Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell #11) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,45
looking into special needs schools and resign themselves to the fact that I would probably never be able to talk,” Aidan began as he joined her at the window.
“My parents refused to give up on me. Every day my mother would wake me up with a smile and told me just how much she loved me. Then she would spend the rest of the day talking, just talking about anything and everything so that I could hear how sounds were made. She’d talk about her day, share random thoughts, read everything she could get her hands on out loud for me, cookbooks, brochures, signs, the disturbing notes my brothers’ teachers sent home, and when she ran out of things to talk about, she’d start all over again. At the end of the night, she would tuck me in bed, beyond fucking exhausted, and tell me that she loved me again.”
“My brothers would help, too. They’d read their comic books to me, tell me about their day, and tell me how they were going to fuck each other over,” he said, noting how her lips twitched as she wiped away the last of the tears.
“As soon as my father came home, he’d pick up where my mother left off. He’d throw me over his shoulder and start telling me about his day, the cases that he had, the medicine that he’d prescribed and why. The days that he filled in at the emergency room were my favorite. He’d tell me the best way to do a suture, the things to watch out for, and the tricks he’d taught himself to keep his hand steady. I decided before I could talk that I wanted to be a doctor.”
“By four, I could choke out sounds and by the time I started school, I could mumble gibberish that my mother swears to this day that she could understand. My teachers tried to work with me, but they’d end up getting frustrated and would ask me to lay my head down on my desk whenever they couldn’t understand me.”
“What about the kids?” Melanie asked as they stared out the window.
“The ones in my class were fine. The principal had a talk with them on the first day of school and asked them to try to be understanding. They took that as leave me alone. The other kids weren’t so understanding. For the most part, they left me alone because of my brothers, but-”
“Kids can be cruel,” she said softly.
“Yes, they can. They mocked me every time I made the mistake of opening my mouth and made my life a living hell. It made me work harder, made me desperate so that every night I would come home and practice my sounds until I passed out. I thought it was helping, but it actually made everything worse. I mangled sounds, struggled to get them out, and started to get more frustrated.”
“No one in my family said anything. They acted like it was no big deal, so I never realized that I was saying my brother Christopher’s name wrong until the kids at school said something. I called him Lucifer and when they made the mistake of making fun of me for it, he beat the shit out of them and told them that it was his name,” Aidan said with a fond smile, still remembering the way his brother corrected anyone that got it wrong, even the principal. That had been a fun phone call for their parents.
“What happened after that?” Melanie asked, glancing up at him.
“I stopped talking,” Aidan said with a sad smile as he reached over and gently caressed her cheek, wiping away the last tear.
“Why?” Melanie asked as he stood there, wondering why he’d never noticed just how beautiful her eyes were before.
“I tried to give up, but Lucifer wouldn’t let me. Every day, he’d drag me out of bed early, sat me down at the table with a bowl of Lucky Charms and one of Kenzie’s baby books and worked with me until I started talking again. It’s the reason why if you hadn’t chosen him to be Drew’s godfather, I would have,” Aidan said as he caressed her cheek, wondering if he’d ever felt anything this soft before just as his mind wandered to that night again.
As he stood there, caressing her cheek, Aidan told himself that it didn’t matter what happened that night, but even knowing that it was a mistake, he found himself moving closer, unable to help