The Aberrant Clan

Crissy's Point of View

"Thomas, hurry up, we're going to be late!" I scream from downstairs. Thomas comes running down the stairs, grabs a piece of toast, and starts eating. "How did you sleep, sweetie?" I ask.

"Good," he replies, barely able to keep the food from spilling out of his mouth.

I smile and look down at my watch, "Oh shit, come on, we need to get going. Grab your bag." I say to Thomas with a solemn tone in my voice.

We expeditiously rushed to my old Ford Ranger and drove to school. I never genuinely look around while driving. I only fixate on the road. I usually see Thomas admiring the trees and the beauty of nature.

We arrive at the school. I park my car in my usual parking spot; we sit still in the car for a minute in silence.

"Have a nice day, and don't give your teachers too much grief. You know they talk to me," I look at Thomas with concern.

"I know. See you later". He quickly jumps out of the car and walks off to class.

Sometimes I worry about him. I wonder if he ever wonders if what I tell him about our parents is true. If he believes the postcards that he receives every month are from them. What if he knows they are dead? I should have that talk with him soon before he hates me for the rest of his life. I shove the thought aside and head to class to start my day to do what I do best.

Teach.

The last bell of the day rings. I was on my phone while walking outside. My grandma sent me a video of a kitten running towards a glass door and I felt the laughter building up in my chest. Then I heard car brakes screeching the next moment. Someone almost ran me over. My heart felt like it was pounding outside of my chest. I stared at the driver, and I lost control.

"Are you crazy? Don't you look where you are driving?" I start yelling at this idiotic driver.

"I apologize. I didn't see you there." He says this while climbing out of his car.

While staring at him in anger, I started to analyze him from head to toe. His dark brown hair in a messy style and his slim fit body. Well built. By the way, he is dressed, he doesn’t seem like he cares how he looks. Jeans with a T-shirt and sneakers. While he walks towards me I realize he is extremely tall, about six feet. I snap back into reality.

"You didn't!" I try to restrain myself, and I saw he starts to grin—the nerve of this guy. "I'm sorry? Do you think this is funny, by almost killing someone?" I start to walk toward him. Matches his pace. The urge to punch him in the face stifles me. His grin quickly vanishes as soon as those words came out of my mouth.

"Ma'am, I do apologize for my lack of attention. It was not my intention to almost hit you." He says this with sincerity in his eyes.

I just sigh.

"It's okay. Just next time, look where you are going." I smile at him, the smile not reaching my eyes.

I turn to walk away, and he yells, "I'm Alexander, by the way," I stare at him from over my shoulder and start walking to my car.

Thomas has soccer practice, and me going to town and waiting for him to finish. We take our regular route home. We don’t usually speak in the car. Thomas believes it will distract me from the road. So, we always have a silent drive home. Therefore, Thomas always loves to stare out of the car window. Sometimes I think he just wants to avoid me.

As we return home, we unload all our stuff out of the car and carry it inside. I decided to start with food.

"What are you in the mood for?" I ask Thomas as I take out my favorite coffee mug. It has a cute ladybug on it. This was a cup that Thomas had made me when he was in pre-school. "Chicken or toasted bread?”

"I think toasted bread." He says with a smile on his face. "Is it okay if I eat in my room?”

"Why?" I ask, concern on my face.

"I promised Jimmy we could play an online tournament as soon as I got home.”

"Sure. I will bring it up when it is done," I reply with hesitation.

"Thank you!" As he says this, he runs upstairs to his room.

I just shake my head with a smile on my face.

When I finish the food, I take his dinner to his room. I decide to join him. After we finish dinner, I take our plates to the kitchen and start to clean. It was a mundane task but it had to be done. On my way to my room, I peek through Thomas’s room door and see he passed out. I tuck him in and give him a kiss on the head before going to bed. My parents used to do this every night, they always thought it would keep the nightmares away from us as children.

The following day, I open the fridge to get some milk for my coffee. Ah yes, that fresh morning coffee smell. I smile. Sitting on the porch, as I did every morning, I stare out into the forest. For the first time, I notice something strange in the woods that I had never seen in my two years living in this house. It was a crow. So far as I can remember, black crows never come to these parts. I was slightly startled, but I brush it off and went inside.

I went up to Thomas's room, "Sweetie, I'm just going to town quickly; I'll be back soon.”

"Okay." He reply, glued to his computer screen.

I grab my car keys, hop into my car, and start to drive to town.

I get to the supermarket. While climbing out of my car, I almost tripped, scanning to see if someone saw me. Luckily no one was nearby. I got to the slide doors of the market, put my hand out for the shopping cart, and someone else grabbed it.

I froze in shock. "Hey, that was mine"