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.