ChapterTwo
KEATON
Six years later…
“You’re not focusing.” My dad tosses the tablet on his desk and leans back in his chair. “Tell me what’s going on.”
I move over to the glass wall that towers above the city and stare down at the world below. From here, it’s hard to see anything but the clouds, and I prefer it that way. I found out early on that being around people and seeing them live their lives was almost worse than what happened to me.
I hear movement behind me and am aware that he’s coming closer. I close my eyes because I know what he’s going to say.
“I think we should wait.”
“No,” I say without opening my eyes. “It’s just a bad day. That’s all.”
“Tell me why it’s a bad day.” He’s pushing, and he knows it.
A long moment of silence stretches before I finally sigh and admit the truth.
“I’m nervous.” I open my eyes and stare into the distance.
“Oh,” he says softly, and I walk away before he can try to touch me.
Touch is the worst, and it’s the one of the many things that sets me off. He knows it, and although he doesn’t do it often, he’s still my father, and he can’t help himself. For most of my life, he was able to do it. Until the accident that changed everything.
“We’re not waiting any longer.”
“Keaton—” my father begins, but I shake my head, already defying him.
“No, we made a deal. I’ve given you six years.” When I turn to face him, I see the sadness in the corners of his eyes that he tries to hide from me. But there’s nothing he can say that I don’t already feel.
My father has always been the strongest and smartest man I’ve ever known. Since the accident, I’ve had to watch him fail over and over, and it’s broken something in me I don’t know that I’ll ever get back.
“Nash.” We both turn to see my mother standing in the doorway of the lab. “We made a deal, and Keaton has put in the work. I think it’s time we trust him.”
“I just want a little more time,” he says, and she smiles softly at him.
She moves to join my father and takes his hands in hers. “You don’t have to fix him, Nash. All you have to do is love him.”
I watch as my father’s shoulders slump, and once again I feel like a failure. For the past six years, he’s tried everything to put me back to normal. In the meantime, I’ve learned to embrace my talents, as I like to call them, and control them as much as possible.
Last month, my mom received an invitation from Elsy’s adoptive parents. They’re throwing her a birthday party, and they invited us. All three of us. For the past few years, my parents have used the excuse that they’re working abroad. My father still runs his companies from here in our tower, but it’s mostly my cage in the sky.
After the accident, we left the estate and came straight here. It was isolated, but that meant we wouldn’t have to worry about prying eyes. Since then, I’ve been training daily with my dad to control what the chemicals did to me that day. On the outside, I’m still mostly the same, but inside I’m something new.
“I’m going to bed,” I say and grab the water bottle off the table.
“Keaton,” my mother calls, and I look back at her. “We’ll be by your side the whole time.”
“I know.” I try to let go of my irritation because it’s not their fault this happened to me. “Good night.”
My father gives me a sympathetic smile as I leave the room and go to the elevator. I hit the button for my floor and wait until the doors open again. When I walk into my place, I scan my fingerprints. and the home is voice activated.
“Lights at forty percent,” I call, and the lamp in the hallway dims as I walk past it. “Bedroom screens on.” When I walk into my room, the curtains close, and the wall across from my bed comes alive. “Show me Elsy.”
One thing I’ve been grateful for is technology. It’s given me a way to see her when I couldn’t be near her. When I couldn’t be near anyone. I can’t see it all, which drives me crazy, but I can see enough. Having a father with connections to satellites has its benefits.
The center screen moves until it’s outside of her apartment. She moved there last year, and it broke my heart. I’d dreamed of moving out with her, but that one afternoon changed it all.
I watched for a few weeks after the accident when she would come to the estate to talk to me. The staff always turned her away, but I would watch and wish I could go to her. But I wasn’t me for a long time, and even now, it’s hard to control. There’s this thing in me that is begging to break free, and I have to restrain it at all times. That’s what we’ve been working on.
Tonight Elsy is sitting on her small balcony having dinner alone. I can’t tell what it is, spaghetti maybe? The more I watch her, the more I feel like a creep, and I go to turn it off. That’s when I see her turn toward her door. There must be a sound or something because she goes over and opens it.
From this angle, I can’t see who it is, but she’s talking to someone at her front door. After a moment, she steps back, and in walks a man that I don’t know. He smiles at her like they’re old friends before he leans down and gives her a kiss on the cheek.
Without realizing it, I’ve picked up the chair beside me and thrown it against the wall of screens. The whole thing shatters, and I feel everything I’ve spent all day trying to suppress.
“FUCK!” I shout as I look at what I’ve done. Now I’ve lost connection with the one thing I need most, and I’ll have to clean this up.
The party is tomorrow. How the fuck am I supposed to control this if someone is putting their hands on my Elsy?