Forgive Us Our Sins (Moral Orel Fanfic)

Chapter 10

"You told him what?" Christina gasped, angrily slamming the laundry basket onto the couple's bed.

"Just two weeks, it's all I could think of on the spot." Orel tried to explain, but Christina wasn't having any of it. "Orel, do you realize how much we have to scramble now? I have to call off work on such short notice, and I have to notify our children's schools about where they'll be for the next.. however long we'll be out there!" Orel could tell he fucked up. He is the type to run big decisions like this through his loyal wife, but something came over him on the phone with his brother. It was demanding and felt.. bad.

On the other side of the wall, Christian could hear his parents arguing. It was strange to listen in on such a rare occurrence in the Puppington home, but he really couldn't help eavesdropping. The weight in his stomach got heavier as they argued, He really shouldn't have asked for this. What a stupid, stupid, stupid ide-
"Earth to space man? Do you read?" A teasing voice asked through his earbuds.

Christian jumped, looking around but then remembering he was on the phone with Feltina. "Gosh, sorry.. forgot you were there." Christian answered, blushing from embarrassment. "Everything okay? The last time your brain was this blank it was during Algebra last week. I swore I saw a second eyelid blink like a penguin's." She teased, but Christian knew she was genuinely concerned for her friend.

"Yeah, it's just that I think I made the wrong choice. I didn't expect my parents to get so worked up over this." Christian couldn't help but think about the time when he accidentally broke the photo of his father's parent's that was on the wall. It was the classic "Playing baseball in the house" move. After the glass shattered, he could remember the emotion in his father's face. He just sat there with the photo after cleaning the glass up. After about 20 minutes, he just put the photo in his pocket. Never to be seen again.

Christian asked who the people in that photo were, causing what had to be the world's longest talk on why we never went to his parent's home for holidays or Sunday dinners. He never asked again, but curiosity got the best of him.

"I mean, what if it wasn't that bad? Maybe.. he interpreted discipline as something else?" Christian asked Feltina. "That sounds like victim blaming, my guy." Feltina replied, multitasking between her best friend and the game she was playing. "You're right, my bad.. What if they have this super cool bonding thing and then they have a coming together or something!" Christian excitedly exclaims, letting his imagination get the better of him. "Nah, it's a slow burn to forgiveness. One party could apologize, but the other has every right to reject that apology. It's a slippery ass slope." She explains to him.

Christian groaned, unsure of how to go about this. "Why couldn't I just spit in a tube to see what my family was like."

A gentle knock at the door startled him, so Christian sat up and took one of his earbuds off. "Come in!" As the door opened, Christian saw the face of his mother. She looked nervous, but as if she was trying to hide it. "Hey bug, we'll be leaving in two weeks for Moralton. I'll handle everything, okay?" She gives her son and gentle smile. Christian nods as he sees his mother close the door softly.

"Huh. That worked itself out." Feltina smirked.