100% nO

8pm Wednesday night, Nathan was just finishing his dinner.

He often sat alone at the kitchen table, whilst his parents ate together in the living room.

Nathan would usually eat quickly to avoid one of his parents coming into the kitchen to wash the dishes while he was in there. He knew that it often meant a conversation would take place, one which he did not want to have.

Why didn't he want to have a conversation with his parents?

Well because his parents would often ask him about school and what he was going to do once he had finished school at the end of the year. It is not that Nathan didn't know the answer, it's more like Nathan didn't want to know the answer. For a long time now Nathan has been unsure of where he was going or what he was going to do. Some might say that it is from a lack of aspiration and perspective. But from Nathan's perspective he just couldn't see a place in which he belonged or had a purpose in.

Nathan watched his empty plate of pizza crumbs as he slowly sipped on his cool drink. He sat quite cramped in his plastic chair, because there were many sealed cardboard boxes which they still needed to unpack. Some boxes sat next to each other on the porcelain tiled floors around the kitchen table, while other boxes were stacked onto each other on the kitchens' post-form topped counters. Despite the confined area created by all of the taped up boxes, Nathan did not mind sitting in the small space.

As mentioned before, Nathan liked to eat fast and leave as soon as possible, but tonight he was taking his time. He was purposefully waiting in the kitchen.

He knew that his mother had often finished eating first and would be the first to enter the kitchen.

Nathan wanted to speak to her today about something which he knew his father would never approve of. And, Nathan preferred to talk to his mother alone rather than with his father there. He didn't quite know whether it was his and his father's rocky relationship or just his natural anxiety.

As Nathan waited, his leg had accidentally kicked one of the cardboard boxes which were lying under the table on the porcelain tiled floors.

He looked down to see which box it was that he had kicked. Nathan was curious because the box felt light and unencumbered with anything.

As he scanned the uncharted underneath of the table, Nathan took notice of an already open box which was thrown much further under the table than the other boxes.

Nathan strained himself just a little bit to pick up the box by one of its open flaps from underneath the kitchen table.

He rotated the box around as if investigating it for some form of evidence or clues.

Nathan eventually found markings which were made with a marker on the left side of the corrugated cardboard.

It read, "Nathans' Memories".

Nathan now felt just slightly annoyed that he had found this box. It was the box in which his mother had insisted on keeping all of his baby clothes, colorings and more weird things such as pictures of first time injuries and awkward video tapes of his guitar performances. As Nathan stared at the box with hatred, his mother had come walking through the kitchen entryway arch. As expected she had finished eating her dinner first.

Mrs Marquette left her dishes in the kitchen sink and turned to Nathan.

"So how was school. Did you make any new friends?", she asked with excitement in her voice.

"School was Awesome. And friends? ", Nathan's voice fell flat into sarcasm.

Nathan decided to drink the last of his cooldrink,

"I made tons of new friends. You know me always sociable.", he mumbled that last part under the sipping of his cooldrink.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Just concentrate on your studies, you've gotten just a few more months left and then you'll be all grown up.", said his mother now smiling and also looking at the cardboard box ("Nathan's Memories") which was still on top of Nathan's lap.

"It feels like you've grown up so fast. You know...I can still remember feeding you and - and bathing you...",

"Mom, I think that's enough remembering.", Nathan cut his mother short.

Mrs Marquette walked closer and put her arms around Nathan. She hugged him, not wanting to let go.

"But it's just that you've grown up so much, I miss you.", said Mrs Marquette with just a slight tear on her face.

"But I'm right here, why would you miss me?", asked Nathan with his arms sitting at his side and not wanting to hug his mother back.

"You'll understand when you're a mother."

"A mother? But I'll never be a mother.", said Nathan in a slightly confused tone.

"Exactly.", Mrs Marquette let go of Nathan and laughed light heartedly.

Nathan wasn't sure of how to feel. She was his mother after all. And maybe he did behave just a little bit too selfish. He couldn't help but admit to himself that it was his fault for being so distant to everyone. But he also felt so comfortable in his loneliness that guilt could only be a constant after thought.

Nathan shrugged it off, it will all sort itself out later he thought.

"So mom I wanted to ask you something...", Nathan began.

"Anything, what do you need?", Mrs Marquette inquired.

"I wanted to ask you if, uhm...I could stay from school for tomorrow and Friday.", Nathan finally got his words out.

"But..."

Nathan cut his mother off before she could start her rebuttal, "I know I know school just started. But hear me out. School just started so that means that we're hardly doing any work. We'd probably only start proper work by Monday next week."

"Well what about your 'tons of new friends', are they going to school the next two days?" Mrs Marquette raised her eyebrow.

Nathan had to think fast seeing that he didn't actually have any friends. As he looked around the kitchen's various drawers and walls contemplating a lie, his left hand felt his jeans pocket. There was a hard square paper - like cardboard object inside of his pants. That is when Nathan had remembered that he still had Martin's calling card from earlier.

He came up with a lie.

He knew that his mother did not believe that he had made any friends so he was going to prove her wrong by lying with the help of a calling card.

"Well yeah actually my friend will be staying at home tomorrow and the next day after tomorrow.", Nathan said confidently.

"What's this friend's name? Does this person have a name? ", Mrs Marquette felt like she was getting ever so closer to seeing right through Nathan's lie.

"His name, well yeah of course he has a name. It's Martin... Uh Martin." Nathan forgot Martin's surname and he knew that his little stumble was going to raise suspicions.

"Martin? His name is Martin - uh Martin? That's an odd name. I would have thought something more like Martin Garrix. ", Mrs Marquette teased Nathan.

"Well you know it doesn't matter whether I got his last name or not. All I know is that his name is Martin and we're - uh, friends...", Nathan paused for a moment feeling awkward by just saying that phrase.

However he quickly recovered, "We even traded numbers.", Nathan showed his mum Martin's calling card. Of course he did not show her the weird stuff about magic hunting. He just flashed the number really quickly back and forth so that his mother saw just enough of the number to believe him.

Mrs Marquette was surprised that Nathan had actually made a friend. She knew Nathan all too well and didn't expect him to exchange numbers with someone on the first day of school. Her expression quickly changed from world's most dangerous detective to caring mother again. "That's great. I'm really glad that you've made a friend.", she smiled.

Nathan was only slightly annoyed when his parents spoke to him like that. It was like they were suggesting that he was incapable and below a normal human, just because he couldn't do something like socialize, so it was so "amazing" when he actually did speak to anyone.

Nathan shrugged the feeling off, "Okay so can I stay from school then?"

"There will be no skipping school this year.", his father Mr Marquette entered the kitchen through the entryway arch.

"There is a 51% chance that you may become a homeless drunk because of that day which you were absent."

Nathan's father was a professional risk analyst. He often assessed everything, from everyday tasks to food with numbers and statistics. Even the most trivial of things could become a huge insignificant number with him around.

Like eating ice cream, Nathan's father would probably say that you shouldn't because there is a 12,78919872% chance of your insides drying out from the calcium sulfate found inside of it or that there is a 0.009388% chance of you mummifying yourself from the inside out with the formaldehyde properties inside of some ice creams.

If you can do it, then Nathan's dad will put a number in front of it.

That is my motto.

"Mom?", Nathan persisted to hear his mother's verdict on the matter.

"You heard your father.", said Mrs Marquette in an agreeing voice with her husband.

"Okay. It's no then.", Nathan looked at the floor and away from his father. For some reason he had never felt comfortable looking directly at his father.

''One hundred percent no.'', Mr Marquette reassured.

"And with all of this talk about staying from school, I hope that you've decided on what career you will be applying for by June.", said his father with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Well, yeah I - I do know what I want to do.", said Nathan with broken confidence in his words. He knew that he knew nothing about what he was going to do or where he was going.

"Then, what is it? I've been asking you since last year."

"You'll know when I apply for it. Don't worry about it.", said Nathan as light heartedly and jokingly as he possibly could.

As he said it, he edged closer to the kitchen entrance.

"I have to - uh - take this box upstairs now.", said Nathan as he left the kitchen entirely with the empty "Nathan's Memories" box.

"You better have an answer.", his dad called out as Nathan disappeared into the hallway.

Nathan could hear his parents talking as he walked to his bedroom which was upstairs.

"I worry for him, you should really be easier on him.", said Mrs Marquette in a soft voice.

"I do, worry for him too. Due dates for applications will be here soon and I just don't want him to sit here regretting his choices.", replied Mr Marquette in an even softer voice.

"Oh Mark...", Mrs Marquette sighed.

"He hardly talks to anybody anymore. Atleast back home he used to have Jona to talk to. Maybe it was a bad idea moving here. I mean to adapt so soon for him in such an important year must be difficult."

"Hmm, don't worry honey, he just has to grow out of it. Well eventually.... He has to grow up and stop hiding from the world or whatever it is he hides from. He's not going to be a kid for much longer.", explained Mr Marquette.

"Do you think he knows that we love him?", asked Mrs Marquette.

And with that said Nathan closed his room door and stopped listening to their conversation.

He already knew that his parents cared for him, but it wasn't that which kept him in his own world.

Nathan didn't stop to put on his room light, so everything in his room glimmered in a pool of pale white light. The light was coming from the half moon in the black sky which shone through the large *oculus window on Nathan's room wall.

Nathan stood on a carpet next to his bedside and admired a dull lit poster of The Joker which was hung up on his wall.

In the poster The Joker posed with a pair of laughing teeth flying out of his right hand and an explosion chasing him in the background. There were also claw and teeth marks ripped into his purple suit.

He thought to himself of his younger days when he actually believed in superheroes such as The Sandman and even powerless heroes like The Joker who made it seem all the more believable.

"What am I doing...", Nathan thought to himself.

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Definitions in this chapter :

Oculus - An oculus is a circular window most commonly used in classical architecture (16th century) and often denoted by the French term, "oeil de boeuf" which translates into bull's eye.