Superimposed

10

It was a beautiful summer day in Dulwich as Taron made his way to school to collect his A-Level results.
He was pretty confident with how he'd done, he'd certainly put in the hours of study and feels as though that'll show in his results.

Not wanting to associate with anyone, he pulled his cap down a little further than usual and kept his head down as he approached the building. He was fixed on just getting his results and moving forward; whatever these results were, they were his ticket out.

"Egerton" He stated at the table, the teacher ran her finger along all of the envelopes laid out on the table
"Taron?"
"Yes" He confirmed, holding his breath as the envelope was lifted and handed to him.
Without saying anything else he made his way to the door of the school hall with both hands firmly on the envelope.

"Taron?" Lisa's voice, Taron recognised it straight away as she said her son's name as a question. As if she wasn't even sure it was him, he'd changed so much in almost three months.
"Mum?" He looked up from the floor to see Lisa standing just outside the doors. He didn't hesitate to throw his arms around her and cradle her for a second. He'd missed her, more than she'd ever know. Yet he doesn't know just how much Lisa's heart had ached since the day he'd left. All she could think about was how he was doing and if he was okay., whether he'd continued his studies or not.

She figured the only way she'd be able to answer her burning questions was to turn up on results day. 21st August - she'd been counting down to this day, it was the perfect time to see him without Phil knowing, he thought she was at work but she'd booked the day off.

"I've missed you" He whispered, still holding onto her. Lisa could smell his unwashed clothes, the faint smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol.
"Where have you been staying?" She asked, pushing him away so they could talk properly. The rest of Taron's year group continued to flood in and out of the hall, most too enveloped in their own worries about their results than to watch this mother and son reuniting. It was at arm's length that Lisa properly saw his face for the first time in three months. She could see the bags under his eyes and how his shoulders were slouched a little. He looked exhausted, to say the least. His clothes had stains on and his eyes looked tired.
"It doesn't matter, I'm all good. I can't believe you're here - you remembered!" Taron hugged his mum again and she sighed in defeat. Regardless of the real answer to that question, she was over the moon that her only son was safe. He hadn't completely run away and he continued with his A-Levels.
"Go on, open them then!" She pushed Taron off her once more and Taron looked down at the envelope he was still holding.
"Here goes nothing" He mumbled, tearing the envelope open. Lisa watched as Taron took the piece of paper out and scanned the words written on it.
"English Literature, C" Taron looked up at Lisa, then back down to the paper, "Psychology, C" His eyes lit up as he read the last one, "Drama, B!" He beamed jumping up and down, "I did it mum!"

Taron had every right to be ecstatic about his results. He'd managed to work through the toughest three months of his life and come out with something incredible to show for it - three A Levels, C and above.
English Literature wasn't one he was too worried about, he didn't mind it at all and loved to analyse pieces of text to decipher the meaning. He loved language and it was a crucial part of drama, the two subjects went hand in hand.

His final production piece was a one-man show, he performed a dialogue that he'd written - maybe you could call it spoken word poetry. It was completely different to what everyone had done and so he was a little worried that he'd messed it up. Clearly not.
The one subject he really didn't like all that much was psychology, although it sounds really interesting at first, there is so much to learn. But all three subjects he'd taken did go hand in hand and all correlated to one another in some way. He made sure of that when Phil made him take them.

"You should come back and show Phil" Lisa said which caused all happiness to drain from Taron, only to be replaced with fear and confusion, "He'd be so happy - glad that you took the route he wanted" She added, looking hopeful. All she wanted was for Taron to come back to the house and be a family again, even if it wasn't perfect. It was all Lisa had since Richard died, not that Taron knows that. Lisa wanted to protect her son from the grief of it all and thought the best way to do it was to just not tell him at all.

He'd committed suicide and Lisa told 5-year-old Taron that 'daddy has gone, he's not coming back'.  As Taron got older and asked about his dad, Lisa would tell him that he left her. Somehow, Taron having a little hope that his father was still alive was better than knowing the brutal truth. Suicide was such a taboo and Lisa felt ashamed about what her husband had done, to the point she kept it from her son.

"I'm not going back mum, I'm going to drama school - that's not the route Phil wanted. I'm going to take a gap year to find dad" He said, carefully placing the paper back into the envelope.

"Come home Taron, please" Lisa avoided responding to his plans. Although she did begin to realise that Taron needed to know what really happened to his dad.

Part of the reason why Lisa had let Taron leave the house was in fear that he'd turn out like his dad and take the wrong path. That's why she tried the therapy thing and to give him all the support she could, it was in fear of Taron following in his father's footsteps.

She could see him struggling; something she didn't see with Richard. Anything she could do to help Taron she did, even when it came down to telling him to leave home. She couldn't lose her husband and son to suicide.