It's Always Been You

eight

~serena powers~

Papa's face is the most vulnerable thing I have ever witnessed in my whole nineteen years of living.

Hurt.

God, he looks so hurt and I don't know how to react. Part of me wants to laugh in his face and the other part wants to.. comfort him? Oh my god. What the fuck?

"Easton.." Mama breathes out. I turn back to look at her as she clutches my shirt like a lifeline. She looks as if she regrets every word she just said. Does she? I look back in forth between the both of them and I feel entirely out of place. We sit in silence, all scared and terrified of what is to come if someone says something.

"How long.." Papa finally breaks the silence. He pauses, taking a inaudible breath and searching for the correct words. "How long have you felt this way, Soleen?" Mama flinches at how harsh his words are. And he said her first name. Lord, I don't even remember the last time he said her first name.

I remember as a child I used to have to ask what was her real name because I used to forget. He only ever called her 'Love' or 'My love', using her first language. He does truly love her as much as a cold hearted man can.

"I've never felt it to extent before but honestly? Since I had Apollo, Easton." Mama says harshly and they both flinch. And I kinda do too. Damn, Mama. She rushes to say something else to fill the tension filled silence. "And you can't blame me."

"The fuck I can't." Papa damnear yells, his body shaking with emotion. I reflexively back down in the slightest even though he's not even talking to me. My mom, who I never have known her to be yelled at by him, stands up out of the chair straight up to him.

"I can, Easton! You put Serena through hell every damn day for what?! You ran my baby boy away with your hurtful, disgusting, disrespectful words!" Tears fall down from my mothers eyes as she yells her heart out. "They didn't deserve what you did to them. What you do to them. You wore my baby down. My sweet, sweet baby..." She whispers and looks at the ceiling, as if she silently praying for the pain to stop, and that's when I realize that tears are falling from my face too. My heart breaks for her.

"Soleen." My Papa tries to say but Mamas not done.

"No! No, you're going to fucking listen to me! My first ever child is currently dying and I haven't even saw you shed a damn tear! Do you care? Do you care for anyone that's not me? While I love the care you show me, how in the living hell do you expect me to embrace it when you haven't showed it even slightly to my kids?" She rants on and on and... I apparently can't stop crying. She's saying all the words I've felt for so long. How can he love her but not us?

"I don't know what you want me to say, Soleen. I can't take back what I've done to our children. And while you think I didn't care, I cared for them as much as I could, Soleen."

"Don't you dare fucking lie to me, Easton Powers!" She walks fast up to him, pointing her hand in his face, then pushing his body away from her. "You could have tried! You could have opened your heart up more! You could have tried, Easton.." She slowly brings her hand down.

"You're the reason I've been falling out of love.. not me." And she breaks. Almost falling to the floor if Papa didn't catch her, which he almost didn't . He slowly lowers her to the ground, releasing her. "You just didn't want to." She looks up at him, straight in the eyes. "And that's what hurts the most." A sob racks through her body and I finally unfreeze, running to comfort her. I lower myself to the floor, hugging her limp body to mine as close as possible. I can feel the raw exhaustion radiating off of her. Papa stares at the floor next to her feet, lost in deep thought.