Across The Street

[24] tense conversations

"Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes." - The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

[24] tense conversations

Everything was unbearably tense. The house was quiet except the sound of my dad cooking. My mom was reading the newspaper, sniffling a couple times. On a typical morning in the Livingston household, we had music playing and we talked over it. But today there was no music and my dad's shoulders were tense and my mom wouldn't stop sniffling. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but I didn't really want the answer. The images of last night of my mom and dad in the bathroom still flashed across my eyes.

When I had gotten up to go to the kitchen late at night, I could her low mumbling and decided to find it. The bathroom door was cracked open, so I peeked through. It was my mom and dad, crouched on the floor. My mom had tears running down her face and my dad was rubbing her arms in attempts to comfort her. I'd gone straight back to bed, not wanting to disturb them. Now, in the morning, things were weird.

My dad announced breakfast was ready and we got up go fix our plates. Once we had sat down and began eating, it was silent once again.

"Nolan," my mom said, her voice sounding loud in the silence. "How was yesterday? With your friends?" I glanced at her. Her hair was untamed from sleep but her eyes were bright and fixated on me. She was oblivious to the fact that I knew she'd been crying in the bathroom with dad late last night.

I set my fork down, "Good. It was fun." I bit my lip, the urge to know what was wrong with her eating at me.

"Where'd you go?" asked my dad. He looked exhausted still. He wasn't a morning person and neither was I. But something was still off. His shoulders were tense and he just looked sad. Which just added to my confusion and curiosity.

"Fun N Go," I told them quietly as I gathered some eggs in my fork. Worry made a home in my chest, and I tried not to let it get too heavy.

My mom smiled, "I remember going there back when I was in school, especially on some of our dates."

Dad chuckled, "Yeah, remember when we played mini golf?" He turned to me, a faint smile on his lips. "Your mom hit that golf ball so hard, it hit the couple in front of us."

"Well, it was an accident and I didn't like Margaret Andrews anyways." My mom said, staring at my dad with a smile of her own. Everything was easing back into normalcy. I still wondered what was wrong with my mom last night, but they could've just gotten in an argument and things got ugly fast. From the looks they were now sharing, everything seemed fine now.

Or at least I hoped.

°°°

The hope that gathered in my head that I could avoid my brother and his further inspection completely vanished once lunch time rolled around. Mom had asked David to make some extra food, and I knew automatically it was for Morris. Undoubtedly, it would be me making that trip to him to deliver it.

Once the food was hot and ready, my mom handed me the bag of food. "Why don't you take this to your brother?" asked my mom with her usual polite smile. "You haven't done it in a while. I figured he'd enjoy seeing you."

I just managed a smile, pressing down the fear of us talking and him asking questions I didn't want to answer. "Okay," I said, grabbing the bag and my keys before heading out. It was a busy day during lunch time, but everything seemed to be in control so I wasn't worried about them not being able to handle it.  The ride over was quiet and I got there quickly. My nerves were bundled so tightly, my pace was slow as I made it to the front doors. The sheriff stood near the front, one hand on his belt while the other stroked his stubble, talking with another officer with papers in his hands.