“I spoke with your former teachers and with your doctors.”
No doubt every one of them was surprised that Caspian wasn’t already at college or out in the world doing the great things they foresaw for him. Yet, each of them had met his parents at one time or another, so would they actually be that surprised? On a side note, Caspian couldn’t help but wonder if the judge would have spoken to Caspian’s friends too, if Caspian had any.
“As you are well aware, granting emancipation to anyone under sixteen is rare. Yet, you did not hesitate to meet several criteria that even adults struggle with on a daily basis. Despite the offers of free admission plus living expenses to many universities, you wrote a code and sold it to a marketing company for seven-point-three million dollars simply to prove that you are able to financially sustain yourself. You already have a house picked out within walking distance of MIT, which I understand is your chosen university. You even wrote a very thorough essay explaining your understanding of what a well-balanced diet and exercise plan looks like.”
Since Caspian already knew what it was he’d provided the judge, he wasn’t entirely sure why the judge was repeating all this. Maybe for his parents’ benefit?
“If it wasn’t for speaking with your mother, I would already be signing on the dotted line, Mr. Davis.” That statement both excited and terrified Caspian. He’d done everything right! But what if his mom’s pleas still managed to sway the judge?
He supposed he could go to college when he was eighteen. They couldn’t stop him once he was a legal adult. But would hesurvive another three years with his parents? He would never make the false claim that they abused him. He was well-fed, had a roof over his head, and they clearly loved him. That was the whole problem. He was being smothered by their love, their over-protectiveness. And the fact that they restricted certain privileges, like confiscating his electronics at night, might qualify as strict parenting, but it was in no way abuse.
From the astonished sounds coming from behind him, his parents had no true concept of what he’d been spending his limited computer time on. The script he’d written had taken him longer than he cared to admit, but at least it had gotten the job done.
With the Vice Admiral’s salary, the Davis family wasn’t hurting for money. But he certainly had never earned over seven million in one afternoon.
A fear of Caspian’s when he’d sold the script was that his parents would have legal claim to that money, so he’d hired a lawyer to help him secure it. He hadn’t yet discussed it with his lawyer, but he was thinking of leaving a chunk of it to Keller. He knew it couldn’t make up for the years of neglect and sibling rivalry, but maybe it could help Keller follow his own dreams.
“Before I announce my decision, is there anything you would like to say to your parents, Mr. Davis?”
Caspian really didn’t want to face his parents, but he supposed he did owe them this at the very least. Still having no idea what it was he was going to say, Caspian turned around.
The courtroom gallery was empty but for his parents and one other couple that Caspian figured was next on the judge’s docket. His mom’s face was red and blotchy from crying, her normally so put-together appearance disheveled. His father sat upright, almost regal, in his perfectly pressed military uniform. While his mother was clearly upset and distressed by the situation, the Vice Admiral had an air of disappointment about him that made Caspian feel like he was betraying his father.
Having no idea what to say to his father, Caspian looked to his mom. “I’m sorry. Not that we’re here, but that it came to this. Your fear of losing me has led you to suffocate me, Mom. I don’t want to hate you. Idon’thate you,” he added quickly. “But I fear that one day I will. I need to do this, Mom. You say I’m not ready, but I am. I’ve been ready for years, and I won’t let fear, yours or mine, hold me back anymore.
“I wish you would believe in me.” He finally looked to his father. “Both of you. And I wish that one day you will understand why I had to do what I did.” Caspian started to turn back around, but then paused and looked at his parents once more. “Being emancipated doesn’t make you any less my parents. It just means that I get to make decisions about my life. I hope you’ll be proud of me, of everything I hope to accomplish.”
His father’s expression didn’t change in the slightest throughout Caspian’s whole speech. His mom, on the other hand, had opened her mouth several times, as if to respond to Caspian’s words, but ended up snapping her teeth closed each time. Likely following a silent directive from his father.
Nothing else to say, Caspian faced Judge Callahan again.
The man’s eyes shone with pride, something Caspian realized his own parents rarely showed him. He was always going too fast for them, whether it was learning to walk, to ride a bike, or wanting to go to college.
“Congratulations, Mr. Davis,” the judge announced. “From everything I see here, MIT will be lucky to have you.”
* **
Keys, Age 23
One Year and Ten Months Ago (One Month after SCAR)
Caspian “Keys” Davis answered the phone without looking away from the screen. Known for getting lost in code for hours, and sometimes days, without coming up for a breather, he learned years ago to set up several notifications and reminders for when he had specific things to do for the club. The last time he’d gotten so involved in a project, the smell emanating from his room had gotten so bad his club brothers had thought something had died behind his closed door. Now, Keys set reminders to shower, to take scheduled bathroom breaks, to brush his teeth, and even for food and water breaks.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t smart enough to remember to do such basic things. He was more like the Absentminded Professor. Once he got absorbed in a project, there was no turning back. Rather than creating Flubber, though, he was working on a security code that would ensure thatnoneof his club brothers or their families would be at risk again. He was going to make Mount Grove a sanctuary for them—and after all they’d done and gone through, they deserved no less.
His new business partner, Tom, was taking a leap of faith with Keys being able to write, complete, and manufacture this code. Ithadto work, and it had to be beyond perfect.
“Yeah?” he half-heartedly answered into the lime greenRazerBlackShark V3 Pro headset on his head.
A modulated voice replied,“Is this Keys?”
Keys’ fingers immediately stopped typing on his left keyboard, and with a small twist of his two-thousand-dollar gaming chair, his hands landed over his middle keyboard as his eyes shifted to the two monitors mounted to the wall over the three large ones resting on his desk.
“Depends,” he said without missing a beat, “who’s this?”
“I’m a friend of Poison’s. She said she was going to reach out to you to expect my call. You can call me ‘MV’.”
M-V? Interesting moniker, but he’d heard worse during his time in Navy Intelligence as a Cryptologic Technician. Hell, he had a club brother named Pumpkin, who had suffered through six years of their club harassing him for having woken up naked next to a pumpkin instead of the woman he insisted he’d had sex with the night before. So who was Keys to judge a nickname?
