Meeting the Parents - "Kindred Spirits" Part 4

Start at the Beginning
Part 3: The Shattered Mirror


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Last time on "Kindred Spirits")

“I guess it was,” I answered with a shrug. “Let’s go in.”

She nodded and led me to the front door. She knocked, and then entered. I awkwardly followed after her. The interior of the house looked like a stereotypical grandparent’s house. Old photographs in frames dotted the wall, from war photos to family photos. The moment we entered, I noticed a bunch of them leading up the classic wooden staircase on the right that were just pictures of Holly as she grew up. If she was actually my mother sent forward in time and un-aged, then her parents must have gone through the same thing. 

“Hey, it’s me! I brought a friend over!” she called out into the house, buzzing with the noise from a TV just out of range to make out what’s on it. 

An older woman of about seventy appeared in the doorway at the end of the hallway. She had curly grey hair, was wearing a knitted sweater and old loose jeans. She was a thin woman and not terribly tall either. She wasn’t wearing glasses, but besides that she was almost a cookie-cutter grandma. A look of surprise shot across her face when she saw me pop up from behind Holly.

“Is this..?” she muttered before a smaller likewise old and grey man wandered up behind her, poking his head over her shoulder.

------------

“The boy she was telling us about…” he finished her sentence with a mid-range tone.

There was a moment of silence between us. The tension was there, and I knew how they felt about this whole scenario. On each of their faces a mixed look of frustration and panic slowly crossed over them. Holly was deliberately going against their wishes, and challenging what they had said to do. They weren’t used to that, it seemed.

“He is, yes,” Holly said after that break with a confident and defiant tone. “I know you didn’t want to tell me about my parents, but look at him. Look at his eyes. This isn’t a coincidence. Can we please sit down and talk about this?”

Her mom shook her head and disappeared around the corner, leaving her distressed and small husband behind to deal with the rebellious youth. He let out a heavy sigh. “Look, we’ve spoken about this…” There was a defeated tone to his voice. He looked at me. “I’m sorry, I’m sure she’s promised you more than this, but there’s nothing to tell.” He paused for a moment and let out another sigh. “But it’s a decent drive out here. Why don’t you two stay for an hour or two? We can talk about something else.” 

Holly sighed. “Alright, we’ll stay for tea if that’s okay with you, Arthur.”

I shrugged. “You drove, so it’s up to you. I like tea.”

Her father seemed to smile for a brief moment. “I’ll start the kettle. You two can wait for me in the living room.”

I followed Holly into the adjacent living room, where their old box T.V. sat blaring the news with a mix of voices and static. They must have had that TV for a decade at least at that point. They had an old brown leather couch and matching worn armchair, but only the armchair was actually facing the TV. The couch was facing the wood stove set up in the far corner of the room. 

“Help me move it around,” Holly asked. I helped her move it closer to the armchair. She flopped down into it and I followed her lead. 

“So what’s the plan?” I questioned in a low whisper, unsure what she was thinking. 

“Well you’re going to get acquainted with my parents for one,” she told me in a way that made my heart sink. “And while you’re doing that, I’m going to slip away to check for something in my old bedroom and search their room for something. It’s clear they aren’t going to spill the beans so plan B it is.” 

“Alright,” I replied just as her father entered the room. 

“The water’s on,” he informed us before taking a seat on the armchair. He leaned back into it casually, apparently not feeling the need to seem imposing to me. “So tell me about yourself, what was it?”

“Arthur, sir,” I answered nervously. He chuckled.

“Do you call every older man ‘sir’?” he teased. “I haven’t been knighted, don’t treat me like I was.” He glanced over at Holly, who was trying to hold back laughter next to me. “Did he bow and ask for a handkerchief when he met you?” 

“Dad, be nice,” she scolded him between chuckles. “He’s just nervous, is all. He’s not used to meeting people’s parents.” 

“Well he’s not a kid anymore, I’d hope not,” he answered, still holding onto his more playful tone. 

The click of a kettle finishing boiling echoed from the kitchen doorway behind him. “I’ll get that,” he said as he slapped his hands on his knees and got up. “I hope earl grey’s good for the two of you.”

“Of course,” I exclaimed, my heart pounded. All his lighthearted teasing somehow did not make me feel much better. Holly gently nodded at him.

Once he was out of the room, she turned to me and let out a bellowing laugh. “You said you were nervous, I didn’t think it was this bad!” She quickly collected herself and tried to stop laughing. “I’m sorry, it’s just that you completely froze up. You know we’re not dating, right? The expectations are so low you literally can’t fall under them. It’s okay, breathe.” She lowered her voice. “And if you don’t get it together, I won’t be able to leave you alone.”

“Sorry,” I said as I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. It wasn’t like this with Solenne’s parents. I was calm then, and open, and I think that’s why they didn’t like me. I think that was the first time in my adult life that I felt that I was lesser, not accomplished enough for a good life, or for good things. 

I pushed those thoughts deep down and focused on the task at hand. I wanted answers more than anything. I wasn’t here to impress anyone, just find out the truth, even if it meant misleading them a bit so Holly could find something. 

When her father finally returned with a big pot of tea in his hands, my heart-rate had slowed considerably. “Do you mind grabbing the serving table, Holls?”

She rushed to grab the little folded serving table from next to the TV. She unfolded it, revealing the copper flower designs covering its surface. He placed the teapot down onto it and left the room to get mugs. He returned with a faded cat mug in one hand and a plain purple university mug in the other. He handed the faded cat mug to Holly.

“Here you go,” he said to her as he did so. He handed me mine in silence and sat back down in his armchair. “So now we have tea, are you ready to talk, kid?” 

“Uh, yeah, sure, if you want, Mr…” It was at that moment that I realized I forgot what Holly’s last name was. My mind immediately went to Holtz but that was my mother’s name, not hers.

“You can call me Jack,” he said with a laugh. “No need for any of this formal nonsense. We’re both adults here.”

“Yes, si-, I mean, you’re right, I’m sorry. It’s a force of habit,” I apologized.

“It’s alright. I had to unlearn that with age,” Holly comforted me. “My teachers in elementary and high school all told me to use Mister and Missus to refer to authority figures, and then I got to university and found out that regular adults refer to each other by name nowadays.” 

“You’re not wrong,” Jack agreed with a smile and nod. He returned his attention to me. “So now that you’ve found yourself some words, tell me about yourself. Holly says you’re from the city. Were you born there or did your family move there when you were young?”

“I was born there,” I answered briefly before realizing he probably wanted more than a simple yes or no. “I’m not sure if Holly told you, but I was an orphan and my parents took me in when I was still a baby. Lived with them until I was 18 when I got a place of my own.”

“You moved out years before Holly managed to. We’ve still got a bunch of her stuff upstairs in her old room.” He shot a playful glance over in her direction. “Hopefully one day she decides to empty that out so we can have that space back.”

“Oh please, the two of you have way too much space here anyways. I’m doing you a favor. Speaking of which,” she said as she got to her feet. “I just remembered that there’s something I wanted to grab while we were here. You two socialize while I go grab it. Okay?”

I thought she would have left with both of her parents in the room. Maybe she thought this was enough. Either way, I had a bad feeling about it but there was nothing to be done about it.

“Yeah, sure,” I muttered, not that I had much say in it.

“I’m sure the two of us will find something to talk about,” her father assured her in a friendly tone. She bolted out of the room and up the stairs, looking to find the answers they refused to give us. The moment she was gone though, his tone shifted and his expression turned serious. “What are you trying to achieve?” 

“What are you talking about?” I questioned in response, suddenly ready to panic and with no idea what he was walking about. 

“What are you trying to achieve with my daughter? Why are you trying to get her to pester us for information? What do you want from her?” he questioned with sudden piercing looks and tones. 

“I-uh-just-” I stumbled over my words, unsure how to answer. I knew that I just wanted to know the truth, but the questioning made me feel like I was the bad guy, not just some guy trying to find the whole truth about his family.

“Do you have any idea the impact it could have on her? You don’t know what she grew up with. You don’t know who she is. You don’t know how she’ll take the information.”

“All I did was pro-provide her with a question!” I objected, finding the strength to get defensive in response to his onslaught of questions. “I saw her that day in the cafe and I could have sworn I was looking at my own eyes staring back at me. I’ve never known what it’s like to have biological family, to have someone whose blood is my own. I just want to know the truth.” 

I should have stopped there, but I found my fangs. “Why won’t you let her know the truth? What are you protecting her from that’s so bad? It’s not like she thinks you’re her real dad!”

A look of shock crossed his face, as if he wasn’t aware of this information somehow. “What-what was that?”

“She knows she’s adopted. Suspects it at least. Has she never spoken to you about this?” I answered, finding my panic once more. 

He shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. “I guess it was bound to happen eventually… I just didn’t think I’d find out about it before she felt like she could bring it up herself.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” I apologized now, soft and caring. 

He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but a loud scream filled the house before he could. We both jumped to our feet and followed the sound upstairs. Once upstairs, we found Holly’s mother standing at the end of the hallway in the doorway with her arms crossed.

“Did you think that you could just go through our stuff?” her mother screamed at her as we drew closer. She glanced in our direction. “Get that boy out of my house. He’s put all these thoughts into our Holly’s head.” 

She was hostile and I couldn’t bear to ignore her request. I backed up hesitantly, wanting to help Holly and see what happened, but I didn’t want to make things worse. Jack caught me as I backed up though.

“No,” he said with a sigh. “It’s time we tell her.” 

“Jack, what are you talking about? What did he do to you?” she howled in response. “This is our daughter we’re talking about.”

“She deserves to know the truth!” he exclaimed in response, “we’ve tried to keep it from her all this time but we didn’t. She’s known for years, and we’ve just been fooling ourselves thinking that she didn’t know better.”

A look of shock and horror crossed her face. 

“Mom, I tried to tell you,” Holly muttered softly from inside of the room. “I just want to know the truth. You won’t be any less of my mom than you are now. You’ve seen him. Maybe he’s my brother. Maybe he’s the sibling I always wanted.” She didn’t know I was there. 

Her mother let out a heavy sigh in resignation. “Alright, I guess you’re right, Jack.” She shook her head. “We’ll talk about this downstairs.”

She pushed past us and went down the stairs. Jack shot me a worried glance and chased after her. Alone in the hallway, I walked down to investigate the room Holly had been searching. I found her standing in the middle of a huge mess. The whole room had been torn apart by the tornado named Holly. 

“Wow, you really did a number on this place in no time at all,” I commented as I peered into the room, uncomfortable with entering without being invited. 

She nodded. “Always been good at that.” She looked up at me, our mirrored eyes meeting. “I guess you heard all of that.”

“Yeah…” I glanced over my shoulder at the staircase. “We should probably go join them. I’ll help you sort this out and clean up after we talk. They’re waiting for us.” 

“Before we do,” she said, stopping my foot mid-step, “I want to thank you. I had accepted that I would never know about my past. I didn’t think it was too important, but just having the information, or the ability to get it felt significant, like it was my choice to not pursue it… Sorry, I’m rambling. Thank you for helping me get them to talk…”

“You’re not the only one benefiting from this,” I reminded her with a friendly smile. “I chased you down after all. Now come on, let’s go.”

We met with them in the living room. Her mother had taken the armchair and her father stood over it, leaning on it gently. The pot of tea stood untouched, our mugs now cooled. Without saying a word, we sat down on the couch and waited for them to say something.

“The truth is…” her father began but was cut off by her mother.

“I want you to know that no matter what the truth is, we will always be there for you. We will always be your family, no matter what…” She bit her lip in doubt and hesitation. “The truth is that we don’t know anything about your biological family.”

“What? How is that possible? Wasn’t there anything on my birth certificate or in the adoption papers?” 

“There weren’t any adoption papers,” Jack informed her. “We found you abandoned out in the old barn one morning. We could hear your crying from the house and went to investigate.”

Holly said nothing.

Her mother nodded. “You were wrapped up tightly but still bloody from the birth. Your mouth had been covered, maybe to stop anyone from hearing you, but it wasn’t enough, I suppose…” She sighed solemnly. “I know this isn’t what you wanted. You wanted answers, and the only answer we have is that we don’t know anything. As far as we were concerned, there was a baby abandoned on our property that we took in and raised as our own. We never found out who left you there… I’m sorry we can’t tell you more…”

“Maybe Arthur is your brother. We might not have the answers, but maybe you can find them together. You’ll always be our little fiery peak,” her father said comfortingly. 

I looked over at Holly to see tears streaming down her face. She was desperately trying not to cry, and failing at that. All of a sudden she went from being carefully abandoned to being left to die by her parents in some broken down old barn out in the middle of nowhere. He might have tried to suffocate her but not had the heart to go through with it. If we were siblings, then it was our father who did that. He dropped me off at an orphanage and tried to kill her like Oedipus’s father. 

“Holly…” I muttered, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she spun around and swatted me away. I jumped off the couch and retreated out of her range. 

Between sobs, she muttered, “I understand now… why you didn’t want me to know… My parents didn’t give me away, they left me to die…” The three of us watched in solemn sadness, unable to really comfort her. The truth was harsh and painful, and there was no rewriting it to make it sound nice. 

Suddenly she looked at me with sharp, determined, angry eyes. I expected her to scream at me or tell me to start walking home. Instead, she asked, “you said your dad was alive right? Wanted and on the run last anyone heard?” I nodded in shock. She wiped away her tears and got to her feet. “We’re going to hunt him down and find out if he’s the one who left me behind.” 

My mouth hung open in the most cartoon reaction I’ve ever had. Had I suddenly found myself in someone else’s story about revenge against a parent who tried to kill them? Was I a side character just helping her along? 

“Honey, that’s-” Jack began to say, but I wouldn’t let him finish the thought.

“Alright, let’s do it.” I borrowed some of her determination and anger and nodded. “We only have scraps to go off of, but maybe we’ll be able to put them together in a way no one else has.” 

I didn’t have high hopes that it was possible. If the police hadn’t found him and nobody had reported seeing him for years, what chance did two twenty-five year olds have at finding him when he’s been missing since the day they were born? Sometimes in life, though, it doesn’t matter how likely something is to happen. Sometimes you just have to do what you feel is right, even if it feels like an impossible fight to win.

Her parents stood there, astounded at what had just been decided in the aftermath of her pain. Revenge might be a mistake to pursue, but neither of us could find the answers we wanted without finding him. 

After a while of everyone being silent, and Holly finishing up her crying, her dad broke the silence with a quiet bellow, “well, it’s going to be supper time soon. Are the two of you going to stay?” 

Holly shook her head. “We need to get back home, sorry.” She got up and hugged both of her parents tightly. “I’ll visit again soon, I promise!” 

“You’re welcome to come back too, Arthur,” her mother unexpectedly said to me as she reached out and hugged me too. “Try to keep her out of trouble, okay?”

“I’ll-uh-I’ll try my best,” I replied as I pulled away. I shook Jack’s hand, but he didn’t say anything, and followed Holly out of the house, barely getting my shoes on before she got to the car. I hopped in and we started to drive, but she stopped the car abruptly and got out.

“What are you doing?” I called out to her, getting out to see what she was doing. She hopped over the wooden fence and ran over to the broken down barn that she had been found in. I chased after her, worried that it could collapse on her. 

She disappeared into it as I made my way through the field. I followed her in. It was surprisingly dark inside. Large pieces of wood lay across the floor and hung from the roof. The whole place was leaning to one side so much that it looked like the floor was misplaced. Holly was nowhere in sight. I searched around, slowly making my way deeper and deeper into the barn until I found her in the far left corner. She was kneeling before a little spot with a small broken table in it.

“Holly…” I muttered as I moved closer to her. “It’s okay.” I placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Help me look for clues,” she said in response. “Check the other side.” She motioned behind her without looking away. “There might be something here.” 

We must have spent a half hour in that barn looking around. The sun was threatening to set on us and we hadn’t found a thing. “I think twenty-five years is too long for anything to have stayed here the whole time,” I suggested in exhaustion.

“Ugh, alright, I guess you’re right. Let’s go home,” she said in defeat. We headed for the opening that we entered through, but something shifted. A large log fell and blocked the hole. The whole barn started to creak.

“It’s coming down!” I cried out as I looked for a new way out.

“This way!” she yelled as she ran to the right wall. I went to follow her, but a plank from the ceiling fell and split us. I hopped over it, only to find her gone. 

“Holly?” I called out.

“Over here!” she called out in response, but all I could tell was that she was on the other side of the wooden barrier in front of me. In a hurry, I took out my phone and used its flashlight to look for an exit, but all I found was brown rotting wood. Suddenly a hand extended through it. “Grab on and follow it!”

I grabbed on, and Holly pulled me through a hole in the wood pieces I didn’t see. I slid out of the barn just as it came down, imploding in on itself like a company that overstretched in the digital age. Once out and safe, the two of us lay down on the grass to catch our breath. 

“That was… exciting…” I commented between breaths. “Let’s never do that again.”

“What a time for it to come down,” she replied. “It’s been standing for twenty-five years looking like it’s about to collapse, but the time it finally does is when we’re both inside.”

“That’s some rotten luck.”

“No kidding.” 

We lay there for a short while before getting up. I was surprised her parents didn’t come to examine the noise, but maybe they couldn’t hear it over the sound of the TV. Or maybe they didn’t think anything of the old barn finally coming down. It’s not like there should have been anyone inside. 

“Let’s go home,” she said with a sigh. “There has been enough excitement for one day.” 

“I agree.” 

We hopped back over the fence and into her little white car. The drive was silent, but for a different reason than before. Holly was thinking, planning what to do next. While I stared out of the window and thought about my impending coffee with Solenne, she was planning how to find our (probable) father, and to find the answer to her abandonment. The drive was uneventful as the sun set over the horizon. It was dark by the time we pulled into my neighbourhood.

“Thanks for dropping me off at home,” I said as we made our way up my street.

“No problem,” she said before an ungodly screech filled our ears. One side of the car bumped up a bit. Holly slammed on the breaks. “What… what was that?” she muttered. 

“I’ll go check,” I told her as I slipped out of the door and took out my phone’s flashlight. I looked all around, on the sidewalk, under the car, in front of the car, but there was nothing.
“I don’t see anything,” I called to her as I got back up from the ground and looked around some more.

“That can’t be right,” she answered as she got out of the car and started looking around herself. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a cat sitting on the other side of the road watching us with curious eyes. I wondered what it saw. 

“Holy shit, you weren’t wrong,” Holly muttered after a rigorous search of the surroundings. “Where did that sound come from? And the bump?”

“Maybe the suspensions and a pot hole?” I suggested.

She shrugged. “Maybe.” She had that tone that said she was confused and not convinced, but that she had no other option but to accept the option presented to her. She shook her head. “Let’s get you home.” 

“I’m actually right there,” I told her motioning a couple apartment buildings over. “I can walk from here.”

She looked over. “Oh, I guess you’re right.” She looked back at me. “You got everything?”

“Yep, you’re free to go.” I smiled but it didn’t seem to help her calm down at all.

“I’ll see you soon,” she called out to me in a distracted tone as she got back into her car. I started walking home and she drove off. Whatever made the sound, it was gone with no trace that it existed.



It wasn’t long after that that I was set to meet Solenne at the cafe for the first time since we broke up. I had tried not to be so focused on it for my sake, and for Holly’s, but I couldn’t help myself. My mind just always found itself in a spiral staircase that only ever ended at her. It was how it had known to think for so many months that changing it so abruptly seemed impossible. 

I arrived at the cafe an hour early. I was walking up to the front door when someone called out to me from behind. “Arthur!”

I turned around and saw Farah running up to me in her work uniform. “Oh hey, coming in for work?”

“You know it,” she answered with a smile. “I guess you’re here for some coffee?”

“You know me so well,” I joked.

“It’s not like you’ve ever changed,” she quipped in response. “Are you meeting someone? I’ve got some time before my shift starts, we can hang out if you want!”

“They won’t be here for an hour or so, so I’d be down to chat,” I answered with a smile. Farah was what one might call a “good human”. 

I liked it when she was working. We grabbed a couple coffees from her new coworker, a guy named Joel, and took the seat by the window that I always tried to grab when it was available. 

“So what’s been going on with you?” she asked with a friendly tone before taking a sip of her still-too-hot coffee. “Ouch, burned myself!”

I laughed and shook my head. “You work at a cafe, how do you not know to wait before drinking burning coffee?” 

“I’m usually caught up in what I’m doing and it goes cold,” she explained jokingly defensively. “Now answer the question.”

“If I tell you the whole story, it’s going to sound a bit crazy, but basically I bumped into a girl here who bears quite a resemblance to me. Now we’re trying to hunt down my dad to find out the truth,” I told her with a less than serious tone to avoid being taken too seriously. 

“I think I remember seeing her!” she exclaimed instead of giving me a strange look. “I knew there was something familiar about her…” She laughed. “So how’s that going?”

“We have literally no leads,” I told her. “No one’s seen him since I was born. He abandoned me as soon as he could and disappeared without a trace.” 

“Sounds like a tough job, detective. Oh! Are you going to hire a private investigator to help? That would be cool. You could get some 1940’s outfits and pretend you’re in a noir film!”

“Umm… what?” I replied before bursting out into laughter. “That all seems like a lot extra.” 

She blushed. “I just thought it’d be cool.” She paused. “Though I must admit that they’re my favorite type of movie and I’ve always fantasied about being involved in a more modern one.” 

I chuckled. “Well then I’m sorry I can’t offer you that.”

She smiled. There was a sparkle in her dark eyes when she smiled. “Well, best of luck finding him then. If you need any coffee, you know where to find me.”

“Only when and if you’re working at the time,” I reminded her. “What’s been going on with you?”

“It’s end of the semester,” she said with a groan. “So when I’m not working, I’m busy working on my thesis and grading papers.” 

“That sounds really cool, but also like a lot of work.” She nodded with a tired look on her face.

“You have no idea. I’m grading first years. Some of them are straight out of high school, where they apparently don’t learn how to write. It’s pretty rough.” 

We sat and chatted for about fifteen minutes. Her phone went off, indicating the proximity of her work-shift. “Looks like it’s time I go,” she said in a disappointed tone. 

“Well, you’ll still be here,” I reminded her, but I knew what she meant. “Have a good shift.”
“I’ll try.” 

She packed up her stuff, grabbed her mug, and shifted away to the employee-only backroom. I think technically it was just a storage room, but it was out of sight and perfect for breaks and getting ready to work. 

I sat and stared out of the window once she was gone. The world went by. Buds had started to appear on trees, and grass had started to poke out of the constantly melting snow. In the city it was a little ill-advised to walk close to the road because all the streets were covered in puddles forming over potholes and grates. It was a cloudy day with the sun only peeking through at us every so often. If it wasn’t for the fact it was spring, it would have been a downer of a day, but spring had a magic to it. Winter was on its way out, so everyone was just generally in a better mood. 

“Hi, Arthur,” a solemn and familiar voice said to me, breaking me out of my trance. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 5 here

This session of Camp NaNo has been going quite well for me, probably due to these posts as well as the word sprints I've been doing with fellow writers (online, obviously). The next part will require much more editing because almost all of it will be from word sprints. Let's hope it makes a decent bit of sense! 

Thanks for joining me on this weird journey into what is likely going to be a story with more and more plotholes and contradictions the longer this goes on. I do intend on finishing the novel (provided that it is not twice the intended length) and posting it all here into May.

Until next time,

-Zero