Characters: Gabriel and Virginia
Fandom: Heroes
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1041
Prompt: 21/100 #24 Family
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100heroesfics The Grudge – by Tool
Clutch it like a cornerstone. Otherwise it all comes down.
Justify denials and grip 'em to the lonesome end.
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scifi_muses Notes: Gabriel's around 20 in this one.
I Could Be FreeMy hands were shaking when the letter was delivered to the shop. I hadn’t told mom I was applying to out of state schools. She’d never let me go. It had been a lark when I’d sent my application to UCLA. Clear across the country, in the sun and glory of California I could go to school, and never look back at my miserable life in Queens. I could be free.
I lean against one of the display cases. The setting sun is shining through the arched windows of the shop making the dust motes dance. I should be ecstatic, but I’m not. I need to open the letter, but I’m not sure if I’m more afraid of an acceptance or rejection from the university.
Taking the letter opener from my worktable, I slice the letter open. With my breath caught in my throat, I pull it out to read. I can’t believe it. I let out a shout. They want to give me a scholarship. With the money I’ve been saving and the scholarship, I can go to school.
I turn the sign over to ‘closed’ and lock up the shop after turning off the lights. I need to tell mom. She’ll be happy for me. She has to be.
I let myself into Mom’s apartment. It’s getting hard to find a place to walk with all the baskets of yarn, fabric scraps and junk that she collects. She never finishes anything she starts. Heading for the kitchen I carry the groceries I bought to cook dinner for her. I don’t know where she is, but if I break the news over dinner, it’ll have to help.
The sauce is simmering; the scent fills the entire apartment. I made it the way grandma taught me. No recipes for me, none for her either unless we were making cookies. You need to use the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips to make those right, and only the ones in the yellow bag. All the others taste like crap.
She finally comes home, a sack of stuffed animal parts in her arms. She’s too thin, and it takes her several seconds to recognize me when she meets my eyes. I wish she’d go to a doctor, but she won’t. “Gabriel what are you doing here?”
“I came to make you dinner, mom.” I smile and put the colander in the sink to drain the pasta when it’s done. The water isn’t quite boiling yet. “You came home just in time. I’m about to do the spaghetti. Sit down and relax.”
“You made sauce?” She comes over and gives me a hug, rubbing her hands over my arms. “You left work early to cook for me?”
“Yes, it was a slow day.”
“You shouldn’t do that, Gabriel. What would your customers think if they showed up, and you weren’t there? You could miss a big sale.” Thanks for being happy I made you dinner.
“This is a celebration dinner, mom.” I break the pasta to make it fit into the pot. I’ve got two place settings ready on her little table. “I’ve got really great news.”
“You forgot your father’s plate, Gabriel.”
“Mom.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Tonight can it be you and me, without the specter of dad? Please sit down and eat. You’re getting too skinny.”
“But what if he comes home?” She’s fussing as she reaches past me to grab that fucking third plate from the dish drainer and sets it on the table. It makes me want to smash it into a million pieces seeing it waiting for him like it has every night for ten years. “There that wasn’t hard was it?”
“No mom, that was great.” I drain the spaghetti and pour it into grandma’s bowl, pouring some of the sauce over it and put it on the table with the extra sauce in another serving bowl. I sit down in the same place I’ve sat since I was little, while my father’s chair sits empty.
I close my eyes while she says Grace, adding as always her prayers for dad. I want to tell her not to, but I don’t want to get into another fight with her not tonight. “I got a letter from UCLA, mom. They gave me a scholarship. I can go to school in Los Angeles.”
“Los Angeles? Gabriel that’s too far away. What will happen to the shop? What about your father?”
“Yes mom, Los Angeles is a long way from here. But I can make a new life, do something special. I can be more than I am here.” Isn’t that what you want?
“I don’t like it, Gabriel. You can go to night school here and keep the shop open. Isn’t that the way you were going to do it?” She gets up and takes her full plate over to the sink, washing the dinner I made down the drain untouched. “Go to college here, with the money you saved and work during the day. That was the plan.”
“Mom you’re asking me to give up UCLA for night classes at community college just to keep the stupid shop open?” I looked at my own plate, and the acid churning in my stomach ruined my appetite. “I thought you wanted me to be someone, mom. Being special isn’t that what you keep telling me to be?”
“You can be special, Gabriel. But you don’t need to go to California to do it. Finish school here, then get a good job before you give up the shop. Your father would want it that way.”
“Fine!” I snap, getting up and squeezing past her to throw my food out too. I take the letter, crumple it up and throw it into the trash, then scrape my plate on top of it. “I’ll stay here and take care of you. Just like I always do.”
I don’t want to hear her anymore. I grab my jacket and leave. Heading into the night with no idea where I’m going or why I’m trying so hard to make that woman happy. I hate her nearly as much as I hate my father. If she died, I’d be free.
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