The Way That Gravity Pulls (Creek FanFic)

Chapter 13: Puppets On A String

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Sneaking Craig back out of my house the next morning wasn't hard at all. I just had to wake him up early enough so he could feed Stripe, get a shower, get dressed, and then get something quick to eat without my mom knowing. When he was done, I had him go wait down at the playground and in the car while I got ready.

I walked past my mom in the house at least three times that morning and not once did we speak to each other. I had nothing to say to her, and I'm sure that she had nothing to say to me either. Sure I had embarrassed her in front of everyone in the restaurant the night before, but she did something even worse to me. I mean, she never even told me that my dad had written a letter to me. His suicide note for fucks sake. Hadn't I asked about it, she probably would've never have mentioned it. Plus, she had to of read it too if she knew that it was addressed to me. Even if it had my name plastered all over it, that still wouldn't of stopped her from being nosey. I knew exactly how she was.

But then again, I was nosey too. I'm ashamed to say it, but when she was downstairs in the kitchen, I snuck into my parents room to go look for any piece of paper that could have possibly been my dad's letter. I searched through drawers, their closet, photo albums, and even old shoe boxes that had been filled with junk mail, but still no luck.

Aggravated, I sat down on their bed and fell backwards onto my back, not realizing that I had laid down on my dad's side. The side that hadn't been touched since he had died. I heard a small crunching noise when my head hit the pillow and I instantly jumped straight back up onto my feet. I grabbed ahold of the pillow and lifted it up to see what was under it.

I found it. My dad's letter.

It was in a light brown envelope with my name written across it in a rushed, sloppy cursive. (That's how my dad always wrote.) I reached down and picked it up so I could get a better look. I flipped it over to look at the flaps, and just as I had expected, it had been opened already.

My mom.

I understand that she was probably looking for answers as to why my dad had did what he did, but that note had been meant for me and only me to read. I didn't understand why couldn't she respect that.

I peeked inside of the envelope and saw what looked like possibly two folded sheets of thin notebook paper. One of the corners looked as if it once got wet, for some ink was smeared and was leaking onto the other side.

I hope this was just from regular water and not tears.

As much as I wanted to unfold the paper all of the way and read what had awaited me inside of it, I couldn't. I had to get ready to go meet Craig so we could go to school. It was just going to have to wait.

Instead of putting the envelope in my backpack like a normal person would've, I just kept it in my hand as I walked back downstairs, through the living room and into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. My mom had been sitting down at the dinner table and eating breakfast. Out of the corner of my eye I could tell that my she was watching at me. She was probably looking at the envelope as I tightened clutched my fingers around it.

Good. I hope she sees it.

When my coffee was done, I poured it into a mug and then left. I made my way back through the living room and slammed the front door behind me as hard I could. I wanted her to know that I had been more than pissed off.