Clean Slate

Several minutes later, Sineas stepped into the kitchen. His skin was glowing. He had slipped into a black t-shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans and black-and-white All-Star Chuck Taylors.

'Is Claire here yet?' he asked his aunt as he patted his cheeks.

She leaned her back against the sink and smiled at him. 'No, not yet, my boy. Have a sit and I'll fix you up some peanut butter porridge.'

He smiled and sat down. He kept touching his hair nervously. He breathed into his hands and brought them to his nostrils. After a quick whiff, he made a satisfactory grin. He rubbed his hands gleefully as Aunt Janice placed a bowl of porridge and a spoon in front of him. He didn't waste time and immediately began to drill it away. He was sitting in the same seat Clarissa had been sitting in.

Aunt Janice sat across him. 'Sin, my boy.'

'Yes?' He continued ravaging the porridge.

'Sin…my boy,' she placed a hand on top of his free hand.

He stopped his attack on the porridge.

'Do you like Clarissa?'

He shrugged carelessly. 'Of course. She's my friend now.'

'I mean do you like her? Do you see yourselves starting a family one day?'

'Aunt Janice, please,' he looked aside, a smile threatening to appear on his face but he forced it to retreat. 'Claire and I are just friends, nothing more. I don't want to complicate things between us.'

'I know you like her, Sin.'

He opened his mouth to defend himself.

'And I know she likes you too.'

He closed his mouth. He opened it again, 'Why…How..?'

'But one thing I don't get, Sin, is the lies,' she said. Her smile was now nowhere to be found.

He looked confused. 'I'm sorry, Aunt Janice, but what are you talking about?'

'Is your mother a doctor, Sin?'

He shrugged. 'She was but not anymore.'

'Is your father a lawyer?'

His eyes wandered inside the bowl of porridge. An epiphany lit up his face. He pulled his hand from underneath hers and leapt to his feet. He looked around. 'Sh…She was here?'

Aunt Janice nodded slowly and engaged her arms on top of the table. Her eyes were like daggers ready to strike as she stared at him.

He was now fuming. 'Aunt Janice, how could you?!'

'How could I? How could I? Sineas, you lied to that poor girl. You lied to her through your teeth! She…'

'How much did you tell her?' he asked her now pacing up and down the kitchen rubbing his head desperately.

'I told her what she needed to know,' Aunt Janice answered.

'How much did you tell her?' He stopped and faced her. It was clear that he was now infuriated.

She leaned her head in his direction. 'I told her everything. From your father's accident, your mother's incarceration and our backgrounds. All the skeletons in our closets, Sin. I threw all the skeletons at her feet.'

He staggered backwards. He placed a hand on his forehead. He felt like he had been delivered a knockout blow by a professional boxer. He whispered as if to himself, 'Why? Why..?'

'Tabula rasa, son. Tabula rasa. All relationships should start on clean slates. I've just cleaned yours for you.'

'Cleaned? Cleaned!' He walked around the table towards her. 'You've just sabotaged the one good thing I've ever had in these past eleven years. Probably the best thing I will ever have!'

'Lower your voice, Sin,' she warned him as she got to her feet.

He choked on his next words. He just looked into her eyes. He tried to say something but he choked again. He could see her fingers accumulating momentum. 'I have to go,' he said finally. He turned around and headed for the door.

'Where are you going? Didn't you want us to go see your mother today?'

'I changed my mind,' he said banging the door on his way out.