Hunt Me Down - Chapter 59: Chapter 59

Nathaniel's POV
"Hey, where are you?" I asked into the receiver when we got out of the Principal's office.
"By the tree with Lyn." I didn't have to ask which tree; they always went to the same one, at the back of the school.
"What happened?"
"We'll meet you there and tell you," I answered, climbing down the stairs.
"Okay."
We both hung up after his reply.
"They at the tree?" Val asked from my left and I nodded.
She was too relaxed.
Things at the Principal's office had gone surprisingly not as bad as I'd expected, but she still got suspended and Mr. Jefferson had tried to call our parents. He got 'the caller is currently speaking and can't answer you' message with both of them, but he wasn't going to give up. He'd wait a bit and dial their numbers again.
Thankfully, once he found out about Hunter and me and that I had yet to tell my parents about us, he'd agreed to notify them of why their daughter was suspended, but skip the part of me coming out. I was eternally grateful that he understood it was something I had to discuss with them myself.
"Here's the second member of my favorite pair of lovebirds," Lyn greeted, her colorful mohawk tilting as she turned her head towards me.
"So what happened?" Hunter pushed himself off the tree and met me on my way to him.
"Val got suspended..." I began, but my twin interrupted me:
"Only for the rest of the week."
"Only because Matthew was too scared to confirm that you hit him." I pointed out.
"Hey, three days off school are three days off school." She grinned and I frowned at her.
"This is not a vacation, Vallery; it's punishment and you are not supposed to enjoy..."
I got cut off once more, this time by Hunt:
"You can argue at home," he noted and grabbed my chin to turn my face towards him. "Does Jefferson know about us?"
"Yeah." I sighed.
"Is he going to tell your parents?"
"No, we agree that they should hear it from me. He didn't give me a deadline to tell them," I added, "but he suggested I'd do it when I get home today. Which is now."
Hunter raised an eyebrow.
"You got suspended as well?"
"No, Mr. Jefferson thought it might be better for me to take the rest of the day off."
"For a guy who's adamant to keep order in his school and get his students and staff to listen to him, Jam's kind of cool," my sister commented.
"Alright," he let go of me, "we are going home then."
"You too?" Lyn pouted. "What am I supposed to do on my own in school?"
"Get in a fight with Stacey," Hunt suggested; he was already walking towards the parking lot. The three of us followed.
"I have no idea where she is or what she's doing," Mohawk girl replied. "Knowing her, she's shagging someone's boyfriend, but still: I have no idea where she is."
"Not my problem, Lyn," Hunter replied without looking at her.
"You were more fun when you were single." She shook her head and turned to me:
"Seriously, what did you do to him? I mean, you are cute and all, but you are not that cute."
I had no reply to that.
*****
The first sign that something was wrong was when we saw our dad's car in the driveway.
"Maybe he got the call from Jefferson and decided to come home?" Val offered an improbable explanation. Mom was the one who dealt with phone calls from the Principal and parents-teachers meetings; dad simply admonished my twin when he returned from work, usually in the time it took him to heat up his dinner.
"Do you want me to go in with you?" Hunter asked, but I shook my head.
"No, no. I think it will be better if you don't. We don't even know why he's here in the middle of the day."
He nodded and leaned down. For a second I thought he'd kiss me; for a second, he almost did. He then realized where we were so he straightened up and with a 'call me when this is over', he walked towards his house.
"Shall we?" Val pointed to our front door.
"Do we have a choice?" I sighed.
"Come on, bro; whatever's going on, they are probably going to blame me. No need for you to worry." She tried to cheer me up with her unabashed demeanor.
It would never cease to amaze me how used she was to getting in trouble.
We stepped into the soundless hallway; we couldn't hear either of our parents.
"Mom?" I called and put my messenger bag on the floor; Vallery dumped her backpack next to it. "Dad?"
No reply.
I peeked into the kitchen. No one was there.
"Dad? What's going on?"
I turned around. Val was standing in front of the living room door, her gaze set inside. I stepped towards her, but stopped when I was next to her.
Our father sat stooped on a sofa, his elbows on his knees and his palms covering his face.
"Dad?" I tried again.
His hands slid up and into his hair and his head shook. He finally looked at us, seeming very, very tired. Whatever was bothering him, I was sure it was more serious than Vallery punching another classmate.
"Kids, we need to talk." He began with a strained voice and motioned for us to sit on the couch. We silently obeyed.
"Your mother is..." Dad took in a deep breath. "She's not well, kids."
"Did something happen to her? I-is she in the hospital?" I asked.
"No, no, it's not like that." He rebutted.
"Does it have anything to do with her mood swings?"
My father's eyes rounded at Val's question.
"You've noticed? What did she do?"
"She shouted at Nat."
Dad licked his lips.
"Your mother is addicted to prescription drugs," he shot out and waited for our reaction.
We were speechless.
How can we be anything but?
Our mother couldn't be a junkie; we would've noticed. There would be signs...
Memories of the several times I'd caught her taking pills for her headaches mixed with those of her odd mood swings. There had been signs; we'd just ignored them.
I had ignored them; I'd been so occupied with my own life, with Irene and with Hunter that I had shrugged them off.
"That time she went to visit your grandmother after your birthday," dad continued, "I'd managed to convince her to get help at a clinic and that's where she really went."
"But she returned so quickly," I muttered.
"She's an adult. She can leave whenever she feels like it and once she got there, she decided she didn't want to stay."
"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.
"I thought we had it under control; I thought..." He took a deep breath again. "I thought that if I just watched her..."
"Watch her?" Vallery snorted. "What, all the way from your work place?"
"Val, let him continue!" I commanded. This was not the time for her to start another one of their quarrels. We had to find out more about mom.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?" I went back to questioning my father.
"Yes. There's another clinic, which I think is more suited for her needs and I believe she'll be happier there. Besides, it won't be too far from our house so we can visit her often and encourage her not to leave. I've already told my boss about the situation and he approved the transfer..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Vallery waved.
"What do you mean a transfer?" I raised my tone.
"The clinic is in Norville," he replied.
I gaped at him.
"I... We are not moving to Norville." I whispered, shaking my head.
"Why not?" Our father's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you two would approve of the idea. We've lived there before and your friend Raiden is there."
"I can't... I can't move now." My voice shook.
"Nathaniel, your mother needs..."
"I'm in a relationship."
He frowned.
"I thought you and Irene broke up."
"No, dad..."
"But even if you are back together, your mother needs help and she can get it at Norville. You are young, you'll find another girlfriend..."
"I'm in a relationship with Hunter Harris."
It was as if I was watching a video of my father and someone had suddenly paused it.
He froze; he simply froze. One hand in his lap, the other halfway to his neck and mouth agape; he stood like that for almost a whole minute before he even blinked.
"I'm sorry, I thought you said..."
"That I'm in a relationship with Hunter Harris," I repeated. "That's exactly what I said."
"And how long has this... relationship been going on?"
"About two weeks."
To my surprise, my father laughed.
"Two weeks are nothing," he stated. "You'll get over this silly infatuation in no time. Especially with the distance between you."
"It's not a silly infatuation," I persisted, my jaw clenched.
"Nathaniel, I cannot have this conversation now..."
"Oh, well, then when can you?" Vallery snarled. "When you are at work? Nope, you are working then. When you are at home? No, because you are thinking about work."
"That is going to change," he insisted. "That is what the move is all about: your mother will get the help she needs and I'll be working less and spend more time at home. We can be a family."
My sister snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, you say it almost every time we are about to move."
"And this time I really mean it, Vallery. I..."
"No!" I shouted and jumped off my seat. "No, no, no! Can't mom get help here? Why do we have to leave again?"
My voice cracked as I fought to keep the tears from falling down my cheeks.
"Nathaniel, I..."
"There are clinics here! Why can't she get help here?"
The battle was lost and I reached up to swipe away the salty drops.
"Nathaniel, son..."
"I don't... I don't want to leave!" I kept shouting. "I want to stay with Hunter. I want to..."
I turned around and ran out.