Page 17 of Soul
“Just leave it alone,” I ordered, but no, not my girl or boy.
“Are we moving again?” Ham asked, sounding horrified and resigned.
“I’m looking at houses,” I admitted.
“Why?” Maci demanded.
“Because you did what I told you not to do!” Ham burst out, annoyed. “I told you not to talk to next door, and you did. And now we have to move because you can’t keep your mouth shut! I liked it here, and you ruined everything. You’re so spoiled and selfish!”
“Ham!” I cried, shocked at the level of anger in his voice.
“I’m sorry, Mom. But it’s true. I told Maci not to tell him we were special, and Maci thought she knew better. I’m so tired of moving, I’m never going to have friends!” Ham yelled.
“Are we moving?” Maci asked, her bottom lip trembling.
“We’re going to have to, Maci. At the end of the day, I have to protect you, and people knowing about you isn’t acceptable. There are dangers out there you can’t understand. Strangers who’d hurt you or your family to force you to do as they wished. At your age, it’s hard to see the world like this, but it’s dangerous for any child. Especially for the two of you,” I clarified.
Ham sent Maci a disgusted glare. “This was a nice house in a friendly neighbourhood. There were children to play with. We have to start all over again because you know better than everyone else. I just want friends to last longer than four weeks!”
Maci’s eyes welled with tears. “I don’t want to move.”
“Maci, I’m sorry. We have to. You’re a child, but this is a lesson you need to learn. Actions have consequences. Ham is wrong to be so mean, but he is truthful about one thing. You ignored the rules and believed you knew better. It doesn’t matter if someone has abilities like yours, they could still hurt you. That fact you ignored, despite me telling you many times. Now, we must leave and start again,” I explained gently but firmly.
The blame game wouldn’t help Maci and would make her feel awful, but she did need to understand that actions had reactions. And sometimes they weren’t a good reaction.
“I’m really sorry,” Maci said, and I believed she was. Maybe this time, Maci would understand how she’d scuppered us all.
I wanted them to have as normal a childhood as possible. But not at the cost of jeopardising their mental health and safety.
There were many unscrupulous people who’d love to get hold of someone like Ham and Maci. They’d farm Ham out with his healing abilities and use Maci for all sorts of things. The scenarios I imagined were nightmarish.
But I’d made a massive mistake, too. I had identified them as Madden’s children. I’d been shocked and not thinking and had majorly fucked up.
“Maci, it’s okay. I also made mistakes. But the best thing we do is move on and learn from them. Mistakes are costly, and we all made one,” I said.
“I didn’t. Mom, I kept my mouth shut like I’d been taught,” Ham complained with a baleful look at Maci. A tear rolled down Maci’s face.
“But Soul was like us, and I didn’t see how that could be bad,” Maci argued.
“But all you knew, baby, was Soul had abilities. Does Soul kick cats or hurt dogs? No. An ability doesn’t make someone a great person,” I explained, and Maci nodded.
“Like Luke at school? Luke pretends to be good but does mean things,” she asked.
While I didn’t want to denigrate another child, Luke was an excellent sacrifice right now. “Exactly like Luke. Strangers can be nasty but pretend to be different. Is Soul like that?”
“Let’s get to know Soul. That way, we can tell,” Maci questioned.
“Because by doing so, Soul could fool or wait for us to trust him and then harm you,” Ham answered scornfully.
Oh boy. My little man was riled up. “That is true, but we can’t judge Soul for being bad when we’re unsure he is.”
“So, back to what I said. How do we tell if someone is bad?” Maci demanded.
“Baby, even as adults, we cannot always see. But you’re able to protect yourself better as an adult than a child. You got to let me do my job and look after you.”
“Which means we gotta move again,” Ham exclaimed in disgust.
“Yup. Exactly that.” And with that, the conversation ended.
