Avery's POV
The stranger from the café stepped out first, leaving my mother speaking in low voices with the other man in the adjoining room.
Daniel and I were left alone in the living room.
Sitting side by side, we pretended to play an old board game whose rules we barely remembered. Our movements were mechanical, clumsy. Neither of us was really focused.
He sat down on the couch across from us.
The silence that fell immediately was heavy, almost tangible. We exchanged awkward, fleeting glances, as if none of us quite knew how to behave.
Daniel was the first to crack. Of course.
"So… you're a friend of my mom's?"
The brunet offered a calm smile.
"Yes, that's right."
Daniel tilted his head slightly, studying him without the slightest hint of subtlety.
"Aren't you a bit young to be her friend?" he added, pulling a face.
"Daniel…" I murmured.
"In fact," the man replied without losing his smile, "I tend to look younger than I actually am."
My brother's eyes lit up instantly.
"And how old are you?"
I pinched his arm.
"Dani!"
"Ow!" he protested, rubbing the spot.
I turned to the stranger, embarrassed.
"Sorry… It's not very polite to ask someone's age when you've just met them."
"I'm just curious," Daniel defended himself. "You must be, what… twenty-five? And my mom's over forty, so it's normal that I'd wonder."
"Daniel, that's enough," I insisted.
"It's alright," the man said gently. "Actually, he's not entirely wrong. I wouldn't say I'm an old friend of your mother, strictly speaking. Let's just say we share… a mutual acquaintance."
His gaze flicked briefly toward me.
My stomach twisted.
Daniel, who missed nothing, frowned.
"A mutual acquaintance?" he asked, pointing at both of us. "How does that work?"
I took a breath.
"We don't really know each other," I said evasively. "We just ran into each other once or twice…"
My voice dropped at the end.
"Under… kind of strange circumstances."
He was still looking at me.
As if waiting for me to continue.
"Where?" Daniel pressed.
Images surfaced despite myself:
the Shade Diner,
the cemetery,
the impact,
his impossible healing right in front of me.
I shot him a quick glance.
"At the diner… and elsewhere."
"Elsewhere where?" Daniel insisted.
I sighed deeply.
"Could you stop interrogating me for five minutes and go play one of your games, please?"
"I remind you that we fled our house like thieves without taking anything," he shot back. "So excuse me if I find this suspicious."
He wasn't wrong.
What had happened that afternoon came crashing back into me.
The fear.
The escape.
The feeling of having left that man behind in our house.
I drifted into my thoughts until the scrape of a chair in the next room made me flinch.
My mother and the other man joined us in the living room.
Their faces were serious.
I straightened immediately.
My mother nervously hooked her thumbs into her pockets, her other fingers constantly twitching. She was breathing too fast.
"Kids…" she began. "I know you must be surprised. And probably very confused by the presence of these two men here."
She paused.
"I'm going to introduce them first."
She gestured to the man standing beside her.
"This is Will."
Then she turned toward the brunet sitting across from us.
"And this is Gabriel."
Gabriel stood up and joined them.
My mother kept talking.
A lot.
Too much.
Vague explanations.
Half-truths.
Sentences that seemed to carefully avoid the core of the issue.
She told us they would be staying with us for a while.
That our time here would last longer than expected.
That everything would be fine.
Then she stopped.
And dropped the bomb.
"We're leaving the city."
"What?!" Daniel and I shouted in unison, jumping to our feet.
The silence crashed back down, brutal.
---
The tension became almost suffocating after that announcement.
Daniel and I looked at each other, unable to speak. One thing was clear:
she had already made up her mind.
"Leaving the city… what do you mean?" Daniel asked, his voice still disbelieving.
Mom sighed, clearly trying to regain her composure.
But I didn't give her the chance.
"Is this because of what happened this afternoon?" I asked immediately.
"In part," she replied.
"In part?" Daniel echoed.
"So there's more?"
"You've already been through enough today," she said wearily.
"I'll explain later. For now, you need to get ready. That's what matters most."
"You can't decide something like this without telling us why," Daniel insisted.
Anger rose in my throat.
"You're doing it again, Mom.
Making drastic decisions without ever explaining anything."
She brought her hands to her head, as if a migraine had just slammed into her.
"Avery, I am really not in the mood for one of your episodes."
"Oh, the famous excuse," I shot back with a bitter smile.
"Ari—" Daniel tried, attempting to calm me.
"I just want an explanation, Mom."
She stared at me hard.
"I'm your mother.
And I have the right to make decisions without asking for your opinion."
"Dad would never force a decision like this on us without explaining," I blurted out, hurt.
She snapped.
"I am not your father!
He was an idealist… and look where that got him!"
"Lauren, calm down," Will intervened.
My heart clenched.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"That's enough, Avery. You're annoying me.
I've made my decision, and you're going to stick to it. End of discussion."
Something broke inside me.
"Fine. Do whatever you want," I threw out before leaving the room, slamming the door behind me.
"Damn it, that girl…" she spat, furious.
Her gaze then landed on Daniel.
"What? You too? You want to yell at me as well?"
Daniel stayed silent for a moment, then answered calmly:
"No.
But even if Avery exaggerates… she's right."
He left the room in turn.
---
External POV
Lauren collapsed heavily onto the couch, drained.
Will placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"I know you want to protect them… but they'll have to face the truth sooner or later."
"I know," she murmured.
"But I refuse to let them relive that.
Last time… I lost someone."
"This time, it won't happen."
She slowly lifted her head.
"Are you sure, Gabriel?" she asked, looking him straight in the eyes.
---