Page 36 of Serpentine

“What happened to him?” I ask as I yank my utensils from the napkin they’re wrapped in.

“I feel like it’s Braxton’s story. I don’t know if I should…” He shoves a mouthful of salad doused with in-house dressing in his mouth, keeping it occupied while he decides.

“I’d never ask him, I don’t think. Stuff like that is hard to dredge up, you know?”

He swallows and then sighs. “Dad got wind of Freddy beating Braxton. He was always angry, but as Braxton grew, it was more clear that he wasn’t…”

“Normal?” I ask.

He scoffs. “What the fuck is normal?”

I shrug. “A social construct made up by the majority for those who are different to strive for? Something for those who don’t fit the mold to feel more ostracized? But normal is unachievable. Not just for divergent peoples, either.”

His eyes are on me, heavy and full of words he doesn’t say. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Anyhow, he was a pretty nasty man. Braxton came to live with us on Christmas when I turned eight. He was six. It took him a long time to get used to the change. God, he was covered in bruises when Dad found him.” He shakes his head.

“Found him? Found him where?” My food is forgotten, and I’m leaning as far as I can over the table toward Miles.

“Dad got a call from Zeke. He’d found Braxton on the side of the road with his bags. Freddy kicked him out and said he couldn’t do it anymore. He said he didn’t have it in him to raise a freak. That Brax couldn’t have been his.” He rolls his eyes. “As if his alcoholic, abusive ass was the picture of perfection and good breeding.”

A tear falls over my bottom lid and treks down my cheek. I swipe it away when the server returns with our pizza. Miles clears a spot for her to place it.

She eyes me and then looks at Miles. He shakes his head once as if to tell her it’s not her business, and she moves along.

“I can’t imagine that. I’m over here pitying myself for a father who never spent time with me, all while he was on the street at six years old?” I sniff and wipe my eyes.

Miles grabs my plate and dishes a slice of pizza onto it. “Well, what happened was for the best, Aella. He wouldn’t have been okay there long term. I got a brother. Mom doted on him, you know? She loved each one of his quirks and never made him feel like he was anything but hers. Anything but perfect.”

His tone tells me he doesn’t want to talk about his mom, so I don’t press him to.

My pizza is delicious, but the flavor is dull, with everything bouncing around in my head.

“Braxton’s quirks, as you call them… What… Does he have a specific diagnosis?” I ask, dancing around the question so as not to upset Miles.

He shakes his head with a mouthful of pizza he’s trying to chew. “No. Mom never wanted to put him through the testing. He was much more… He had many more struggles when he was younger than he does now. She worried it would bother him too much to go through it, and none of us cared what he does or doesn’t have, you know?”

I nod along with his words, devouring my food as my mind works over the enigma of Braxton. He has his differences, but the man is a stunning creature. That’s putting it lightly.

“Like the food?” Miles asks, and just like that, the subject drops.

I nod.

I sip my drink, eyeing Miles. He looks younger while he eats. It’s almost as if his guard is down. “What happened to him, Braxton’s dad?”

“He’s dead.” It’s a simple answer, but the tone and delivery told another story. One that makes my stomach twist around the pizza that’s digesting inside it.

“Oh,” I say.

He nods.

My eyes drift toward the bathroom, and I decide to excuse myself from the heaviness weighing down our table for a moment. To breathe.

“I’ll be right back; I’m going to use the restroom,” I tell Miles, and he turns to point at the door I’d already found.

When I enter the bathroom, the flickering light above dances over the yellowing wall tiles surrounding two sinks and two red-painted stalls. The mirrors are old and dingy, and I take a moment to look into them. I don’t see me, though. I see Braxton, small and cold.

I take a moment to let the emotion wash through me, tears falling for a boy who no longer is a boy, for the version of Brax who had been so wronged by the world I obliviously lived in.