The Medium Kid

Chapter 28

"So you've kissed twice now." Morlen not only looked uncomfortable, his glare was intense, and Koda felt like he was staring right into his soul. "So..."

"So?"

Morlen shifted on the metal stool like he had been sitting on it for hours. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"What?"

"You've kissed, you enjoyed it, Alfie enjoyed it. Now move forward if it's what you want." Morlen scratched the back of his head. He never thought he'd be encouraging his son to date another guy.

"You think I should?"

Morlen shrugged, violently twisting his wedding ring around his finger. "If you want to."

"I do."

"Right well... okay."

Koda's insides churned as he cringed at his father's awkwardness. "You're not very good at this, you know."

"In my defence, I never thought my son would be talking about kissing other men."

"That's your issue, not mine." Koda crossed his arms. Every time he thought about the crayon drawing of him holding dead flowers, his heart throbbed, and his skin tingled with a feeling of sickness.

"It's the way I was raised. I guess it's karma for trying to raise you the same way."

Koda scoffed and jumped off the stool. "You were just starting to be nice."

"I'm trying Koda, okay. I can't just let go of my beliefs because you don't agree with it."

"You can let go of your homophobia if it means that your son will be happy. I'm gay, not worshipping the devil."

"So damn dramatic," Morlen muttered, moving towards the door and looking left and right. "How do we get back to the living room?"

"It's right." Koda glanced up to see a sheepish looking Alfie standing next to a smirking Connor. "Um, we just came to see if you were alright, and Connor has a lot of explaining to do."

"So does dad," Koda said with hot cheeks. He hoped Alfie hadn't been listening to their conversation and felt the sudden need for a new topic. "Dad, you said that you knew mum was writing about me in her journal. How? Why didn't you tell me?"

Morlen glanced between Alfie and Koda, catching their blush and twinkling stares. Koda's eyes traced down the medium, and Morlen's instincts were to yell at him, but he bit his tongue.

"Enya had mentioned the dead flowers to me. I told her that the drugs were finally catching up to her and she was going insane." Morlen didn't meet anyone's gaze. He stared at the ground as if it had personally attacked him. "It was the day before her death. I came home, and she had bought at least a dozen bouquets. I yelled at her to get rid of them, and she said to wait till Koda was home. I thought she was going mad, which was an odd relief because then we might have finally been able to get her some help." Koda's mouth thinned at his father's words, and he turned away. "So, we waited until Koda came home from college and I yelled at him to get to his room. I wasn't angry at him, but I yelled at him anyway." Morlen stared at his son, feeling a heavy sense of guilt punching him in the gut. "When he went to his room, I turned to yell at Enya because I was angry that I yelled at Koda. She stood in front of me and took it like she always did because she knew the flowers were starting to die. I couldn't believe she was right, but I didn't know what it meant or how to react. I saw the flowers die in front of my own eyes and I still denied it." Morlen pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I had stopped being so arrogant for one day, my wife might still be alive."

"You didn't kill her," Connor said in a soothing voice. "Humans can turn a blind eye to the absurd when it breaches their logic."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Koda asked, still facing away. "You found her journal a few days later, and you obviously knew it was about me."