Chapter Text
Jason summoned all his courage as he went to go talk to his father. “Dad?” he asked. Bud Dean looked up from his beer. “What?” he grunted, an edge to his voice. Maybe now wasn’t a good time to ask. Jason thought, but he had already gotten his father’s attention, which was pretty rare, so he asked his question.
“Can we stay here a little longer? I like it here in Texas and my friends are really nice.” Jason didn’t want to move to California. Texas was a nice place, but due to his father’s deconstruction company the Dean family moves around a lot.
“Too bad,” his father replied. “That old hotel in California is pretty much begging to be destroyed. I’m just doing my job.”
“But. . . can’t we just stay for a couple more months? Can’t the building wait?” Jason was ready to beg his dad to stay in Texas.
“No.” Bud replied firmly, his grip on the bottle tightened.
The boy was about to protest again, but his mother joined them. “Bud, he likes it here. Let’s just stay for a bit longer, it won’t hurt anybody.” Jason’s father replied something, but he wasn’t listening anymore, he was just thinking about having to leave his friends at school.
“I said no ! We are going to California after we blow that damn library up.”
After that, the argument between his father and mother elevated, and Jason went up to his room. He lay down in bed and pulled his blanket over him, trying to ignore the yelling from downstairs. The fighting got worse. Suddenly, a loud crash made Jason jump as he heard his father yell. There was more chaos as he heard glass shattering and screaming downstairs. Jason covered his ears, trying to block out all the noise, but he was worried about mom. Was she hurt? The fighting lasted for six minutes. He listened for a couple of seconds, he heard his mother. “He is unhappy! He’s hurting, and all you care about is destruction.”
“Well, sometimes destruction is the only way. ” His father’s voice dangerously low. “Those buildings are a problem, I’m just fixing them. He can get new friends or whatever. Hell, he doesn’t even need them. They’re all going to be gone eventually.” Jason picked up a hint of sadness to his father’s voice, and was surprised to know Bud Dean could feel grief. “We. Are. Moving.” He heard the front door slam.
“What’s the point ever trying to talk to him?” Jason muttered. He wiped away a tear and fell asleep.
“Mom?”
Jason saw his mother waving at him through the window of a small library. She was smiling at him.
But something was wrong.
“Mom!” he called again. Wasn’t that the building that’s scheduled to be taken down?
“Dad! What’s she doing?” Jason called to his father, who muttered “The hell?” and signaled her to get out, but she kept waving. Bud ran off somewhere, probably trying to stop her. Jason didn’t pay attention, he was staring at his mom. “Why are you doing this?” he whispered. Distantly, he heard his dad yelling, but it was too late.
Boom. The library collapsed with mom in it. Jason dropped to his knees, his vision blurred with tears. “Mom. . .” He sobbed. A hand was placed on his shoulder, he didn’t bother to see who it was. “Why. . .” His voice trailed off.
“It was an accident. If I knew she was doing this, this wouldn’t have happened.” His dad’s grip tightened.
Rage briefly took over his grief for a moment. She. . . she did this because of you. She hated being with this family. Jason thought
They didn’t even bother with a funeral. They were moving two days after and there wasn’t much after the building…
Jason didn’t want to go anywhere, but it hurt to be in the place where mom died. He cried again that night, and his dad went drinking again.
Sunday came and Jason dropped his last box into the truck. He hoped California would be a good place. It should be, they’re moving to LA. He wanted to start over again. He wanted to forget about everything. Who he was, and what happened.