Social Pariah

MOTHER

 Although he didn't show it, Lucas had always been curious before on knowing his real mother. He had always asked himself, "What does she look like? What's her personality? Will she accept me when I meet her?"

His father always told him, "Lucas, your mother is a very special woman but she's different from us. She was born from a family with a different status and we were never meant to be. She was afraid of taking responsibility for you so she left us. Taking care of you with me alone was one of the hardest yet the most worth it thing I have ever done."

Lucas could sense the bitterness in his father's tone before and never understood why he was still in pain...but now he knew why. He didn't know if he should still call her a mother after what she did. He didn't know if he should still forgive her for what she did or if she was even sincere in her apology.

Lucas felt betrayed. After all these years, he had hoped that his mother was not as cruel as the woman he had met a while ago. He had dreamed of her as a woman who valued and loved his father. Never in his life would he have guessed that his very own mother used his father.

"I feel so guilty, Dad," Lucas mumbled. "I'm sorry if I never believed you. She was just...she was so different from what I had expected."

Lucas stared at the sky and added bitterly," She used you. Of all the reasons why she left, she told me she used you and she had to go back because she couldn't handle the guilt."

Lucas wanted to call his stepmother right now but he still sat motionless and he still couldn't believe all the uttered words of the woman he thought he could call mother. But he knew in his heart that after all she did, he wouldn't be able to call her his mother. He felt ashamed of being born from a woman like her and he still couldn't comprehend that why, of all the people in the world, was it his mother who hurt his father like that.

Mother...what a deep word! It's a word for someone who showed you their love for you as their son. It doesn't have to be someone related to you. It could be your teacher, or a neighbor who cares about you in a special way, or maybe even someone you used to hate but you realized that they cared for you after all.

The words of his father echoed in the back of Lucas's mind and he couldn't help but glare at his clenched hands. He was still angry but he knew that he had to control it. He had to focus on what's important: to be accepted fully in his school. He hadn't succeeded yet because Kyle still hated him. He really did want to get his real forgiveness but he knew that it would be really hard and he had to really prove his sincerity.

Besides, he already had his stepmother and she was the one who deserves the word Mom. And she would be his mother no matter what happens for she cared for him the way a mother would.