Shattered (The Academy)

Epilogue: Shattered.

"So what happens now?" Eleazar asks on the other side of the line.
"Now is happily ever after" I tell him while filling my super market cart.
He laughs.
"What?"
"Isn't it funny? For some people happily ever after means so much more. But for us? It's settling down. Being normal. At peace"
I smile.
"I like this happily ever after" I say.
"Me too. Me too"
"Sang?" The voice startles me, and when I turn around, I see a man I don't recognize. He's old and looks tired, but there's something else too. Pain.
"I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
"No. But I know your mother. I knew you" He smiles as he was swept away by a memory. I can see it in his eyes "My name is Elijah Rossum"
"Sang? Are you there?" Eleazar calls for me through the phone.
"Can I call you later?"
"Uh... sure" I hang up on him then look towards his father. Who else could that be?
"Look, I'm sorry, but whatever you want to tell me about Eleazar or Robert, or even their mother, it's over now. Things have changed"
But he shakes his head. It makes sense, because he doesn't look like he wants to kill me. On the contrary, there is this calm in his eyes, but I can also see the tiredeness. Like someone who has seen so much out of life , and not all good.
"It's not about them" He asures me "It's about your mother"
"Oh? You know my mother?"
"Just for a little while. Years a go. Melody knew, somehow... she knew she wasn't going to make it" he says, looking into my eyes "And she left me a couple things for you"
"What?"
The information refuses to sink in: my brain spins around and around, the new information getting stuck in the gears.
"How about you finishing your purchase then going somwhere else? I have things to show you"
What is that thing they say about going with strangers?
"I've trusted the Rossums before" I cross my arms "I've been nearly killed so many times"
He doesn't look surprised.
"And for that I'm so sorry. I'd wish I could change my family's ways. But I can't, Sang. It's late now"
Will I take my chance?
But deep inside, I already know the answer. Yes. Yes, if she left something behind.
I leave the shopping cart behind and step towards him. Ten minutes later, we find ourselves in a coffee house in a crowded place. My choice, of course. If I die now, there will be witnesess.
"I didn't really know her" He starts, staring at his Americano "She was already too deep when I met her. Most of the time she was in a lot of pain, others she wasn't coherent. It was hard to communicate, but if there is one thing she let me know, is that she wanted you to be safe. She thought you'd be okay with your father and Stella too, but I don't think it was a smart decision. I'm not sure how much you know about your parents and yourself"
"You mean the fact that I'm an incest kid?"
For a moment, he frowns as if the term was too ugly. And it is. But what can he do? It's the truth. He nods "Melody had a lot of faith in him. That made her do a lot of mistakes"
Like concieving me in the first place. But I keep quiet.
"She wrote you a letter. It's a little bit hard to read because of her curvy handwriting and because she couldn't focus, but I hope it's helpful to you. I haven't read it, of course"
An envelope appears from the inside of his jacket, pristine. My fingers touch the corners and slip it to me through the table.
I can't bring myself to open it.
"So you just let her there to die and she gives you a letter for me? How did you find me anyway?"
"PI" He answers "And I didn't do anything, Sang. She went on her own, she had signed, there was nothing... Sang, she did believe she could be cured. Until things were too painful"
"She was underaged!"
"I'm sorry, Sang" he says softly, his eyebrows up and together.
And how can I blame him now? It happened years a go. She made her own choices.
It's over now.
"Private Investigator? That sounds creepy" I decide to break the silence after a while. Touching the the borders of the envelope, I notice something there "What is that?"
"Open it"
I unfold the envelope and empty the contests on the table: A key and two pieces of paper.
The key is cold against my fingers, so small. Is strange to think that something this small can hold something bigger. A truth. A secret.
Perhaps.
I lift the key, my elbow on the middle of the table, the key facing the ceiling. I arch an eyebrow.
"What does this mean?"
"Your grandma died a while a go. Melody was the only child she had, so the house stood there, abandoned. But there's you. You continue the family line, and it's yours to have it. I moved some strings, and now" he takes one sheet of paper and unfolds it to me "it's in your name"
It is, indeed. My name is written in there and I guess I'm not a ghost anymore. My name is in the papers.
His white boney fingers lay on top of the other folded piece of paper. The letter.
"And this. This is yours too" He pauses "She loved you very much"
My fingers touch the paper as his leave. And he smiles.
"Thank you" I say "I mean it"
He nods, his lips curving into a smile.
"Who knows" he says "maybe this is the moment you gain faith in the Rossums again"
I had already because of Eleazar, but this means a lot to me.
We nod and offer a quiet smile to each other before parting ways. In the cab, the letter and the house papers lay still on my lap, until a couple minutes later when I ask the man in the front sit to change directions. I give him the address, and when we arrive, I can only imagine what life would be here. It's a two story house in the outskirts of town with enough space to let a garden grow again, because now the green has turned brown. There is even enough space to keep on building. And inside, the frame of the door has measures of my mother through out the years, and I can't help but wonder if mine would have been there too.
And like that, an idea comes in. Just a small tiny thought, but like a seed, it grows into something bigger, something that takes over. It's all it takes.
I want to be a mom. Not now, but one day. I want a house with a white fence and wooden stairs, and marks on door frames. I don't want just a house, but a home. I never thought of this before, not really. I know it's gonna be hard and having kids will not be as wonderful as in the movies, but I have so much to give. So much love, so many experiences I'd wish I had.
But I don't want a baby with just anyone. I want them with my boys. Jesus, it's too early now to say that now that we have just reconnected, but deep inside I know. It is like now I can see the futur.
Everything is clear.
I shake off the dust from the couch at the end of the hall then sit down to read the letter.
It's time.