Mountain River Girl

Chapter 12: Let The Truth Be Told

LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD

For a while longer, I had fretted on the couch, worrying about pretty much everything. Even school had crossed my mind, however brief the thought had been. When, eventually, Anna returned to the living room and suggested we watch something on television, I pretended to focus on the screen, which was practically impossible. My fears and worries overpowered me, they left me defenseless against the panic that threatened to consume me. Just in time, the front door opened and closed again, and all of a sudden, my body relaxed. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that Kieran had just come home. Something else I Worried about when he wasn’t around, namely the way he affected me, the influence his presence had on me. The more time I had to myself, the more I started putting puzzle pieces together, the more I became aware just how out of the ordinary this invisible pull really was. I had no theory as to why, no possible explanations for this unexplainable pull. The sole thing I was able to conclude, thus far, was that I was an oddity. Something had to be off when it came to me.

Anna looked over her shoulder, and I couldn’t help but notice the stern look in her eyes. “Kieran, you don’t just head out without notifying me or your father. Either you tell us from now on, or we will ground you.”

“Mom,” Kieran rolled his eyes as he flung his sweater on the back of a chair. “I am eighteen, turning nineteen in a couple of months. I am too old to get grounded.”

“Oh no, you’re not. Nevertheless, if you feel too old for grounding, then consider it mandatory babysitting. Yes, you heard me. I might as well get something out of it myself.” Anna lifted her chin in triumph before returning her attention to the television screen.

Kieran motioned for me to follow him as he went to the stairs.Suddenly dreading what was to come, the talk I had wanted to have in the first place, I inhaled deeply, trying to gather some courage. It didn’t have that much of an effect, much to my annoyance. Kieran was only a few steps ahead of me, but waited outside the entrance of his bedroom for me to enter first. My lips formed a weak smile in thanks.

“Sit down,” he spoke not very loud after he closed the door behind him and saw me standing awkwardly in the centre of his room. I did as told and sat down on the edge of his bed. Noticing that the mattress was quite bouncy,I couldn’t resist testing the springs by bouncing up and down two or three times. Of course Kieran noticed and laughed at me, but I just shrugged it off. The rustling of a plastic bag caught my attention. Leaving the superb quality of the mattress for what it was, I glanced over at Kieran who stood at his desk. I hadn’t noticed him bring a plastic bag upstairs, but then again, I wasn’t exactly the role model of awareness as of lately.

“This is the balm Joanne told me to give you. She specifically instructed I was to make sure you applied it twice a day. Once when you woke up and once before going to bed at night.”

Kieran handed me a transparent bottle. The moment I untwisted the cap, a nasty smell spread from the bottle, and while shuddering, I quickly closed it again.

“That smells horrible! It’s like nature died and was left to rot in that bottle.”

“I don’t think that’s even the worst. Joanne also gave me these,” Kieran spoke with a scrunched up nose when he tossed me a smaller bottle. I missed it by a hair and it landed in my lap. “They’re tablets that you have to melt in water. Joanne told me to warn you about the bad taste. But she also said that the worst tasting medicine…“

“…is also the most effective medication.” I finished for him. “She always says that but I’m not too convinced about her theory.”

“Luckily you’re the one who has to take these and not me.” Kieran laughed while scrunching the plastic back into a tiny ball that he then tossed in his garbage bin. “Let me go fetch you a glass of water. I’ll be right back.”