Parting

l tried to process what I was hearing.

"Custody?"

"Yes. You'll be living with your father from now on." she said.

I looked around at the others but they weren't looking at me in the eye.

"I still haven't accepted this" May said.

She grabbed my shoulder. "Olliver, you want to live with us right? They can't do anything without you letting them. You don't have to do this."

I looked at her in the eye and she was sincere.

Martha spoke but she wouldn't look at me straight. "If you want you can stay with us Oliver"

She continued, "but it would be better-"

May cut her off. "Mom enough!" she shouted. "Oliver is going to live with us! That man may be his biological father but we've been his real family up till now!" The rest of them were still looking down.

All the while Maya just stood there looking amused, as if this was a show. In the end, she knew that after seeing this sight, I would come to only one absolute decision.

It was evident from everyone else's faces that although they wished they could have let me stayed they weren't in a situation where it would be easy. May's brother leaving had lifted some weight off the family but all of sudden I come out of nowhere. Plus they had no obligation to help me. Even then they were willing, even if reluctantly.

I didn't want to put more pressure on these good people.

"I'll go home and pack" I told Maya. She simply smiled.

"Oliver why?!" Maya asked. She definitely didn't understand and if I told her the real reason she would never let me go.

"It's okay. I've always wanted to see my father. Living with him doesn't sound so bad." I told her.

May just stood there, hurt. But she didn't stop me. She simply pursed her lips and looked down.

I reached the house and went into my room- no my temporary room and locked it I started packing slowly.

As I packed a few tears fell down but I wiped them off. There was a hot lump of sadness and rage in my throat.

I packed all my stuff and knelt down next to my bed. I put my face in my pillow.

"Goddammit" I said with gritted teeth and red eyes. "Why does all this shit have to happen to me?"

I cried silently and let it all out.

After a while I heard a knock at the door. May was calling.

"Oliver are done packing" she asked.

"Yeah I'll be there in a moment" I said.

I got up and went to the bathroom and washed my face.

"Okay. No matter what happens you are not breaking down again" I told myself in the mirror.

"Just survive this one year and I'll escape after that. I'll live on my own. You can do it"

I felt a little silly talking to myself in the mirror but I had to keep it together.

I went back outside. Vetala stood up. "Ready to go?" he asked.

For the first time I was glad he was with me. l wouldn't be completely alone.

"Glad to see me huh?" he said.

I smiled lightly and picked up my bags. "You know me so well"

I went outside and we made our way to the limo. The chauffeur took my bags and Maya opened the doors. "After you" she said with a smile.

However just before I went in May hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Be safe" she told me.

I smiled. "Yeah I will. I'll come visit from time to time." I said. Yet there was doubt in my voice.

I waved and we both got into the limo.

As the limo drove away the lingering sadness faded and I simply felt empty.

"Hey cheer up" vetala said. "You know, you haven't even thought about one thing" he told me.

I didn't look in his direction or respond. Maya was looking into some files, presumably about me.

"Your dad's rich. Who the hell is he" he said.

He was right. I hadn't even thought about that.

Just who the hell was my dad?

"Plus" vetala continued, "is this woman only his secretary or maybe him and her-"

"So you seem to be a very smart boy" Maya cut him off.

"If there is god out there thank you, for once" i thought.

"Your grades are top notch, very athletic. Popular with the girls?" she asked, leaning forward with a mischievous smile.

I didn't return it and instead scooted over slightly.

She sighed. "Of course being Mr.Sylas's son it makes sense you would inherit his best qualities" she said with a look of admiration in her eyes.

"So" she continued. "Can you tell me what you know about meridian technologies?"

I looked at her for a second and then responded.

"It's the world's most leading company for technological solutions all around the globe, they manufacture most of the leading devices for daily needs."

"Including that monitor band on your wrist" she said.

"Yeah, most of the general public rely on their products and it has a market value of 2.31 trillion dollars... do you want me to say more?" I asked.

"I'm impressed" she said. "However you forgot a very important detail that a teenager like you would never forget"

"Oh yeah. I completely forgot" I said.

"They're the parent company behind the world's largest VRMMORPG, NetCore"