Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“I’m glad you came today, Caspian. I missed you,” his cousin said with a big smile, then slurped hard on his straw. It was his second helping of Sprite.
“I’m glad I came too. I know it’s been a few days but I had a lot of work to do, ’specially since I’m working remotely now.” Noah nodded in understanding. “Noah, I want to apologize to you for how I treated you back when we were children. I know I told you this a few months ago, but I didn’t go in depth about it. I want to do that right now. I was wrong for how I did you.”
The man gave him an inquisitive look. Caspian crushed his ketchup-stained napkin in the palm of his hand.
“You and me were friends, Cas, not just cousins. You was like a big brother to me. You ain’t treat me bad.” Noah looked downright forlorn about the situation. Caspian’s self-accusation seemed far too much for him to bear. “You helped teach me how to read better, and you taught me how to ride a bike, too.” He picked up a French fry, dipped the tip in a mound of ketchup, then crammed it in his mouth. “You stopped the bullies from messin’ with me ’cause I wasn’t too coordinated with sports ’nd all, and they’d make fun of how I talk sometimes. You were—”
“Yeah, I did all of that, Noah, but I still wasn’t good to you. On purpose. Even Satan can do somebody a favor every now and again.” Now Noah looked even more confused. “I know I brought this up to you before, and you didn’t seem to understand it then, either. Look, buddy, I had some problems as a kid, okay? Big problems. Some of ’em were regular growin’ pains, but some of it was anger and unresolved emotional issues. I was mad at the world ’cause my mama was gone and you had yours. That sparked jealousy in me and I took it out on you. I resented Aunt Angel, though I shoulda been grateful. I wasn’t her biological child and always felt like she couldn’t love me as much as she loved you, even if she wanted to. I know it sounds silly and childish, but I’m explaining how my mind worked back then, and why I was motivated to do you how I did.
“Aunt Angel, your mama, was real good to me. Please understand that I’m not blaming her or anyone else for that matter, but for me,” he pointed to himself, “she wasn’t enough. It hurts my heart to have to actually vocalize that to you because I know it sounds bad, but I’m being honest. I am okay with it now, but as a kid, with me not havin’ my own biological father, just like you didn’t have yours, and not havin’ my own biological mother either caused me distress. I started to… disconnect, I guess you could say. I managed to somehow turn things off inside me that shouldn’t have been turned off because I started to lack empathy and compassion for folks.
“I still struggle with that sometimes. I was full of resentment because I couldn’t have the same experiences as some of my peers. I didn’t know what they were talkin’ about when they discussed their mothers or fathers doing or saying this, that, and the other. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Noah took another gulp of his drink. “I know you sometimes was mad at me, Caspian. But I still loved you.” He shrugged. “You did more good than bad. You were my only friend.”
After a long silence, Caspian spoke. “Noah, I want to ask you a question, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. What did ya want to ask me about?”
“I was going through the box that Aunt Angel gave me and there was a key.” He slipped it out of his pocket and turned it to and fro. “Do you know what this goes into?”
Noah took the key from his hand, smiled and nodded while shaking his raised arm with the zeal and excitement of a child. “This one is almost just like the keys Mama used for the Continental hotel she worked at, Caspian. She had all the keys to the doors of the hotel so she could get in ’em and clean ’em. You don’t remember that? You were at the hotel, too. Now those doors are gone. They changed everything.” His brows bunched and his lips crimpled. “They’re all electronic.”
Noah handed him back the key and he placed it back into his pocket.
“I don’t remember Aunt Angel using keys similar to this. Maybe ’cause I was always on the first floor chasing the band members. You were always on her heels, though. Do you know why she’d put this key in that box?”