Anastasia

Three

"Why did you think you could just brang your tail back round here, boy? You ain't welcomed no more."

Austin sucked his teeth at the harshness in his tone.

"Dad, I came to make things right. I don't want no trouble. I only want to apolo-"

His father narrowed his dark eyes and threw his cigarette at him. "Ain't that high of you, boy? You was born for trouble. Can't run from who ya are, boy."

It wasn't true.

He was someone new now.

His old life couldn't trap him. Not in the way it trapped his father.

"You get out, boy. Don't come round these parts no more. You and that crazy mama of yours can stay far from me."

Austin would've shown him who he was talking to.

He wanted to.

Conviction held him back.

He wasn't going back to that life.

"I want to be respectful, but don't you ever call my mother crazy. She put up with you for years til she just couldn't. I wanted to make things right, but I'll listen." He said instead.

His father chuckled and lit another cigarette. "Knew you'd lose your spark, boy. But you ain't never gonna be nothing but trash and trouble." He smiled wickedly, showing his brown and rotted teeth.

Austin stomped on the cigarette his father threw at him and turned away.

He was done.

"Hey, hey, boy." His father mocked. "You ever wonder what you gone be like? Turn around and get a good look at yourself, boy. You ain't gone be nothing better than me. You ca' run, but it'll catch up on you. Nobody can save ya from this,"

Austin shook his head and shut his truck door.

He slammed his fists on the steering wheel and huffed harshly.

There was so much to be said, but he couldn't even speak.

After fifteen years of avoiding the man, Austin finally came to see him. Nothing had changed.

He was just as nasty-hearted then as he was now.

Time was supposed to change people.

Austin understood now that only God could.

-

"That's the last of it, man. You're lucky that spaghetti smells so good, I would've never strained myself to help you," Dominic said as he walked into the kitchen panting.

Austin hummed absently.

The last thing on his mind was spaghetti now.

"What's got you quiet? I couldn't pay you to stop talking, but now," Dominic trailed off with a careful glare.

One thing Austin knew about Dominic was that he didn't like going too deep.

"Just thinkin' about my father. He said a few things that stuck to me whether I'd admit it to him or not," He confessed, leaving out almost everything.

He'd leave that for his quiet time with God.

That was a new blessing he had since learning more about God. He always had someone to talk to.

As expected, Dominic froze.

"Oh, well, I know you'll walk this out. You've tackled worse subjects, and God has you."

Austin gave a tight-lipped smile to his avoidant friend. "That's right." He looked in the pot and sighed. "I think I've earned my keep for the night. I'll have some later, but it's done."