Fall Out Girl

2029
I had only recently found out that my mother may still be alive from my father who died in a hospital back in California. See, ever since I was little, it was always my dad, my dad’s family, and I… I heard nothing of my mother other than she loved me and died when I was born. Which, like I said before, my father completely lied about. So now, I’m in a taxi in Chicago, with a few outfits, only $50 in my pocket and an address with a name.

“That’s $35, Son,” the cab driver said.

Well, make that $15 now. “Thanks, sir,” I told the cab driver politely as I grabbed my bag.

He gave me a scoff and drove off quickly.

“You’re very welcome,” I muttered to myself. I checked the address again before making my way up to the front door. Truth be told, I was terrified. It was an old address that even my father wasn’t too sure about.

“Now or never,” I whispered to myself before knocking cautiously on the door. An elderly African American woman answered the door. Her eyes were kind and were magnified greatly by her thick glasses. “Oh, I’m sorry. I think I have the wrong house. Do you know where and Amelia Stump resides?” I asked kindly.

“Amelia….Amelia…” she muttered under her breath.

“I think she also goes by Emmy.”

The old lady’s eyes grew wide (if it were possible). “Oh, yes! Emmy! She lives right there,” the woman said, pointing to a house across the street. “Such a charming young woman… such a tragedy. Come, I’ll take you there.” She grabbed my hand with her wrinkled, gnarly one. For such an ancient woman, she had a strong grip. She pulled me all the way to the steps and knocked on the door confidently.

After a few loud crashes, screams, and laughter behind the walls, the door was opened by a flustered middle-aged man who looked as if he were famous at one point in time. His dark brown, almost black hair was strewn on top of his head and fell in his eyes. His five o’clock shadow needed to be shaved and the bags under his eyes needed serious work. But the crinkles around the corners of his mouth and the crow’s feet around his eyes, along with the twinkle in his pupils gave away that his life was filled with fun times.

“Peter, this charming young man is looking for Emmy, is she here?” the kind old lady said. “Oh, my, I never got your name dear!” she directed at me.

I cleared my throat. “It’s-”

“Brian?” a beautiful woman in a wheelchair behind the middle-aged man asked. She looked as if she used to be very active, but her confinement to the chair made her lose too much muscle mass. Like the man, she looked a little worse for wear, but her eyes were bright and alive.

“N-No, ma’am. Brian is my father. I’m-”

“Jarek,” she said, her eyes going brighter. “I was wondering when you would return home.” She quickly turned to the old woman. “Thank you, Mrs. Robinson. Thank you for returning my son.”

“Oh my, then I’ll leave.”

“No, you don’t have to. Would either of you like to come in and have some tea?” the man asked.

“It’s okay, Peter. I’m expecting my own children soon. I will call on you later. Goodbye and good luck, Jarek.” She said with a smile before walking back to her house.

“Well, come in, Jarek! I’m so happy to see you. This is my husband, Pete, if you haven’t already guessed and your half-siblings are still in school.”the woman my mother said, ushering me inside. The man just smiled and closed the door behind me after I walked into the house.

The house itself was large, yet cozy. Random toys littered the floor and there were a few cans on the living room table. From what I could see, the house was very well broken in and child-proofed for every age.

“Peter, get me out of this confounded thing so I can see my son properly.” My mother said, ordering my step-father. Gently, he unbuckled her from the seat and stood her in front of him, pressing her hips into his so that he could keep her steady. “Jarek, my have you grown,” she said maternally, extending her arms out to hug me. “The last time I saw you, you weren’t even a year old. God, you look so much like your father. How is he?”

I smiled and stepped into her hug. “It’s so glad to meet you, mom. Dad died about a week ago. It was his dying wish that I meet you.” I smiled back as best as I could. Talking about…it still hurt. And just so you are aware, that was completely awkward to say. “Do you mind if we talk alone for a while? You know, get to know each other?”

“But, of course. Pete, put me down on the couch. I want to be comfortable when I talk to my son.”

Pete nodded and slowly set her down. “I need to pick the kids up from school, anyways.” He kissed her lips lightly. “I’ll be right back. And, Jarek, make yourself at home.”

I nodded and sat down next to my mother as he exited the house.

“So, tell me all about yourself. I want to know everything.”

“Everything? Wow. Where to start?”

“well, let’s start out simple. Do you have a girl back home…in Cali, I presume?”

“Yes, I live in Cali. And, no, I don’t have a girlfriend. I’ve actually never had a girlfriend.”

She smiled. “You know, you’re father didn’t have one until college. I was only his second-”

“Girlfriend, I know. He told me constantly.”

“Well, you would never believe it with how he treated women. I felt like an Egyptian Queen every time he was around me. Hopefully he taught you the same?”

I nodded.

“Good, so you won’t be as clumsy as your uncle. I’m still surprised he and your aunt are still together.” Her smile dropped. “Did he have any…”

“No, he was too busy. I mainly stayed with Nonna and Opa.” I chuckled lightly at the inside joke.

“You’re grandfather didn’t want to be called nonno? Or your grandmother didn’t want to be called Oma?”

“I think you’re the first person outside of my family to know that they’re too different languages.”

“Well, son, I am your mother and I did meet your father’s parents.”

“I keep forgetting about that.”

“I know how you feel. That’s from this side of the family. If you ever meet your uncle, you’ll see what I mean. But enough of that, what about your childhood?”

“It was pretty normal, I guess. I mean, sure you weren’t there, but I had enough friends that their parents constantly spoiled me and such. And I always had Nonna.”

“I’m so sorry I missed out on it.”

“Why did you leave?”

The look on her face was of pure shock. “Jarek, what did your father say?”

I shrugged. “That you died shortly after childbirth. I only found out you were still alive a few minutes before he passed away. Granted, that’s not what happened, and he didn’t have the energy to tell me anything…” I was so confused. My entire life was a lie, and I had to rely on this stranger to tell me what happened nearly twenty years ago.

“Well, as you may know, I discovered a medical breakthrough with the neuron shortly before you were born. I waited six months after you were born to write and publish my findings so that I could travel and show it off. All I knew is that I kissed you goodbye and when I came home two months later, you and your father were gone. I went to your grandmother’s where he was. Believe me, I didn’t want to sign the divorce papers and neither did he- we wanted to work our problems out, but then I got a call telling me that I was needed back here in Chicago. That phone call pretty much signed the deal.

“Jarek, I do not hate your father. I could never hate him. It was just one of those weird coincidences where he and I living together would not have been for your betterment. I would have been gone all the time, leaving your father to play both roles. In that split second where we both signed it, we had a mutual agreement. What your father did was in your best interest.” There were tears in her eyes at the very end of her speech. “I loved your father to death. I still do love him, even after you told me he is not longer living. I’m just not in love with him anymore. Do you know what I mean by that?”

I nodded my head. Even though I had never felt romantic love first hand, Dad would always tell me stories and I had watched plenty of movies to get a general idea.

“Good. Do you have any questions so far?”

“Actually, I do. What was so urgent that you had to get up and pack for?”

“Do me a favor, do you see that large, leather-bound volume up in the bookshelf?”

I nodded, spotting the item.

“Can you go and grab that for me? It’s easier if I show you.”

I went up to retrieve it. I placed it in her lap. Forcing a smile, she opened it up and went straight to a picture of two babies reaching out for each other, their mothers holding them.

“This baby, is you.” She said, pointing to the smaller one on the right. “And this baby was your cousin Emmett- or Furby, as I liked to call him.”

I nodded, fingering the page in awe. I had never seen baby pictures of me before. Not to toot my own horn, but I was pretty damn cute. And Mom…well, she was beautiful. It looked like she came from Heaven or something, but I guess every child thinks that their mother is beautiful. “What happened to him?”

“He had Tay-Sachs Disease. It’s a genetic disorder dealing with a lack of lysosomes in your neurons. It’s a very heart-wrenching disease in which the victim does not live past the age of five. Emmett died before his third birthday.”

“Oh.” What else is there to say to that? “Mom, may I look at these some more?”

“Of course.” I flipped back to the beginning.

“That’s my twin, Patrick- you’re uncle- and I when we were little,” she explained.

I nodded and flipped through more pages, watching the two small children grew up. All of a sudden, it went from a family of four, to a family of three. I didn’t ask questions, I just looked and flipped until I came to a picture that looked like a teenage version of my mother. She put her hand on a picture and caressed the boy’s face.

“That’s my first love- Parker Lewis. We were the classic high school couple- he the captain of the football team and I was cheer captain. He died shortly after this picture was taken.” She added in a sad tone. She quickly removed her hand and motioned for me to flip some more. I stopped at an album cover.

“Wait, I know this band. Dad used to let me listen to them in the car. Wow, this cover must be valuable, it’s an autographed first print.”

“This band, is Patrick’s and my best friends’ from highschool. Pete was in it, too.”

“I knew he looked a little familiar. Wow.” I was sooo not acting like a mature eighteen year old, but rather a fan-boy. Somehow, I didn’t care. I was related to famous people!

Her laugh was so beautiful. “Yea, those are my losers.”

Grinning, I flipped through more until I came across wedding pictures. “You and Dad?”

“Yes, that’s your father and I.”

“You two look so happy.”

“That’s what happens when you’re in love.”

“When did you realize you two were no longer in love?”

She sighed and leaned further into the cushion. “Your father figured it out before me. But, I realized it sometime after Emmet’s funeral…”

I nodded and continued to look at them. The next page was the one she showed me before. I quickly skipped it and continued on. However, I didn’t realize how many baby pictures there were. When I got to the end of them, I came across another wedding.

“That’s Pete and I.”

I nodded my head and took in every detail. I wanted to know everything about my mother’s life…well, everything that she would share with me. It seemed as if she led a very eventful life. I quickly rifled through the other pictures- the ones of her new family.

“Mom, can I ask you something semi-personal?”

“You can ask me anything, Jarek.”

“What happened to you? I mean, all those pictures have you standing…”

“Well, about that-”

BAM!

“Mom, Jeremy and Tanner are still talking about how you flipped that dirt bike over Spring Break!”

She grinned. “The kids are home, and there’s your answer.” She said to me in a low voice. “Lewis, Sam, McKinley! I’m in the living room! Come here, I want you to meet someone!” she shouted.

The “kids” all scrambled in- two boys and one girl. The eldest was a boy only a few years younger than I. He was dressed in a nice dress shirt and black trousers. He had thin-framed silver glasses and his dark brown hair neatly framed his face. The other boy was shorter and looked to be around fourteen. He was dressed in the latest “skater- punk” fashion, complete with a skateboard tucked under his arm. His obviously dyed blue hair was messily out up in spikes. The girl looked to be around nine and she was anything but girly. Her pants were ripped in several places and her shirt looked as if it had seen better days. She looked the most like mom, with her almost-white hair piled high into pigtail buns.

“Kids, this is your half-brother, Jarek. Jarek, the one on your far left is Lewis, the one in the middle is Sam, and the girl is McKinley.”

“Hi, how are you?” Lewis asked, shaking my hand with a firm grip.

“Good. And you?”

“Bored out of my mind.”

I laughed. Something told me I would get along fine with this family.

“To answer your question, Jarek, I was attempting to do a flip on Sam/s dirt bike last month. Apparently I wasn’t going fast enough and didn’t have enough lift to do the trick, so I crashed and fractured my spinal cord. They say I can't walk anymore, but, mark my words, I will walk...I may be eighty by that time, but I will walk!”

“It was the coolest crash, though.” Sam cut in, I guess knowing that our mother could go on forever if given the opportunity.

“So, Jarek, what are you doing here?”

“Getting in touch with this half of the family before I leave for college.” I answered, not quite ready to reveal the whole truth.

“Where are you going?” Lewis asked.

“Dartmouth.”

Everyone started laughing. I didn’t quite get what was so funny.

“Like mother, like sons,” Pete said through laughs.

“Jarek, that’s where I went to undergrad school. And Lewis skipped two grades, so he’s starting there in the fall, too. What are you going there for?”

“Pre-med. I want to be a neurologist.” I said confidently.

“Good choice. That was my major. Son, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want to. I’m sure the kids will enjoy your company.”

“Thanks, mom/”

Everything will be okay now.