Embers (Ch. 2)

ZACH

"Mami, I'm good... no really, I'm good... I'm taking all of my medications," I reassured my mother over the phone, just as Thea handed the two pills and a glass of water over to me and I downed it before I could answer my mother's next question. She'd held her reservations about letting us travel on our own, but dad finally managed to convince her to loosen her leash a bit. We owed him big time for that one.

"Yes, they're all being very hospitable. If not overly... Uncle Freddy is taking us home soon... Wow... Was that Dad?... Of course I heard him... I didn't want to but I did... Thea! Mami says, hi and to make sure Zander doesn't stay up too late," I shouted my mother's words at my baby sister and she took the phone from me while I went back to helping aunt Marley wash all of the plates she had used to make us all this delicious food. Zander emerged from the living room to ambush our little sister as she tried to answer all of our mother's questions as he tried to take the phone away from her. My brother and sister had a hard time communicating for some reason and it only seemed to get worse as Thea got older and her smart mouth only grew more humorously brutal. I only wished they realized they had a lot more in common than they realized.

We just got back to Pasadena. I didn't want them to give mom and dad more of a reason not to stay. Our parents had a long and complicated history here and it was hard to believe it's been ten years since we left. And as my brother and I got older, we started to get curious as to why we didn't come to visit often. It was just after Thea's eighth birthday that we decided to bring the subject up again, and ask them why even uncle Freddy hadn't shown up to the birthday party while we were staying in New York that weekend.

Dad came up with an excuse of course, claiming uncle Freddy had a farming emergency he couldn't break away from. But like mom always says, he was a terrible liar. Not too long after that, dad had his minor heart attack and that was when our mother had finally cracked. Dad used to be a family man, or so she claimed. He had their backs through thick and thin according to her, and when I had asked why dad refused to let uncle Freddy visit him in the hospital. She came clean about how uncle Mike and uncle Freddy had kept a very sensitive secret from dad. Dad had chosen to leave because of it. And here we are, ten years later, with more questions than originally anticipated. My brother, sister and I have been in the company of all of these people for about four hours now and I had no reason to believe they were as bad as dad always made it seem. Then again, there was always more to the story than people led on.

We've been to so many countries where there were families in poverty, children being split into the system because their parents couldn't afford to keep them. But the Carter family had the luxury of staying together, and we'd all realized that while we helped some of those families rebuild their homes, which had been falling apart due to harsh tropical storms and careless governments. We also donated money to provide them with better water filtration, so they wouldn't have to walk for miles and skip school or work to gain clean water. There were too many things keeping people apart these days. Bruised egos and petty arguments shouldn't have gotten in the way of us all staying in touch, or visiting each other often.

"How is your mother doing?" aunt Marley asked as she placed some dishes in the dish washer, returning her gaze to her soapy hands dipped into the farmhouse sink full of dirty pots and pans.

"She's great actually. Still a bit shaky after dad's heart attack, but she's doing better," I replied with a small smile. The truth was, moving back to Pasadena was all mom's idea and dad still wasn't sure this had been the right move for us. Not that he had a choice in the matter. Mom held more authority in her gaze than a hundred cops combined and not a single one of us had the guts to challenge her against anything she said.

"I don't remember seeing her that scared before. She always looks so... together, you know?"

"That sounds like her," she chuckled, handing over a scrubbed clean pot so I could dry it and place it in the cabinet.

"And your dad? How's his heart?" she continued her questioning, and while I was more than happy to fill her in on their lives, I wondered why she never tried to find out for herself. Uncle Mike and Freddy had tried to call, even aunt Jesse, but never her. I wasn't even sure she'd remember us after all this time. However, judging from all the pictures she still had of me and my twin brother when we were merely five years old on her walls, she knew a lot more than we originally thought. She had plenty more of Giselle from the looks of it, and seeing as our cousin had decided to ditch this family reunion and head on over to a party she had mentioned on the car ride over, I figured she was probably tired of hanging around a bunch of kids. She was about to turn 20 after all.

I wondered if Giselle, or even the rest of the family knew the three of us worked for everything we had, including our phones and laptops and every other electronic device kids our ages had. Mom and dad raised us to learn the value of earning money, as opposed to just them giving us a couple of 20s whenever we asked for it. Zander and I had earned enough money throughout the years to buy ourselves a car out here. That way we wouldn't have to carpool with anyone. Once we got settled in and started working with mom on her new renovation projects here, we'd save more and be able to infuse that into our college funds. Maybe even put some of those earnings away for a car for Thea when we taught her how to drive in a couple of years. Not that dad hadn't begun her training already. He wanted her to be as prepared as she could be for her pre-teen years and even beyond that. That also included different ways to turn the boys down in a concrete manner, where they wouldn't chase after her even when she declined them. He was one to talk though. He'd follow mom straight into hell if the occasion called for it. They've never been so obnoxiously in love than they are now after his health scare, and I was curious to see how it would translate after coming back to the same place they ran away from so long ago. The same town that held so many painful memories that forced them to take the easy way out and leave everything behind.

I had no idea why mom and aunt Marley's friendship had come to an impasse though. I remembered five-year-old me taking cooking lessons from her, and she'd been so patient and kind and funny. Aunt Marley was the kind of person who liked to keep you from the cruelest parts of the world as long as possible, until she had no choice but to let you go. I loved my mother of course. Her liberal parenting methods have been effective so far, since none of us have spiraled like normal teenagers did at this age. We were free to do whatever as long as we were safe, and stayed away from smoking and drinking and ending up on a teen pregnancy show. I loved that crazy woman and I couldn't wait to bug her when she and dad finally came home.

However, after my brother and I turned 16, our relationship with our parents had shifted a bit. We had questions they didn't feel the need to answer and it turned the tension up a notch ever since. It was partially the reason why I wanted to come back here. I wanted to find out the truth behind all of these family secrets. I wanted to know why we'd been so closed off from them all this time and I hoped the answers we'd been pushing for didn't cause more damage than predicted.

"He's doing good. Better now after getting some rest," I explained, while putting away more pots as she handed them to me after drying them. Dad had been having chest pains for a while before his heart attack, but being the stubborn old man he was, he refused to go to the doctor until the pain got to be too much for him and mom finally forced him to go. Turns out the stress he'd been hiding from all of us, including mom, was causing his heart to freak out in short spurts. Mom almost had to chain him to the bed once, but I wasn't sure if it was because he refused to listen and take his medicine, or because they were just being the same old nasty couple we'd caught more than once making out in closets when we were younger.

"Still a stubborn old man, huh?" she teased as she turned off the water and dried her hands with a small kitchen rag. The woman was full of warmth and I only hoped it wouldn't diminish the moment I started poking around in the past.

"Why didn't you call, aunt Marley?" I inquired, and when she stilled as she turned to face me, I could tell she didn't really have a straight answer for me. Mom on the other hand always had a straight answer. "Friendships die," was all she ever replied. But it wasn't enough anymore. I needed to know why.

"It's complicated, Zach."

"Mom and dad told us why we left. But I'd like to hear your side of the story. Whenever you're ready," I commented, and she nodded, patting my cheek, then ruffling my long hair. I didn't mind the length but it seemed to bother everyone else.

"I like the hair by the way. Your father used to wear it like this for a very short period of time when we were kids. Until your uncle Mike mad fun of him for it," she added with a smile, shaking her head in awe. I'd seen that look before. It was the same look everyone else gave me and my brother when they saw us together. We shared dad's physical appearance and it was mainly the reason why I decided to let my hair grow. As much as I loved my twin brother, we were nothing alike and I wanted everyone else to know that as well.

People had a stigma for identical twins and it usually sticks with them well into their adult years, according to my research. I didn't want that to be the case with me and my brother. We'd grown into two separate beings, with different interests and different ideals. Our bond would always be unbreakable, but that didn't mean we couldn't grow apart in unison.

"Yeah, I know. We look like just like dad. But in our defense, we try really hard not to be like him," I jested, and when it made her laugh, I pulled her in for a hug. She smelled like food and sweets and it brought back some, if not all, of the old memories I had of her. I hated that she and mom weren't friends anymore. They seemed to have balanced each other out perfectly. Mom being the irrational realist, while aunt Marley continued to be the sensible one. At least that's what dad had always told me. He spoke of aunt Marley in nothing but waves of appreciation and humorous stories of them when they were kids. Yet, not even their friendship was safe from whatever it was that had happened between both women. It was uncle Mike and uncle Freddy he still had a problem with, not aunt Marley. At least he and mom decided to trust them all enough to let us enjoy our last week of summer with them before school started.

"Your father might be a lot of things, but the only good thing I'd ever seen him do was be the father he never had," aunt Marley replied as she pulled away and smiled up at me. She was shorter than I remembered, and her hair was obviously recently dyed since it looked almost jet black. Nonetheless, she was still out here looking absolutely stunning and I hoped uncle Mike was doing his best to keep that smile on her face.

"Here, Zach," Thea's presence interrupted us as she returned to join us in the kitchen, handing me my phone back. I placed it in my back pocket and pulled her in front of me so I could tickle her. As soon as she giggled, I kissed my baby sister's cheek and released her when Zander entered the room. She ran to him and she climbed up on his back like the spider monkey she was. Zander growled at her playfully and zoomed her up and down the kitchen until they both tired out and fell onto the sofa and began to wrestle. There were still rare moments like this one where they both seemed to get along, but I knew it wouldn't last long. It never did.

"It's honestly hard to believe ya'll get along so well, considering who your parents are," uncle Mike was the next one to join us around the kitchen island, stepping in to stand next to his wife, taking her hand in his as they shared a smile. I'd heard about their complicated love story from dad and it was great to see it was still in tact when everyone seemed to give up on something as rare as true love these days.

"They're not too bad. Not anymore at least," Zander chimed in with a grin after placing Thea down, and reached for Camilla, who'd been standing by the patio doorway, trying to catch fireflies in a mason jar. He let her climb onto his back as well, so she'd be able to catch the ones that flew higher up and Camilla seemed to appreciate it since she smiled in return. She was another mystery I wanted to solve. How'd a sweet ten year old girl like her result to fist fighting as a way to solve her problems? Thea was the same age and although her temper matched our mother's on some days, she's never laid a hand on anyone before.

"I'll believe it when I see it. Come on guys. Time to go home," uncle Freddy announced as he leaned in to say his goodbyes to aunt Marley and uncle Mike. Zander, Thea and I did the same, and promised to be back tomorrow to help with the farm chores. I almost laughed when aunt Marley was practically in tears over the offer. Mom had always taught us women were to be treasured and respected and never to be left to carry the groceries in by herself. Unless she asked of course. Not that I had much experience with girls. I usually kept busy with work or school or my music. My brother was the one who'd gotten lucky in that department. My brother didn't need any game. The girls all flocked over to him now that he was working out more and had gotten a lip piercing. I didn't need that kind of attention. But it would've been nice to get more than just a smile or a brief glance from a girl. The nerd in me tended to take over whenever I tried to strike up a conversation, but I only wanted to prove to them we weren't all dense and that we do think about more than just sex and food and video games.

I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I'd get here with my lack of dating skills. I guess we'd have to wait and see just what kind of rumors were going to be spread around about me this time. Witnessing my narcolepsy taking affect didn't help the matter. In fact, it only made them keep their distance from me. Doctors had no remedy for my condition, nor did they give any recommendations as to how I was ever going to get a girl to notice something in me other than the freak who fell asleep out of nowhere.

In that sense, I did envy my twin brother. He had it easier than I did. And although we both had sleeping disorders, his being insomnia, my narcolepsy had kept me from living a normal life. It hindered me from experiencing anything too exhausting, and for once I'd like to keep my eyes open long enough to live in the world, instead of just dreaming about it.