Questions of the Curious Mind

CHAPTER – 2

It is said that childhood is the formative period for many problems that if not dealt with properly, can disrupt the normal functioning of an adult human. It’s similar to a sand-castle where you spend hours building one, perfecting each detail; but, there’s a catch - a small stream of water descends on it. The stream isn’t bothersome per se but as time passes by, a wet patch transforms into a puddle and slowly, the castle collapses on itself.

The first drop on Andrew Lock’s sandcastle was fifth-grade gym class. A lanky figure tripping on a football, he had been tending to a bruised knee when two boys loomed over him. He could barely make out their faces as the sun shone into his eyes.

“My mom says that kids who don’t have dads is because they don’t love them”, one boy spoke as he tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. Andrew steered his attention back to his knee, picking at the skin around the wound, pretending he couldn’t hear them, but the question the other kid posed echoed crystal clear in his head till the present day – ‘so does Andrew’s dad not love him?’

His mother’s heart ached to see his blue eyes, the color of the bright sky that morning, well up, the same question leaving his lips over and over as the ten year old child cried himself to sleep in her lap.

That was the fateful day when a shard of glass pierced through Andrew’s heart, his many attempts to extract it, only embedded it deeper, oozing pain; not just for Andrew, but his mother too.

Sweaty from soccer practice, he was about to shout out for her when he heard sniffles coming from inside her room. Crying into her hands, his mother kept raising questions, “What do I tell him? How do I tell him?”.

Andrew hid himself further, peering in through the crack in the door as his grandma consoled his mom. She continued, “ I don’t want to lie to him. He deserves the truth but I just..”, she burst into uncontrollable sobs and Andrew heard his heart break.

An hour later, as his mom set the table he walked up to her and held her tight, whispering an ‘I love you’ and rushed to his room, careful to hide his bruised hand from punching a wall too many times.

And that day he resolved to never hurt his mother again. Finding his father had been important to him, but not more than the happiness of his mother. That was the thing about Andrew, his conviction set him apart from many; the annoyance people expressed over it was irrelevant to him. He had expelled every single thought about his father and it wasn’t a matter of importance to him anymore. Or so he had thought.

************

“Hey do you remember this day?”, Nick handed Andrew a photo. Holding it at an arm’s length, he squinted at it before breaking into a wide smile,” Yeah this is the day we went roof-topping right?”, he let out an exhilarated laugh.

“Look at this jerk’s smile, he was shit scared of falling, kept crying about how he didn’t even have a girlfriend yet”, Nick chuckled.

Andrew peered over his shoulder and spotted the ‘jerk’ – Jack, Kim Jackson, the first to leave the group. Grabbing the photo and adding it to his ‘take with me to uni’- pile, Andrew spoke with his tongue in his cheek,” Well, not everyone has lady-luck as good as yours Nick. Not everyone can impress the ladies with that gorgeous smooth talking tongue of yours”. Nick threw a pillow to his face as he made gagging noises.

“I wish we could visit him though, ask him how he’ll set up his ‘notes passed to Tracy Williams’ collection in his dorm”, Andrew spoke, reminiscent of his friend.

“You’re not gonna let that go are you”, Nick guffawed but soon turned salty,” Well we could have, if your ass wasn’t so worried about heading in for college so early”.

Getting up from his bed, Andrew reached for him,” I’m sorry man. But I promise I’ll be back soon. School doesn’t start till fall anyway, I just need to be there right now. And we’ll meet Jack once he’s back from his trip too. Yeah? Nick come on”, he whined, smothering him.

Struggling to break free, Nick mumbled, ”Let me go”, dusting himself off,” Yeah yeah whatever, but I still get to crib about y’all leaving me alone for graduation. ‘K?”

Lunging at him, Andrew grabbed Nick into a bear-hug, messing with his hair,” Well, at least now you know what me and Jack felt when you were out with your ladies at Prom, NICHOLAS”.

Guiding him along the streets Nick screeched at Andrew to slow down ,”Right about here’s fine”, he unbuckled his seat belt. Looking around the area, Andrew commented,” This is nowhere near Stacy’s house”.

“Yeah I know but she texted me to be here, I don’t know why”, he muttered while scrolling through his phone.

“Well, don’t forget you need to come to my place tomorrow after school since you didn’t help me pack crap today”, Andrew inspected the dirt on the dashboard.

Mumbling his ‘yeahs’, Nick kicked at him,” OH come on, nothing’s happening to your precious little car”.

Andrew began to protest but was cut off by Nick,” Hey, isn’t that Keith Becker’s girlfriend?”, he motioned his finger to a figure exiting the book-store, the wind pushing her short hair further away from her face.

Andrew recognized her immediately, she was in English with him,” Yeah, it is. Well, ex-girlfriend”, he corrected.

“Really”, Nick drawled, “I thought they were the happy couple ‘bout town”.

Andrew followed her movements as long as she stayed in his peripheral and quickly shifted his attention back to Nick, who was ready to leave.

On his drive home, he stopped by the park to stretch his legs, when he spotted a familiar face yet again. Through the bushes, he found Sarah sitting on a bench, a book in her lap, eyes closed. Her serene face crashed a wave of calm over him.

They hadn't talked a lot, but he considered her to be quite a good acquaintance, whose company he very much enjoyed. Over time he had learned that Sarah didn't easily open up with anyone, despite her seemingly transparent interactions with almost everyone in their class. Andrew had never been sure why he was so drawn towards Sarah. Was it a romantic attraction? A physical one? Or just the want to be her friend? He didn't know.

Andrew knew she couldn’t see him and he felt bad for spying, but something urged him to stay. Even he had noticed that Sarah had been acting somewhat different for the past month or two, further piquing his curiosity.

The small smile on Sarah’s face disappeared and a trail of tears descended her cheek. Tiny sobs escaped her and chipped away at Andrew’s heart.

Despair and vulnerability echoed in that moment, both loud and mute. And for that single moment, it was just him and her in the world.

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

A/N - Well.. now you've met Andrew too, I hope you like him. He can be cute at times ;p