InsaneJournal

Wednesday: October 24, 2007
Who: Constance and Adam [Narrative]
When: Early Morning
Where: The Alexie Cottage
What: The truth finally comes out into the open.

"Adam!" Constance called up the stairs, craning her neck back to see up. "It's time for breakfast! Come down here and get something to eat!" He hadn't been eating as much as he used to ever since Simon's death, and Constance was worried about him. Adam wasn't talking to her, and it wasn't like him not to talk to her. She shook her head, unsure of what was going on with the boy, and made her way back into the kitchen.

Everything was already laid out nice and perfect. The only thing missing was the fact that Adam wasn't down here and seated ahead of time as usual. Constance began cleaning up, washing, and putting away everything she used for cooking breakfast this morning. When she was done, Adam had finally come down the stairs. She turned around to look at him, drying her hands off with one of the kitchen towels. Adam stood in the entrance of the kitchen and just stared uncertainly into the room. "Well?" Constance finally asked him, raising her eyebrows. "Aren't you gonna sit down and eat?" His behavior was getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

"No," Adam said, his voice so quiet it was barely discernible. He shook his head as he looked somewhere on the kitchen floor. "I don't want to eat this morning."

Constance threw down the towel onto the table and crossed her arms. "No, that's not a good enough of a reason," Constance told him. She was going to be stern about this, and he was going to listen to her. "Adam, you need to talk to me. I'm . . . " She hesitated here, almost calling him her son. Adam wasn't actually her son, though, and she had never called him that out loud. She didn't know what kind of consequences it would have, so she chose not to say it. "Your alchemist," Constance added, straightening up her posture, "and you're my elemental." The only problem was Constance didn't realize what Adam's problem was, and she certainly didn't know it was with her. "You've got to talk to me."

She didn't think she had anything to explain to him or anything that he needed an explanation for. As his creator, she had acted as a mother to him all of his life and that was exactly how Constance saw herself with him. She was his mother. She had the authority here. His behavior lately both concerned her and aggravated her to an extent. They barely knew the boy, barely had a hand in his life, and yet Adam was acting as if he had lost his own sister.

Suddenly, though, the blank expression changed on Adam's face. It twisted into something she had never seen on him before. Was that . . . disgust she saw looking back at her?

"Do you think you own me?" Adam shot back.

His reaction to her words floored Constance. She was visibly stunned by them, her mouth agape and disbelief shining in her eyes. "I . . . " Constance fought for the words to say. "No, Adam. No—" Instinctively, she moved to walk closer to him, but Adam backed out of the kitchen.

"I'm leaving," he announced adamantly. "Don't follow me."

"Adam!" Constance called, rushing after him, but the door slammed behind him and he was already gone. She was stunned more than she was hurt, if only because she had dealt with behavior like this before in her life but never from Adam. It had just been a very long time since she raised young men. Constance never thought Adam had the potential for feelings like that inside of himself. Maybe she didn't give him enough credit.

She still didn't even know why he had spoken to her like that, though. Constance couldn't think of anything she had done to deserve this from him, but it didn't look like she was going to find out today. She would have to leave him alone until he cooled down and came to her, and for that, she would have to wait.