Chapter 19: Chapter 17: APOLOGIES AND REMORSE
A lady in a ponytail opened the door.
" Cyril " she squeaked pulling him into a hug.
" Hi, I'm Katie " she held out her hand and I shook it.
" Nice to meet you, Katie, I'm Jeremy "
Her expression was definitely surprising. She gaped at me with her mouth open.
" Jeremy, as in Mrs. Heath's son? " she asked. Her face fell and she seemed upset with my presence. I don't even know how she knew who I was, nor who she was.
" Katie, will you stop staring and let us in " Cyril teased. He saved me from her glare.
" My bad " she giggled and stepped aside.
I was the last one to come in and inhaled deeply. Just as I dreamt about it, a cold shiver went down my spine. They both walked ahead and I lingered behind. No doubt talking about me and how I mysteriously appeared on the face of Earth. Katie seemed to know who I was. My emotion was all over the place. I quickly wiped away the tear that threatened to roll down my face.
" Are you ready Jeremy? " Cyril asked turning to look at me. Will I actually be ready enough to face the past? With each passing day, guilt burdens me. I had no idea what will happen next. It was logical to expect accusations.
" Yes," I answered not thinking it was a good idea for me to start telling him all that. His death glare would kill me.
He led me to the guest room, mom insisted on keeping all of Dad's stuff in there. Nobody opens the room, I was angry as a child. Why did she decide to keep all his stuff there? It seemed as though she was shutting out his memories from the rest of the world. Somehow, knowing she stayed there gave me a certain sense of relief.
He quietly knocked on the door and turned the doorknob to enter immediately.
" Mrs. Heath " she was sitting on the bed knitting a sweater. Mum always enjoyed knitting. My sweaters, quilts you name it. I blinked rapidly to prevent tears from falling.
" Cyril, I was talking to Katie about coming to visit " she chattered away happily, concentrating on her work. Whenever she starts to knit, it became almost impossible to gain her attention.
" There's no need to. Everyone will be here tomorrow for dinner. The kids have been bugging me about coming to see you "
" That's really sweet. Who's this ? " she asked looking up from what she was doing. He didn't answer and walked to the corner of the room. Her fixed gaze roamed over my body and stopped on my eyes.
" Jer... Jeremy ? " she stuttered, crying. Realization dawned on her, I might have changed a lot but she will always recognize me.
She dropped the knitted piece of cloth and tried to get up. Cyril helped her up and she took slow and steady steps towards me.
" Jeremy, is really you? "
" Yes, mother " I stared at the floor unable to keep eye contact. Mum rubbed her hand over my face m trying to check if I was real.
" It's not a dream this time, it's real. You are the real one " She cries uncontrollably. What I felt when she called me terrible was nothing compared to this. I did this to her, I caused all this pain.
I noticed Cyril discreetly walking away from the corner of my eye. Holding her in my arms, I rubbed her back trying to soothe her. The way she held me when I was sad, it was my turn to do the same.
" I am sorry mother, it was stupid to let whatever I thought I was feeling to becloud my sense of reasoning. I am sorry for never returning, for leaving you alone. I'm such a bad person with a tiny brain.. " I broke down into tears. My red puffy eyes matched hers.
" I forgive you, Jeremy, you're my son after all.
" You do? " I pulled her back to gaze into her eyes. That was a surprise, I guess after what happened in my dream I was sure she would never forgive me. But just because there's no harm in trying I came here anyway. Cyril's timing couldn't have been more perfect. The dream I had the previous day helped me to summon courage, no matter how little it might have been.
" Yes, I do. I totally forgive you. Why do you look so surprised? Isn't it a good thing? "
" It is but I expected you to scold me, be upset, and possibly never speak to me again. What I did was wrong and I caused you so much pain. Turning my back and no even batting an eyelid shows just how much of a good person I am. I braced myself to be at the receiving end of your anger but here we are, no fuss. " I tried explaining. Nothing bad can come out of being truthful. Although, I left out the part about my terrible self. Real-life mom wouldn't react to that calmly.
" I didn't think that was necessary. You came here so obviously to you feel remorseful and I've never since you cry since your father died. Scolding wouldn't do much " Her eyes were glistening with joy and happiness.
" I don't deserve it but I promise to make it up to you. " Coming here, wasn't as bad as I had expected. All my fears were caused by that dream and reality wasn't even close to it.
" I love reunions " Cyril suddenly appeared behind me.
" We need to put a bell on you. Where do you even come from? " He came in as swiftly as he had left.
" I came in through the door," he said pointing to the door mockingly.
I facepalmed, earning laughter from my mum. A missing piece of my life had been found and I made sure to cherish it for as long as I could before having to let it go again. Except, it would be permanent and I can't just go about looking for it.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone