Page 16 of Thrust into the Light

I don’t wait for his answer. Instead, I stand up, Farlen still cradled in my arms, and walk out the door. I give him two semesters here before he fucking quits. Who in the hell does he think he is? I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Damnit, who is calling me now? They are going to have to wait till I get Farlen in bed before I call them back.

The entire fifteen-minute walk back to the match house my phone vibrates in my pocket. A sense of dread overcomes me. Please don’t let it be my mom. There is only one reason she would call this many times in a row. I get Farlen to her room, get her laid down in her bed, and cover her up. I still need to get her clothes put away. I didn’t even pay attention to what she got. I was too busy glaring at the assholes outside the window gawking at her.

Pulling my phone out, I cringe. Thirty-seven missed calls from my mother. Fuck! Stephen, you were supposed to cause mayhem and keep her from seeing this! My phone begins ringing again in my hands. I walk out of Farlen’s room and leave the door open a crack, so if she gets up I will hear her. Walking into the kitchen, I answer the phone.

“Well hello, son of mine. How long did you think you could keep this a secret? Did you think I really wouldn’t find out? I mean, really, what have I done to you to make you keep this a secret from me? Tell me, Connor, why would you keep something this big a secret?”

“Mom, if you’ve seen what I’m keeping a secret, then you would know why. She’s been through so much in life, I’m not sure how she will react to meeting you all and being surrounded by all of your love.”

“Yes, my love, which I want to extend to my soon-to-be daughter. Why would you deny her the love of a mother whichshe has been obviously lacking? What is going through that mind of yours? Give me her phone number. I have been looking for it, and haven’t seen it yet, so tell me right now so I can start texting her and getting to know her.”

“Mom.” Sigh. “She doesn’t have a phone yet, which is why you haven’t seen her phone number. I was planning on getting her one, so if she needs anything she can reach out to me. But Mom, she doesn’t know how to read. She doesn’t know how to write. I am not sure if she knows the letters. School starts in four days, and I have to try to teach her how to read and write in that amount of time.”

“Use your big brain, Connor. It all doesn’t fall on you. You have a little computer sitting in your hand you are talking to me on. And I know for a fact that they have text-to-speech options, especially for those unfortunate humans who are born blind. You can also use that as a way for her to learn to read. She can see the words herself and can hear them being said to her. Now what other excuse do you have for me? Hmmmm?”

“Thank you, Mom. I didn’t think of that. And you are right, I deny her a mother’s love by keeping you away from her. I will say that we need to keep it in text messages for now. Our family can be pretty overwhelming. I am not sure how she would handle being touched by so many strangers. And you know Dads won’t let you come meet her by yourself. They’d want to be here to meet her too.”

“Yes, infuriating men. I will keep it to text messaging with her for now, and phone calls when she feels up for it. Connor, there are things I’ve seen that I need you to listen to me about. When her magic finally gets free, don’t freak out, it will hurt her. Just show her how much you love her, and would lay down your life for her. Please listen to me, honey. I mean it, don’t freak out, and don’t overthink it. Just remember who she is, and who you are to her. And you need to trust the other voice that speaks to you through her. Trust it as if it was her. You hear me?”

“Yeah Mom, I understand. I am going to go check on Farlen and see if she is still sleeping. I got her some clothes today. If sheis still asleep, I will go and make a quick trip and get her a phone, and some other things she will eventually need for school. Mom, if I send you her clothes size and shoe size, do you think you could pick her up some more things? I was going to take her to a few different stores, but some of them refused to sell us anything.”

“Gods damn them to hell, of course, Connor. When she starts putting on some weight, let me know, and I can get her a size up. I finally get a daughter to spoil, so don’t even think about trying to take this away from me. Go take care of her and pick the blue phone. Don’t get her the pink or red one. I love you, son.”

“Love you too, Mom.” Sometimes I hate having a seer as a mother. Sometimes it’s a blessing. Most of the time, it’s just confusing as fuck. I learned a long time ago not to ask too many questions about what she has seen. She only tells us what we need to know. Something about knowing too much can change what she saw and could cause a different outlook. Other times, all pathways lead to what she has seen and nothing we can do will change it and she will tell us what she can. Like today. This means she must have seen me freaking the fuck out after Farlen’s magic finally gets free.

Shrugging my shoulders to the empty room, I head towards Farlen’s room and look in on her. She’s still laying down in the exact position I put her in. I can hear her soft breathing, letting me know she’s still sleeping. I guess I’ll make a quick drive to get her a phone and some school supplies. I would leave her a note to let her know I’d be back soon, but she wouldn’t be able to read it. Guess I’m just going to have to be fast about this, so she doesn’t wake up and I’m not here.

Mind made up, I head to the parking lot on campus where my rental car is located. I am going to need to go car shopping soon. My insurance company cut me a check the same day the police filed their report on the tree. At least I have this car until the end of midsummer. It gives me a little of time to think about what I would like for the next chapter in my life.

I drive past the mall we walked to earlier. I can’t believepeople. How they could treat her like that is just beyond my imagination. Everyone’s journey looks different from everyone else’s. Some people bear the scars of the journey under their skin, and rarely in our community do they bear them on their skin. And to treat someone like that just because their journey has been fucking tragic is, in itself, a tragedy.

Parking my car, I head into the phone store. No one is in it except the girl behind the register. As I walk inside and head in her direction, I can see her checking me out. She licks her lips in a way I’m sure some males find seductive, but all I want to do is walk out the door and drive to a different store. This will help Farlen out, though, and I don’t know when she’ll wake up, so I put on the fakest smile I can manage while wanting to puke simultaneously and walk to the counter.

“I need to get a new phone added to my account. Something with some of the latest tech available, which is also user-friendly.”

“Sure thing, good lookin’. Anything else you are looking for?” As she says it, she pushes up her breasts. I am mentally cursing my mother out over this. She could have warned me about it, at least.

“Just the phone,” I say through gritted teeth. I wish I could tell if she was a supernatural or a human. Some are easy to tell apart, many have confused me for a human, perks of being a demigod, I guess.

“Alright, well then, let’s get you taken care of. So, for the latest tech, we have these three phones here. You don’t look like a pink kinda guy or a blue guy. I would say the red one would be good for you.” I can feel her eyes all over me and I am not liking it one bit, and the fact that she would act as if she knew my color preferences.

“I’ll take the blue one. Please add it to my account and activate it immediately.”

She looks a little taken aback that I didn’t follow her instructions. She reaches out and brushes her fingers on my arm.

“I don’t think that is the one you’re looking for. It is more designed for children than a man like you. Take the red one.”

I have lost my patience. “If you do not remove your hand from my arm this second, I will remove it from your body. I will take the blue phone, add it to my account, under the name of Connor Fitzgerald, and activate it. NOW.”

She pouts and does as she is finally told. Once she has the phone activated, she practically throws it at me. I grab it and head out of there before she can touch me again. I feel like I need to take a hot shower and peel the skin off my body. I quickly leave the store and head back to my car. I spend a few minutes programming my phone number in her contacts and my mom’s number. It does seem like it is a lot more user-friendly than my phone, and there are a lot of features missing. I test out the text-to-speech and speech-to-text functions on it. This should work well for Farlen. I pull out my phone and send my mom a text message with Farlen’s new number. I also tell her a little heads up next time would be nice. I get a reply back from her swiftly.

Mom: Yes, so now you know how I feel.

She’s going to be pissed about this for a while, I guess. Nothing I can do about it now. I start my car and head back to the academy campus. I know there’s a store on campus that sells a lot of school necessities. Bags, notebooks, and things like that. I pull into its parking lot and go inside. There are quite a few people here getting things for the new school year. Parents with their younglings getting their things, one group looks particularly at a loss. As their triplets run around the store, two of the Dads are busy chasing them while the mother and another dad stand there looking exasperated. One day, I hope that is us.

Seeing the family in the store, an idea hits me. I walk over to the youngling section and look for a book to help them practice their letters. I find a few different ones and grab them. I head over to the more adult section and find a bag for Farlen’s school things, some notebooks, writing utensils, and a sound recorder. Until she learns to write to take her notes, this will be nice for her. She could record her lessons and then play them back laterto study with. As I am walking to the register, I see a dictionary. Remembering my childhood and the love of diving into it and finding unfamiliar words to add to my vocabulary, I grab it. A plan begins to form on how we can use this.

18

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