"Obsession"
by Blackjack Gabbiani
Chapter TenAlthough that day had been divine, time has no respect for such things, and life found itself as it always was. And once again, I found myself caught in boredom's snare. The world seemed so much dimmer and duller after beholding such wonders that it was rare for something to hold my attention for very long. Even Asaph was absent, his life taking him overseas for several weeks.
One morning I came down for breakfast, and my father greeted me in the kitchen, the smell of fried eggs heavy in the air. "Jiri," he welcomed with a hand on my shoulder, "I'm taking the day off. How about you and me do something?"
I shrugged, partially noncommittal, partially to extricate his hand. "I presume you had something in mind."
"Well, let's see..." he thought aloud, putting a slice of toast on a plate next to an apple half and the aforementioned eggs. "We could go shopping, we could go swimming...Oh! I know!" He snapped his fingers, handing me the plate with his other hand. "How about we play some chess?"
I took my seat at the kitchen table. "All right," I agreed. It was better than nothing, I reasoned.
"All right, how about after breakfast?" The eagerness in his voice was rather annoying.
"If you want," was my short reply.
He frowned. "When you're around Asaph, you just come alive. What happens to that spark, Jiri?"
I shrugged, saying nothing, and starting on my breakfast.
Sitting across from me, he tousled my hair. "Come on...something's gotta bring you out of your shell. You know, we could take the chessboard down to the beach and get some sun while we play. Wanna do that?"
"No, not especially."
He sighed heavily, looking away briefly. "Oh, right, right, your accident..."
I stared blankly at him before asking him what he meant by that.
"Your mother told me about when she found you face-down in the pond," he replied, laying his hands on the table.
He couldn't even get something as major as my near-drowning right. "That's not how it happened," I corrected.
He leaned in. "Oh?"
Prompting me. He was waiting for me to fill the silence, and I gave in. "They held me under. It wasn't an accident. They wanted me dead."
He was still for a moment, then he nodded. "Jiri, you know, your mother saw the whole thing. She told me that they tried to throw you in, but you fainted. They got scared and ran off. I know what they did was inexcusable, but..." He trailed off. "What reason would anyone have to try to kill you, anyway?"
"Because of Mother." It was so simple and he couldn't grasp it.
"O...kayyyy..." He drew the word out, looking confused. "It was really that strong even after all that time? I knew there was animosity there, but it's really that bad?"
Did he have to be such an enigma? "What do you mean 'after all that time'?"
"You know, about your grandfather?" he prodded.
I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about." Why did he have to be like this?
"Oh, she...she never told you about that? That's strange..." He paused, no doubt wondering if he should reveal the secret. And of course he continued. "Your grandfather was the mayor of the town, and he decided against having the town be a stop on a train route. The townspeople were convinced that the town would have thrived had the train stopped there, and it got so bad that he was forced to resign. I guess some people never got over that."
The lies the man could tell. "That isn't true," I insisted.
"No, no, it's true. Why, what did she tell you?"
He wasn't worth my time. I shoved my plate aside and left the table, heading back up to my room.
I came back down a short time later, hoping that my father had given up and returned to work, but this was not to be. In my absence, he had set up the chessboard on the living room coffee table, and arranged a chair at the end opposite the couch. His audacity astounded me.
"Jiri! Want to play that chess game now?" he asked, coming out from the kitchen. I wasn't going to win, I figured. "All right, I suppose," I sighed, taking a seat in the chair.
He took his place on the couch. "Which side do you want?"
"It doesn't matter."
"All right then." He adjusted the board so that the white pieces were facing me. "You'll start off. Know how to play?"
"Of course." Mother had taught me once during a thunderstorm, but we had only played that one time. I remembered all the moves, but could not formulate a strategy or anything advanced. But I was not about to let that man talk down to me.
"Good! We'll say, what, half an hour allotment per turn?"
I moved my first piece, the Queen's Knight, without a word, and turned my attention more to the pieces themselves. White like the feathers of the bird. But that just lead to thoughts of our earlier conversation.
Maybe he was telling the truth. But that would mean that there was no white bird, wouldn't it? That there was mother, and nothing else.
And I could not accept that, for reasons I could not fathom. I knew in my heart, as much as I loved my mother, that the bird had saved me.
It puzzled even me, that I would resist his idea so much, but I knew my memory was true.
"So," he said, breaking my line of thought, "I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and talk with you about your trip to Viridian. How was it?"
I shrugged, slightly disturbed by the sudden intrusion. "I liked it."
He smiled at me. Even with my gaze leveled at the chessboard I could tell. "It's been ages since I was at the museum. A lot of my clients went to some party they had there a few months ago."
Why did he insist on telling me things that I couldn't care less about? "It was nice," I offered, hoping it would make him silent.
"See anything good?" he asked. "I like the silver room, myself..."
I nodded. "That was nice...I liked the statues..." There was no way I was going to tell him about the angel.
A few moves later, he spoke again. "You know...there's something I've wanted to talk to you about for a while." He paused, thinking of how to phrase it. "Recently, Helen and I have...gotten closer. We've been dating for about a year now."
I suppose it was obvious from the way they acted around each other, but hearing a confirmation was still quite interesting. Helen was a good woman, very kind to me, and she never spoke down to me like he did. "Oh?" was still all I could say to his statement.
"Yeah..." He smiled at me, patting my hand as I made a move. I waited for him to finish before completing it. "Just wanted to let you know in case you saw us kissing or something."
And I couldn't have figured it out on my own? Putting aside the fact that I hadn't yet, it was unlikely to traumatize me. My parents had been divorced for several years, it was only natural that at least one of them would find a new partner. Why did he insist on treating me like an imbecile? "All right," I said, nodding to myself.
His attention back on the game, we continued in near silence, for which I was extremely grateful. Soon, the game was over, and again he ruffled my hair in that way he had. "That was fun. You know, you're a pretty good player."
I pointed to the board. "But you won."
"I know, but you put up quite the fight." He smiled, and I suppose it was meant to be warm. "You could be quite the master if you keep it up."
Fine, anything to get him to stop this forced socialization. "I'm going to my room," I said, and he didn't stop me.