When Cyrus woke up in the morning he took a
deep breath and didn’t know whether or not he should get up. Should he brave
the confrontation and go downstairs for breakfast or just tuck his head back
under his covers until the fall out was over? He knew his mother was more than
likely already awake, smoking a whole pack of cigarettes and waiting for him to
come downstairs so they could have this out. He remembered how quiet Skye was all
the way home and even after coming in the house she didn’t acknowledge anything
around her and had just went up to her room.
No
lectures, no anger or yelling just eerie silence.
That
scared him more than anything else.
He decided that he would get up after all and
suffer whatever the consequences that his mother would dish out to him. He
would be a man about it like he should be and figured that he did in fact deserve
whatever punishment that she chose. Cyrus was pretty sure that hanging out with
Justin was now a thing of the past and one of the many things he wasn’t allowed
to do anymore because he would be grounded for the rest of his natural life. That
also meant that he would have to find a different way to school.
Getting
back on the bus.
He got up, gave his head and body a quick shake
and shifting his weight on each foot like he was getting ready for a boxing
match, he figured would pump him up for what could be a battle if he got
defensive. Which could very well be the case. Skye wasn’t a push over by any
means but she had never been pushed this far by her kids before so her reaction
would likely be different. Cy had a feeling that he was gearing up for nothing because
his mother had already calmed down and realistically they could have the
conversation without a problem.
After he shook himself out on the outside
as well as in his head, he opened his bedroom door with a slow and easy stride
heading downstairs to the kitchen. The smell of coffee was thick and fresh and
that meant that Skye hadn’t been up long. His anxiety kicked in and slapped him
hard. “Great,” he sighed “but at least she has coffee in her.” With his head level
he walked into the kitchen half expecting Savannah to run into him with the
dogs trailing behind her but the kitchen was empty. He felt oddly deflated so
he shuffled to the sliding glass door that just the night before Angel had watched
him through. Looking out into the yard, there, in a plastic lawn chair sat Skye
with a cigarette in her hand and her mug of coffee steaming in the other while
the dogs ran around in circles nipping at each other.
He
didn’t even realize he had moved as he edged up beside her and spoke softly
“Mom?” he paused watching her stare straight ahead. Skye said nothing; the only
movement was her hand pulling the smoking white stick up to her mouth for the
inhale. This didn’t help Cy’s anxiety at all and he began to fidget. A minute
later after Angel threw Kona off of where he was trying to nip at her neck she
wandered over and sat at Skye’s feet.
“Mom, please say something. You haven’t said
anything since we were in the car at the station.” Cyrus looked at her with
pleading eyes but she wouldn’t look at him. His mother had never been this
angry with him before and he didn’t like it. He felt disconnected from her like
this and it made him very uncomfortable so say the least. He thought that her
anger would have mellowed unfortunately he must have been wrong.
What he didn’t know was that Skye’s mind
was replaying the dream now faded that she had about Deacon and Cyrus before
she woke up and went to the police station.
Skye’s green eyes finally came up to meet
his and she saw the look in his deep blue ones. In them she saw that he was
scared and if she was truthful she was scared too. With everything going on
that he didn’t even know about, she was hanging on by a thread. It took everything
she had not to just give him a hug and tell him to forget it but there was a
point to be made here and he had to understand that he needed to make smarter
choices.
So
she made him wait.
“Mom…please…say something.” he said again and
she couldn’t bear it any longer. Looking at him broker her. He looked just like
her, the dark wavy hair and olive toned skin, the smooth jaw and high
cheekbones but where her eyes where a deep forest green his were sea blue like
Deacon’s. “Look,” she started slowly. “I don’t want to be angry with you but
what happened last night can never happen again.” The conversation at the bank
resurfaced briefly, she shivered and continued the thought reminded her that
she had a lot more on her plate than this to deal with. “Justin is off limits…
I believe that you weren’t doing drugs and I really hope not because it will
screw your scholarship up, is that what you want?”
Cyrus threw his hands up palms out to make
her stop. “Mom, I promise you I did no drugs” he leaned over and tapped the
edge of a wooden lawn chair with his knuckles. She continued “Cyrus…I love you
but I have too much on my plate to worry about than you getting into trouble.”
Cyrus lowered his head again feeling ashamed. “I don’t even know what kind of
drugs they were and I don’t want to. I need you to look out for your sisters
and be the man of this house, can you do that?” He nodded so that his long hair
swayed and blurted out “Ecstasy…you know the love drug?”
Skye shook her head in disapproval. “No
Justin, maybe if he gets his act together we can talk about you hanging out but
if he’s doing those kinds of drugs I want you far away from him are we clear?”
Cy had expected this so he nodded but wouldn’t look her in the eye when he did
it. “Speaking of sisters…” He said and looked up towards Savannah’s bedroom
window. “Where are they? Sav usually wakes me up” Just as he spoke the words
Skye could see a shadow in the kitchen and moved quickly to the glass door
throwing it open.
“SAVANNAH!” she
yelled and startled the little girl that was standing on the counter trying to
reach the box on the top shelf of the cabinet. She rushed forward to where her
daughter was on her tip toes stretched upward. “What are you doing up there?”
“It’s humming
Mama,” she said. “Can’t you hear it?”
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