Fateful Reunion by SilentTraveller on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

When he was 9 years old, for some minor childish transgression no one can now remember, Naomi, addicted to alcohol and antidepressants, banned Clifton from her home, although banishment didn't do anything to impede his friendship with Dorian and his sisters who all went to the same school.

In the eleven years since, Clifton hasn't seen her and as people tend to do, he imagines she hasn't changed much since, except probably for the worse. His friends rarely speak of her and only then in terms of a tyrannical landlord from whose clutches they can't afford to escape from right now. He can't even remember exactly what she looked like. Now, he doesn't doubt, she's older, fatter, boozier, frayed around the edges, worn down by life that was already going off the rails when he first got to know the family after becoming fast friends Dorian at elementary school. Even though a few days ago, he'd declined Dorian's anti-invitation to join the family on vacation, because he could imagine few things worse than spending a week with an older, grumpier version of the woman who had once evicted him from her sight and her home, curiosity led him to volunteer to help his friends in setting up her new office.

In the back of his mind, perhaps he figures that he will get some petty revenge by appearing before her full of the vigour of youth while she is well on the road to middle age and imminent decrepitude, like most adults a good two decades older than him. No one has ever accused Clifton of being less than full of himself most of the time, with a precocious self-confidence that often veers a little too close to arrogance for many older acquaintances... although it impresses the heck out of Bianca and Ruby. If only, they secretly wish (rivals in all things but in unwitting agreement on this) they could get him to see them as something other than surrogate sisters...

(Fateful Reunion 1/2)

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