Chapter 12

I wrote this whole thing on notebook paper during the winter retreat with the youth group!

12

"So...do anything interesting at school today?" Blake said as he picked hungrily at his dinner.
Jenn took a sip of milk.
"Jenn?"
She gulped quickly and pointedly took a bite of lasagna. Then, motioning at her outh, mumbled, "Mouf fuh..."
"Seth?" he asked, dissapointed.
Seth wiped his mouth and set his napkid down on the tablecloth. "Uh...self-portraits...in...art?"
Sasha nodded her head."Fun,fun."
Seth shrugged.
"Seth has Science with Sam," Jenn said. "She's pretty psyched."
Seth dipped an eyebrow. "She talks a lot," he mumbled.
Sahsa smiled knowingly. Jenn just looked at him.
"Don't get me wrong, she's bery nice," he added quickly.
Jenn grinned and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The table was silent for a uncomforable minute.
"May I have more lasanga?" Blake held his plate out to his wife.
"She took it from his hands. "sure."
"So, Seth, do you have any hobbies?" Blake asked, taking a big forkful.
Seth shrugged. "Guitar."
"Oh! Okay, that's cool," Blake said, "What songs?"
Seth tapped his long, pale fingers on the table. "I figure them out as I go."
Jenn suddenly got this "epiphany" look on her face. "So you play by ear?" she asked.
Seth nodded. "You're brilliant>"
She smirked.
Sasha spoke up. "Would you be willing to play for us?"
Seth frowned. "Uh...no."
Jenn pouted and Blake busily cut his food. "Please?" Jenn begged.
Seth shook his head. "I don't feel comfortable playing in front of people."
Sasha pursed her lips. "I know how that feels. I used to play the flute and was so embarrassed playing in front of groups."
One of Seth's dark eyebrows was down. "Yeah..."
"You can play for us when you're ready," Blake added.

* * *

"Hey, Seth!" Flashman called, motioning with his hand for Seth to join him in the computer lab at school. "Let me show you how to hack a computer's hard drive."

It was access period, and they had time to finish homework and projects.

Seth, of course, had nothing to wok on, because he'd only started school the day before. So he warily walked over to Flashman and pulled up a chair from the neighboring computer monitor.

"So, okay, first I need to check my blog real quick..." Flashman started, clicking open the Internet icon.

Seth frowned. "What's a blog?" he asked.

"Random text and crap I decide to share with the world," Flashman said plainly, his eyes never leaving the screen.

The Internet window opened and Flashman typed in the address. A screen popped up and the title "FLASHMAN!!" became visible against the dark blue background. The caption read "Providing hacks at ALL hours."

A teacher walked up behind them and gripped the back of Seth's chair.

"Doing homework, boys?" she asked.

Flashman tensed. "Yeah...I'm doing a report on basic computer DNA," he said unconvincingly.

"Sure," the teacher said. "And you're getting off now."

Seth's eyebrows drew together."He's just doing a project, come on."

She looked at him like he was crazy and walked away.

"Thanks, dude," Flashman said, slapping him on the shoulder.

"No prob."

"So first, you --"

"Look, I have some makeup homework to do," a lie, "so I'll see you later."

Flashman paused and frowned. "Oh. Well, uh, okay."

"See you later," Seth muttered and walked out of the lab.

The hallway was empty and had an almost ominous feeling to it.

Seth sat next to a wall and put his face in his hands.

Half of Chapter 11

“Who was that?” Blake asked, holding the door open for Seth.
Sasha looked a little shaken. “I don’t know.”
Jenn walked into the room and saw everyone a little freaked out. “Uh…is everyone okay?” her eyes met Seth’s.
One of his eyebrows dipped. “Yeah, some strange guy just came and verbally assaulted your mom,” he said, shaking his head. “No big deal.”
Blake gripped Seth’s shoulder. “Uh…Saush, what’s for dinner?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.
Seth tensed and held Jenn’s gaze. “Who was that?” Jenn asked Sasha.
Sasha looked at Seth uneasily. “Um…it was someone who said he worked for Seth’s dad.”
Seth frowned. “Wait, where does he work?”
“He didn’t say.”
Blake rocked back and forth on his feet. “Can…can we discuss this over dinner? I’m bushed.”
They all looked at him. His blue eyes were wide and scared. “Okay,” Sasha said. “I made some lasagna and it’s in the oven. It’s not quite ready,” she looked at Blake. “Can I talk to you in private?”
Seth and Jenn exchanged glances. “Sure,” Blake said.
The kids were left in the living room alone as Jenn’s parents walked down the hallway towards the family room.
Seth shifted his feet. “I thought he was dead,” he said, sounding disappointed, going over to the stairs to put his new clothes in ‘his room’.
Jenn followed. “Why did you think that?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Well, for one, he left seven years ago and didn’t come back,” he said, stopping at the top of the stairs and waiting for Jenn. “Two, he never sent us letters or anything. We never heard from him.”
Jenn stopped and stood by him at the top.
Seth was a good four inches taller than her, and her eyes were about level to his chin. Jenn looked up at his dark face and he peered down at her through a few strands of his black hair.
“When’s your birthday?” she asked suddenly, eyes questioning.
His chin moved back a half inch in surprise. “What?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “When is your birthday?”
One of his eyebrows dipped. “November eleventh,” he said. “Uh…yours?”
“January fifteenth,” her brow furrowed and she was silent for a minute. “What year?” she asked.
“Ninety-three,” he said. “Why?”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re older than me.”
Seth laughed, his face breaking it’s normal impassive state. “Of all the things you could worry about, it’s me being older,” he chuckled.
Jenn rolled her eyes. “How old were you when your dad left?” she continued.
He stopped laughing and just looked at her. “Six.”
“Huh,” Jenn concluded.
She didn’t say any more about the subject. Seth held his bag a little higher. “I’ve got to go put these away,” he started walking towards his room, Jenn following.
“So,” she persisted, “that would give your dad plenty of time to…I dunno…like, start things over, you know? Like maybe you have half siblings in Britain, or something, and your dad mentioned you, and they decided they wanted to meet you.”
They got to his door and he turned the handle and stopped. “What are you getting at?” he asked, a little irritated.
She shrugged. “I dunno, I thought that maybe you have a better life outside all of this. Like, maybe you really do have somewhere to go. Maybe your dad wants you back.”
Seth opened the door and walked to ‘his’ dresser. “I don’t think so. I mean, you don’t just show up after seven years and demand custody of your kid that you don’t really know.”
Jenn sat on his bed and fingered his guitar. “Maybe you do.”
He frowned and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “Are you trying to get rid of me or something?” he questioned.
She looked up and smiled at him. “No,” she said, “I'm just giving you hope.”
Seth scowled. “Hope?”
“Yeah. Someone obviously wants you, and I think you should try and find them.”

Chapter 10

The shopping trip didn’t turn out to be so ‘fun’. Blake tried to convince Seth to try on a bunch of lighter colored clothes, but Seth wouldn’t have them. Then he tried to buy him a new jacket, and that didn’t go over so well. He tried to get him to buy a newer, Cherokee brand coat.
Seth refused.
They ended up with two pairs of black jeans, one pair of dark blue ones, and four black shirts. Blake paid for these and they both walked out to the BMW. “Don't you ever talk?” Blake asked.
Seth shook his head as he pulled the handle of the door and got into the front seat. Blake put his keys into the ignition. The car vibrated lightly, but otherwise made no indication it had started until it pulled out of the parking spot. Seth fingered a loose black thread on his old coat. “Where did you get that?” Blake asked, mentally noting it’s wear and tear.
“It was my dad’s,” Seth said quietly.
Silence.
It started to rain lightly and Seth watched the raindrops break on the windshield before being wiped away by the squeegees that swung back and forth across the glass. The even tempo of the light precipitation soothed his mind and he started tapping his fingers to a nameless beat as they rolled on out of the parking lot. “Do you ever hear from him?” Blake asked. “Your dad.”
Seth shook his head again. “He left a long time ago.”
They stopped at a red light about a mile from the Langley’s house. Blake opened his mouth again. “Do you hear from your mother?”
“No.”
The light turned green and the car surged into motion. “That's sad. You must be lonely,” Blake alleged.
Seth shifted in the gray leather seat uncomfortably. Blake noticed this, and dropped the question like the rain that fell from the dark clouds above them. He changed the subject. “How was school today?”
Seth drew his coat higher up his neck. “Fine,” he said, sounding a bit muddled and irritated.
The house came into view.
There was a man in a dark coat at the door arguing with Sasha. Blake and Seth opened their car doors and hopped out, Seth grabbing the bag with his clothes.
“–have no right to keep him here,” the man was saying in a low, angry voice, almost muffled by the rain.
The next bit was harder to make out, and then he turned and stalked off towards a old, rusted truck that was parked by the walk. His head turned and he met Seth’s gaze momentarily before climbing into the truck.
Something inside Seth froze, his gut turned to ice.
Where did he know that man from?
“Seth? Is that you? And Blake?” Sasha’s shrill voice broke through his confusion. “Come in here and get out of the rain.”
Seth didn’t move.
“Seth?”
The truck roared to life, and drove away.

Chapter 9

First of all, you guys had better comment or else i'm not posting any more. Thanks!

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“Hey guys, how was school?” Sasha asked as Seth and Jenn piled into the car.
“Fine,” Jenn sang.
Seth slammed the door loudly. “Seth? How’d it go for you?” Sasha asked him wth a concerned expression.
He exhaled. “Great,” he lied through his teeth; he already hated school. This was the one place that he could ever hear the lights without straining his ears.
In fact, almost everything about it was irritating to him. Mostly, it was really loud. His sensitive ears picked up every noise happening. There were footsteps everywhere. The lights burned his eyes and the sound made his mind foggy. The teachers were too loud and you could hear people chomping on their gum like a cow chews its cud.
He pulled his black backpack over his legs and leaned against the door with his shoulder. He sighed inwardly. “Was someone giving him a hard time?” he barely heard Sasha ask Jenn. Her jacket rustled as she shook her head.
The car started and the world whirred into motion.
Seth said nothing and watched the road go by through a few strands of his dark hair.
“Hey, Seth, Flashman said that you had art with him,” Jenn said, reaching across the seat to poke his backpack with one finger then sitting back.
He broke his concentration on the road and looked at her with a purposeful bored look. “Yep,” he said the one word quickly.
Jenn nodded once.
“You guys have a lot of homework?” asked Sasha.
“No,” Jenn answered for the both of them.
“Oh, because Blake wanted to take Seth shopping for some new clothes. I can take you with me, Jenn, and we can go get ice cream or something.”
Seth frowned. “I’ve got clothes,” he said seriously.
“I know, but you look like you’re growing out of them,” Sasha watched him momentarily from the rear-view mirror. “You really need a new coat.”
This angered him. “What’s wrong with my coat? ”
Sasha bit her lip. “It’s a little…” she trailed off.
“Ghetto?” Seth provided.
“No!” Sasha exclaimed, one hand flying off the wheel and coming back to rest on the black leather again. “No! That wasn’t what I was going to say! I was going to say ‘old’. They’re a little worn.”
Of course it was, it had been his dad’s, seven years ago. He remembered his father wearing it at the dinner table, the dark fabric blending into him, becoming him. Seth had looked up to his father, and when he left when Seth was seven, it had killed him. He saw that his father didn’t care for him the same way that he cared for the dark young man.
But he left The Coat.
Seth glared. “My coat is fine,” he said, finishing the discussion.

There were only clips of things that Seth remembered about his father. He remembered his mother telling him that he looked just like him. Same eyes, same hair, same fair skin. His mother told him he had his father’s strong hands.
His father never yelled at the children. Never talked to them either. He showed no interest in Violet, his daughter. Seth was of more importance to him, and so occasionally, he would get a few dollars to go spend on himself.
Seth had been a good boy, and he never used the money for himself. He gave it to his mother for groceries or something.
Mom never had any money. It was Daddy who had all the cash. Dad gambled. Dad won.
His father drank a lot. He also fought with his wife a lot, and hit her.
Seth always thought that his father was disappointed that he had been born. That both his children had. He didn’t think that his father found it convenient to have children to have to return to. Seth’s mother was demanding, and bitter. Seth didn’t like her either, and wondered what his father had thought about him when he first met her.
Secretly, Seth really believed that he was an accident. Nobody had ever really wanted him anyway, except Violet, but she had been less wanted that him. She was an accident too.