Masters's Son

Four

I walk down the stairs the best I could with the help of my new crutches. Instead of letting their tired, injured son rest from getting home from the clinic, my parents want to take me to to a 'family outing'. Something they haven't done since before I was four.

Such wonderful parents I have.

They don't help me out none while I struggle with each step down. So helpful, so nice.

Once I make it down the stairs my underarms hurt and, even with my carefulness, my ankle is beginning to cramp up.

I'm just thankful I remembered to grab my phone on the way out. A way to avoid boredom or them. If I were to make an excuse that I was gonna meet a friend, what would they know? They don't know I don't have friends. That I can name every constellation in the sky. That I know how to take apart and rebuild the Fenton wrist ray from memory.

They don't ever look at what good I've done. They'll always nitpick the worst attributes I have. I know I'm not the best at a lot of things, but it's always the grades. It's always my bad decisions.

They want to sink their teeth into any wrong choice I make.

I walk into the living room to Jack and Maddie talking about any upgrades needed to be made on the Fenton portal. Not surprising at all I must say. It's a couple of minutes before Madeline finally notices me.

I gesture vaguely to the front door, "Let's go, I guess." She nods and they both stand. We head out to the FGAV and get in.

The drive was silent other than the incessant car sounds and passing wind by the window. White noise compared to what my 'parents' will have to say at dinner.

He parks at the infamous Nasty Burger. What a joyous day. I get to see kids from school.

In public.

With my biological parents.

Great.

May this day go down in history where Daniel James Fenton died. You know, that loser from school? Yep, him. Not much in the history books but definitely in those old newspapers people use as wrapping paper during moves and never reading them. Nothing important to anyone.

I get out without the help of Jack or Maddie. I don't mind, I don't want their fake sincerity anyway.

Have they ever truly cared? At least Jack always said what was on his mind, which is only ever blabbering on about ghosts and gadgets. But Maddie lied for the first four years of my life then occupied herself with something much more important than me.

Ghosts.

I have nothing against ghosts. And I don't blame them for my parents leaving both me and Jazz on our own. The more I think about it, if it weren't ghosts and their inventions, it would be something else. It's just the way they are.

I've always been the boring type anyway. She had better things to do than to take care of her children and love them. Same thing goes for Jack.

We walk into the diner. Not many occupy the tables and booths scattered around the place. Just the normal popular teens at the counter and bar. We go to an empty booth close to one of the side windows.

They sit on one side, while I sit on the other. The silence was uncomfortable until a nice, peppy waitress asks for our orders.

They both get a Mighty Meaty combo while I get the original combo. Irrelevant, but those are our orders.

Why in the world did they bring me here if they wanted to sit in silence? We could've done this at home, in private. Not the public where everyone can see. And it would've made a lot more sense if they brought me to a family restaurant. Not a teenager hotspot of the town. Speaking of, have I ever been to a family restaurant before?

The waitress leaves with our orders written on her small notepad. I wait for them to say something. Anything. "Well?" I ask, agitation dripping from my tone of voice. I'm sleep deprived and in pain.

"We wanted to thank you." Jack starts. "For what?" I ask. What in the world could they possibly want to thank me for something they could've done very well at home? "For starting up the portal. If not for your help, we couldn't have opened it so soon." Maddie beams at me. They both look so happy.

I could have died and they thank me for that?

This is bullshit!

"So not only did you drag me out here to tell me something you could have told me at the house, but you also wanted to thank me for almost dying?!" I went through so much pain in a moments time and they say, "You made the portal work, woo!" and not a single, "Are you okay, son? You should get some rest." Even while I was in that cold hospital bed, the first thing I wake up to is their questions on how I turned that thing on.

If they had even an ounce of respect left from me, they've lost it. On a scale from 1 to 100, it's below negative.

"I was electrocuted with God knows how many volts and then I wake up to just questions on the portal. Any concern for me? Nope. Why did you take me to dinner anyway? We haven't even spoken to each other since I was four." I wouldn't doubt if we attracted some stares from the other tables, but I was seething.

They need to get it through their thick skulls that whatever family we might have been isn't there anymore. It never really was. They took care of me and Jazz until she was old enough to take care of me and herself alone. We weren't worth the effort I suppose.

Maddie looks hurt while Jack looks surprised. They don't say a word. And that was enough for me.

Without bothering to wait for the food, or bothering to wait for what they had to say, I grab my crutches and hobble out. Long strides till I get to the door, pushing it open with force and crutching my angry figure out of the diner.

The whole world felt like it was constricting my breath. I just can't tell if it was anger, sadness, or both.

I need to get as far away from this building as I possibly can. Away from people. Away from them. I wouldn't mind if a car ran off the road and hit me now. Maybe finish the job the portal didn't.

I take a shortcut from the route from Nasty Burger to my house. I walk the empty alley. I break down then and there. I drop to my knees and cry. I hate crying if my parents are the cause of it. But I can't seem to stop.

My chest hurts so much. No one cares what happens to me. The only person who maybe did left me all alone. I wish an astroid would come down on top of me.

Someone, something, anything, stop all of this.

A shiver goes through me, silencing my sobs. A breath of visible air comes out of my mouth even on a hot day. I sniffle standing back up looking around. No one. I do a 180. Nothing.

"Time out."