Chapter Text
Jason stood next to the payphone, pissed since he’d missed the last bus home. He didn’t want to be in this dreaded place any longer than he had to be, but fate has a way. The man rummaged through his pockets for a quarter, promptly pulling one out, and placing it in a coin slot. His fingers gently pushed the buttons, leading to three short rings.
“Hello, Garden Residence, Mary speaking.”
“Hey, it's me. I’m going to be stuck here tonight.”
He hung up quickly, not wanting to discuss anything with his girlfriend. She was a kind girl, but she asked too many questions. Jason sighed, knowing all the screaming he’d get tomorrow when he returned home, but for now, his eyes wandered to the metal fencing just adjacent to him. His destination was beyond that fence. Slowly, the man took his first step toward the fencing. This wasn't the time he'd done this, so it should've been easy, but perhaps the fact it was the anniversary of it all that threw Jason off.
It had been a week and the tension still lingered, but there was still the court-ordered visitation plan to follow. It was the third knock that alerted the young man that something was wrong. Jason glanced back, only to see his mother and step-father had already left. Jason knocked once more, but no response. Before making the short trip to his “godparents” house, the boy sighed, thinking about everything that had happened with his dad in the past two weeks. He reached the edge of their lawn, and he thought back to his father standing on the lawn, nearly motionless. Something had been up with his dad, and Jason didn’t want to know. He knocked on the door and smiled when Cordelia opened the door.
“Have you seen my dad recently?”
She frowned, and Jason was suddenly overloaded with worry as his sentiment of not caring disappeared. Jason had not been the best kid after Whizzer died. In the beginning, he asked his father about a million questions about Whizzer, ones which his father could never answer without bursting into tears. Yet that curiosity would turn into anger, anger at Mendel, anger at his mom, anger at his father, even anger at Whizzer for leaving them. Eventually, Mendel convinced Jason to talk about the loss, and even with the shitty advice Mendel gave, it helped Jason. Whizzer’s death still stung, but he had accepted it, but Jason knew his father hadn’t accepted it yet.
Jason was spending the weekend with his dad, who was in a particularly sad mood. Jason had avoided him the way lice would avoid clean hair, the two only shared one conversation in the twelve hours he had been there. Jason was walking past his dad’s bedroom when the overpowering scent hit the boy. It was... Whizzer. Jason burst into the room, a small, subconscious part of him hoping to see Whizzer in that room. Yet instead, the boy was presented with his father alone. The elder was just sitting on the bed, staring longingly into nothingness. One hand contained the glass cologne bottle, the other held a small blade. Jason watched his father momentarily before leaving the room, afraid of what was going to happen if he stayed.
Cordelia kept an uncharacteristic silence as she rummaged her purse for her keys. The worst ran through Jason’s head as he and Cordelia began the short trip back to Marvin’s doorstep. When the pair reached the door, Jason smiled weakly at her. He harboured a deep suspicion of what lay behind on these walls. Cordelia slid the key into the keyhole and turned it slowly. The click, signalling the door was unlocked, came out as a deafening scream. Jason pushed his way into the house and noted how the home seemed more deary than usual. Cordelia took a step in after the boy.
“Perhaps he went away without telling us.”
Jason felt warmed by her optimism yet Jason knew he was one of the only people to see his father’s lows. Marvin tried to be presentable out in public, yet the same rules did not apply at home. Jason took another step into the house, and that’s when the smell hit him. It was extremely familiar to the boy. Jason's heart dropped as he now knew it had to be true. His eyes flashed back to Cordelia.
“Cordelia, can you call my mom?”
The woman glanced around the room once more before nodding. Jason smiled as the woman darted off. Finally alone, Jason took a real look around the room. It seemed quite similar to the state he’d left it in, except for one detail. Laid out on the couch was a brown leather jacket Jason immediately recognized as Whizzer’s. Not only had the boy put it away recently, he recalled how Whizzer wore it. Jason grabbed the jacket to return it to the closet, yet he stopped cold in his tracks as a folded-up piece of paper fell to the floor. It seemed to scream at Jason. For the first time since stepping into this house, the reality finally hit him. Jason fell to the couch as he felt a tension build up throughout his body. Jason stared at the paper, frozen in time. The boy wasn’t sure how long he had sat there by the time Cordelia returned.
“The paper on the floor. ”
Those were the only words Jason was able to muster. Cordelia came over to where Jason was on the couch. On the dust-covered ground, she spotted the piece of paper. The woman glanced at Jason as the pieces fell into place for her. She took a breath as she began to shakily reach for the piece of paper. Jason knew that thousands of possible things could be on this piece of paper, and whatever was written on it would change his family's lives. Time seemed to stop as the boy watched her carefully unfold the piece of paper and scan the words. The silence spoke volumes to Jason. He knew the contents of the note without needing to read the paper. He looked up at Cordelia as he felt tears form in his eyes.
Cordelia noticed droplets in his eyes and dove in to hug him. Yet it was already too late. The pain he was feeling now was a pain he felt numerous times in his youth. As Jason sat there crying, the scent of Whizzers cologne and decay burned his nostrils. The boy attempted to form words but instead, only shaky breaths came out. The pain overwhelmed the boy to such an extent he didn’t even notice his mother and step-father enter. The pair smiled at the kid, and Jason could tell it was a feigned one. He was quite experienced in them after all. It was here, in this pain, in this suffering, where Jason understood, at least some of, his father’s pain. He was vaguely aware of the adults speaking about the matter yet only thought took place in his mind. A thought which Jason needed to say aloud.
“The bedroom. That’s where I found him last time.”
The boy felt all eyes on him. Each pair of eyes staring deep into this broken young soul. The silence stood for a moment before Mendel rushed toward Marvin’s bedroom in the hallway. The sounds of shoes on the hardwood, followed by the sound of someone jostling a door handle. Mendel shouted something from the hallway, something that fell away from the young man. Jason knew his father was dead.
Without knowing it, the young man found himself at the worn headstones. No one in Jason's family had been able to pay for upkeep on the graves, and it was certainly noticeable. Both were beaten and worn from the weather, and one was overgrown with moss. Weeds grew at the bases of the headstones. Jason scanned the names of each of the headstones.
Marvin Gardens
Whizzer Brown
Jason scanned the surrounding area, causing a weak smile to appear on his face. Near the edge of Whizzer's tombstone sat a single king piece from a chessboard. Jason bent down, picking it up carefully. The man was surprised at how well it looked after all these years. He studied the piece for a minute before placing it on top of Whizzer's headstone. Jason let out a soft sob.
"Goodbye Dads."