first person that he wanted to share his life with. One never forgets that when that person is gone. Not even when they've moved on with their life. The memories of that person they loved still remain with them." Sarah explained. She took Billy into her arms and pulled him closer. At first Billy resisted, not wanting to be touched, but then he gave in, leaning on Sarah's shoulder, crying.
"I want my mom back." Billy cried.
"I know. I think the same way too about my dad. Billy, believe me when I say that Karen will never replace your mother. But you'll never be happy when you keep resenting her. Give her a chance. Let her be your friend, and someone who can give you valuable advice." Billy thought about that for a moment.
"It's just, too difficult to let go."
"I know it's hard. It took me a while to come to terms with my dad's death." Sarah said.
"At least you know your dad is deceased. With my mom, all I see is a question mark. And I also feel that if I do allow Karen into my life, I'll be betraying my mom." Billy replied, wiping off the tears.
"I don't think she'll feel that way. I believe that she would rather see you happy. It's what any person, dead or alive, wants for their loved ones." All of this that Sarah said seemed to give Billy some comfort. "Hey, you feeling well enough to return to class?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know. I think I prefer to stay out here for a while, contemplate things." Billy said.
"Well, I should get back. I need to know if we have any homework." Sarah got up.
"Actually, this may sound a bit, silly, but, could you just, stay and, be with me?" Sarah couldn't help but smile. She sat back down beside him.
"Okay, we'll pick up our homework after, when class ends."
That same night, Billy waited until his dad came home from work. When he came home, he had Karen with him. After slight hesitation, Billy took a deep breath, and came downstairs. "Dad? Karen?" He said. " There's something that I think you two should know..."
The End