Screaming

Chapter 9 of Love from Above

Jeremy’s Point of View

 

I lay in bed listening to Motionless in White and scowling at the ceiling; silently cursing my father’s name to the blackest pits of Hell. Why did he have to wreck such a perfect moment? I hear a sharp rap on the door that can only belong to my stick-up-his-a*s father.

 

“What?” I call out sharply. He flings the door open and stomps into my room, looking pissed.

 

“Where have you been, boy?” He explodes.

 

“First of all, I happen to have a name, and it sure as hell isn’t ‘boy’. Second, I said this morning I was spending the day with Kelsey,” I respond acidly.

 

“You never told me anything!” he says, his face turning tomato red.

 

“Well, I told mom, and she’s just as much, if not more, my parent as you are,” I say coldly.

 

His face turns an unattractive shade of purple and he starts to shout at me. “And what is that supposed to mean!”

 

“It means, dad,” I spit the word sarcastically, “that she actually gives a s**t about me. You couldn’t care less about what I like or what makes me happy!” I shout back.

 

This time his face doesn’t darken to an even uglier color. Instead, he feigns calm and talks through clenched teeth. “We will discuss this later.” With that he turns on his heel and storms out, slamming my door on the way. Moments later I feel the garage door opening and see the headlights of his car speed away. I groan and flop back onto the bed, laying my arms over my eyes. Why did he have to be such a pompous a*s?

 

Moments later, I hear a much quieter knock on the door. Cheyenne and my mom poke their heads into my room, and I motion for them to come in. They walk over to sit on my bed.

 

“Mom, I don’t mean to sound rude, but how can you possibly bear to stay with that jerk?” I ask, sitting up to look at her.

 

“He used to be a very sweet man. He still has his moments where I can see the man I first fell in love with through the hard, cold shell he has now.”

 

“What caused him to change?” Cheyenne wonders.

 

Mom bites her lip and looks like she is debating on how much she should say.

 

“Did you guys know you have another sister?” Mom asks, sighing.

 

“What?!” Cheyenne and I exclaim simultaneously.

 

“I suppose she would be about 24 now. Your father and I had little Sophie when I was just 16. She was such a daddy’s girl,” Mom said, smiling at the memory. “Your father absolutely adored her. He took a work from home job just so he could be with her all day.”

 

“Where is she now?” I ask, confused as to why I have never seen her.

 

“When she was three, just before Cheyenne was born, your father took her down to the beach,” Mom says, her expression clouding over. “He was building a sand castle with her. He ran to the waves to get some water for the castle. He had looked away for two seconds, and when he turned back, she was gone. He heard her screams and ran after the men carrying her, but they got into a car and sped away. We went to every police department within 100 miles of this place. Finally, after almost a month of searching, they found her. Forensics says she was thrown off the cliffs and drowned.” Tears drip down my mother’s face. “Your father felt so broken and helpless. He still blames himself for Sophie’s death. That’s what turned him into the bitter man he is today.”

 

“Why is this our first-time hearing about this?” Cheyenne asks after a few beats of shocked silence.

 

“It just brought up so much pain for your father and I, we never talk about it. It got to the point where we didn’t know how to tell you kids,” Mom says, tears still rolling down her face.

 

I reach out to take her hand in mine, “I’m sorry mom, I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been.”

 

She turns to smile sadly at me, “Thank you sweetie, and I’m sorry for how hard your father is on you.” She stands to kiss the top of my head before turning and leaving the room.

 

Cheyenne hangs back for a minute. “Soooo,” she drags the word out. “How did your date go?”

 

I look down at my hands clasped together in my lap, feeling my cheeks heat as I think of the events of the day. “There aren’t words for how amazing it was,” I look up to smile at Cheyenne. Her eyes widen slightly at the intensity of the happiness projecting out of me.

 

“She must be something special, this Kelsey,” Cheyenne muses.

 

“Yeah,” I chuckle at the understatement of the year. “She really is.”