Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Caspian and Axel nodded in understanding. Caspian stood back up and looked at Axel whose head was down. Eyes closed, as if he were praying.
“I’m sorry, man,” Legend offered.
“…It’s okay. I knew the possibility of it happening was high. May my father finally be at peace now.” Axel’s father had died four months earlier. The excessive alcohol had ruined his body, destroying his liver and kidneys. He’d also developed cancer, and other medical complications stemming from his addiction. “Dad and I had a long talk while he was in the hospital, before he passed on. He didn’t think he was going to die…
“I kind of felt like he might. I kept that to myself. He was weak, ya know? He looked so pitiful lying there like that. Tammy was there cryin’, holding his hand. He told me he loved me… and he was proud of me. That’s all I needed.” Axel shrugged. “He gave me what I wanted, so I’m fine… I’m fine. I’d like to think that, uh, I’ll see him again someday, maybe every blue moon in a dream or two, like I got to see Mrs. Florence.”
“I also hope you get to.” Legend let out a ragged exhale and crossed his arms. “Speakin’ of parents, Cas, I know you wanted me to try and talk to my mother, saying you don’t have a mama or aunt anymore and I should appreciate having one more, so I should seize this opportunity. I get that. I mean, I addressed it in counseling, too, but right now, I’ve had more peace than ever in my entire life. I don’t hate my mama, I do love her, but some people are toxic. She brought a lot of stress and heartbreak. I realize just how much I love her because I’ve had a chance to step back. I’m not saying she and I will never speak again. I’m saying for right now, I’m okay… and I value my peace and happiness, my family’s peace and happiness, over anything and everything in this fucked up world. Church.”
“Then I take it back.” Caspian shook his head. “Because peace is the least of what you deserve. I was just speakin’ from my own circumstances, but I know your mother wasn’t like Aunt Angel when we were growin’ up. In fact, you were spending the night with me and Axel sometimes ’cause things were so crazy in your house. I don’t want you to have guilt. I think I’m proof that at times a bad parent is just that, and there’s no need for us to grab a purple crayon and try to color them yellow. That’s not how this works. We don’t owe them shit but our absence. Move forward when you’re ready, just never take a step back.”
Legend and Caspian bumped fists.
“Are you okay now? Like, have you accepted that your Uncle Bobby was your father?” Axel asked as the breeze blew his long, dark blond hair around.
He shrugged. “I accepted it as soon as I got the results, Axel. That’s not what made me angry though. It’s the fact that he took advantage of my mama when she was passed out, lied to everyone, destroyed our family, and made my mama keep such a horrible secret for the sake of her not wantin’ me to be shunned, and her being judged. She wrote in her diary about kids being cruel, and how we lived in a small town… things like that would spread.
“She wrote about how after a sexual assault, many times the woman is blamed. It happened to too many people she knew. She was young but wise beyond her years, ’cause all of that was true. I understand completely why she didn’t say anything. Her love for me was more important than her need for revenge. So,” he cracked his knuckles. “I got it for her… the revenge she deserved. I got revenge for Aunt Angel, too… and for Noah and everybody else he hurt. Now, he can live in Hell, knowing that people think he stumbled in the river and drowned, rather than by my hand. His only son. Just like he did my mama… A false narrative. That’s what I call justice.
“He let the local press and people in town smear my mama’s name. Had the world thinkin’ she took herself out of here. There’s a special kind of evil in this world, brothers… and it came in the form of an uncle and a father named Bobby… a mother who neglected her son and chose men over him… child molesters running amuck unchecked… It comes in the form of alcoholism and drug dependency, pride and ego.
“It hears no evil, but makes us dance to the Devil’s music. It sees no evil, but makes us look death in the eye. It speaks no evil, but we hear the demons speakin’ in forked tongues and putting jinxes over our lives. From the moment we were born, somethin’ tried to curse us.