“Are you leaving already?” I asked.
Silence hung between us, suffocating so much that I wanted to say.
“I think it best that I do,” he said.
“No,” I said. “Come in, even if it’s only a bit. Mom will be glad to see you.” Derrick said nothing, so I added, “It is my birthday.”
He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Alright.”
A single candleburned on the small dining table, casting shadows upon the kitchen's walls. It sat atop a small cake positioned beside a neatly wrapped gift. My mom stood beside the table, a smile on her face.
“I was beginning to worry you weren’t coming back! Happy Birthday, Anna,” she said, the candlelight flickering across her gentle features. Long blonde hair, like mine, fell down her back in soft waves.
My anger from earlier became tainted with guilt, my deep and conflicted feelings for my mom swirled through the simmering rage like molten lava not yet cooled.
Derrick came in behind me, his stature out of place in our modest cabin.
My mom’s face fell, and her demeanor tensed when she saw him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, alarmed.
“My apologies for coming unannounced,” he said. “I only came to wish Anna a happy birthday.”
My mom’s expression relaxed, though her eyes lowered in sadness. Why were they odd around each other? I glanced at Derrick, and he was looking at the floor.
“What is with you two?” I asked. “What happened? You both got along well for so long, and then you stopped coming around. It’s because of mom, isn’t it?”
Derrick only gave me his stoic look that hid everything from me.
“Anna,” Mom said. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” I asked. “You’ve pushed me my entire life to complete this training, insisting it had to be Derrick who trained me, and then, as I was nearly finished, he stopped coming. This is your fault, isn’t it? You’re why he never returned.”
Derrick looked at me before casting his stare on my mother. It felt like he was saying something I couldn’t hear. My heart pounded against my chest as I glanced between them. Derrick was impossible to read, but my mom wasn’t. She was like an open book with an oversized font, and I knew they were keeping something from me.
“Someone tell me what’s going on?” I shouted. “Did you two fuck and regret it or something?”
My mom’s face flushed.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” I asked, my tone sharp enough to cut steel.
“No,” Derrick said, firmly, his tone stern with disapproval.
His voice expressed such dissonance that even the smoke from the burning candle stilled from the stifling tension.
“I’ve been busy, Anna,” he said.
I glowered at him, ready to punch him again.
“You’re always busy,” I said. “It never stopped you before. What was it? Why did you stop coming?”
Mom shifted, crossing her arms, then uncrossing them as she looked away.
“Anna,” she whispered. “There’s a lot that I haven’t told you.”
I held my breath. Was this it? Was she finally going to tell me the truth about my dad?
Was it Derrick?
