[ u n m a t c h e d j i g s a w p i e c e ]

♥ gabriel ♥

"MICHAEL! YOU TOLD me that you would keep an eye on the window!" My mother explained with a slight stutter in her voice, eyes transfixed on me as if trying to take me in as efficiently as possible. She quickly discarded the shell necklace on the oak side table by the entrance.

Smiling tautly in disdain and coldness evident in every inch of my face, I glanced at the house in the background.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, Mum."

Not much had changed in close to two years. The walls were still a disgruntled luminous orange due to my mother's love for bright colours whilst the sofas embodied a goblin green that clashed with every corner of the house as it crudely battled for supremacy.

It was a mess.

A complete mess but that wasn't anything different from normal. In the time that I had been gone, the already full to the brim house seemed to have magically been able to collect more objects thanks to my mother's love for trinkets. That alongside the availability to buy almost everything and anything in Brighton.

The already small house seemed to have shrunk even further and I found myself towering over most things that had been randomly pressed into position. We all knew that the three of our personalities were way too large to fit in here without making the ceiling crumble down.

"O-Oh wait honey, we can explain. Can't we, Michael?"

There was a little window, directly opposite the front door, which I was standing at, and from the distance, if one squinted, you could make out a huge expanse of blue that powerfully swept the ground as if scooping up the smaller waves with one scoop of its arm. It felt as if it has just pushed a small ripple of reassurance in my direction.

One thing hasn't changed.

My eyes moved back to the woman in front of me. I sucked in my full lower lip for two seconds, crushing it between my two teeth to control the fire that was slowly but surely escalating within me. Tilting my head diagonally towards the group, I finally let out a sound of disbelief and locked eyes with a grey pair that were identical to mine.

"Dad is in hospital... I don't know what's going on," I recited between gritted teeth, blood thumping in my ears.

I dropped the bag that I had swung over my shoulder to the floor, the sound of its thump the only oscillation filling the devoid room. My eyes narrowed into razors as I surveyed the two of them with scorn, awaiting an explanation.

"Technically that wasn't a lie because Michael had a regular appointment today," she started shakily before chuckling weakly as if trying to get me to laugh. "...and of course they were using so many scientific heart-related words that half the time I didn't understand what they were talking about, wasn't it Michael?"

My father didn't respond. Again. If there was one thing I could vouch on, it was that my mother and father were as tight as two fingers crossed together. His attitude was completely down to my presence but frankly, I didn't give a damn.

Another wave of emotion encapsulated me and I quickly pursed my lips, tensing to stop myself from glaring at Mum with such an intensity that I didn't think she would be able to muster.

I was only controlling myself right now because it was my mother I was speaking to. Although she was incredibly stupid sometimes, I did respect her.

If it had been my father, an explosion of words, swearing and most likely physical things would certainly have broken out by now. Part of me was glad that he was still sitting there and not paying attention to my existence. I wasn't in the mood for an argument with him.

Eating a packet of ready salted crisp, his heavy eye contact never broke wit the screen, brown eyes locked with the images of people participating on a game show. Similar to my mother, he also had glasses but with a thinner frame, painted a dull colour that matched his personality.

"Mum, you don't understand," I said shortly exhaling sharply, trying not to let my vexation show. "I just walked out halfway through a job, got bloody blacklisted by a multi-million company for rushing out here - a brand I was supposed to walk for next month, but I guess that's not going to happen now because of you - and had a damn two-hour journey for this?"

My words were sharp and curt, getting straight to the point and cutting through all those preliminaries.

What was the point beating around the bush?

The world would be a lot more of a frank and faster place if people got to the point as opposed to playing mind games.

"Oh wow! You've got a perm, son. It looks lovely!"

Her shaggy chestnut eyebrows rose in approval as she thought out loud, not listening to a single word I had just said. Communication was completely redundant in this house, a big blur that was slowly fading out into nothingness and lying broken in its palms were the relationships I had with both of my parents, crushed to powder due to its heavy hands. I was an unmatched jigsaw piece that no longer fit into the puzzle.

Is that all she damn-well got from that?

I pursed my lips, searching her face with inspection to see if she was deliberately trying to piss me off further. If that was her aim, then she was successful. Her brown hair, a lighter colour than mine, dangled until her shoulders in goldilocks style ringlets and a wide frame of glasses balanced upon her nose.

Laughing shortly in disbelief, I scowled at her and shook my head. "Don't you get how important this would have been to me-"

I clenched my hand stopping myself from continuing. "Forget it, you won't understand. You didn't then and clearly, you still don't," I responded, glancing at my father to see if he has broken out of his trance. He had not.

Mum's slate-grey eyes flickered downwards in slight shame, drawing my attention to the V-neck sleeve top that she was wearing, even though it was only 9 degrees. She never got cold.

It wasn't at all the fact that I'd lost out of a lot of money that irked me. It was more the fact they had lied without even considering the consequences of their action. Helena and Michael Reid never thought.

The Old Gabriel Reid didn't either. He acted without an analysis which led to his downfall.

"I haven't got time for this," I said harshly more to myself, before picking up my bag and starting to turn around.

Just as I went to leave, I bumped into somebody from behind me.

That someone burst into the house, stating in a strong voice that wasn't loud but held an impressive amount of power.

"Excuse me. Why on earth would you not have the decency to tell me, Helena, if my son is- oh." I realised that I had been pushed back in the house and was now standing in the middle of the oddly coloured living room.

The elderly woman was dressed so well and was so put together that it offset her age. A pearl necklace sat perched on her neck whilst her grey hair was pulled back into a bun that drew all attention to her sharp nose; usually, a pair of reading glasses would be on there but currently, they were dangling around her neck.

"What is going on? I thought you were in a hospital," Nanna questioned, looking at my mother in contempt.

It seemed like the sight of Nanna had reinvigorated life into my father for he stood up from the sofa startled and blinked at her a few times, his bulky build facing us. "M-Mother, what are you doing here?"

Folding my arms, I watched the scene in front of me unfold when Nanna gave them both a pointed look. Mum was agitatedly fiddling with her hands, not meeting the eyes of the woman before her.

"I-I didn't think Gabriel would tell Elizabeth. You told me, Michael, that they didn't talk that much anymore," Mum said quickly as if trying to think of a way out.

Finally, he responded but only in four words that held no significance. "I did say that."

My jaw tensed at his words, not because they were true. It was more because it made Dad made it seem like he was involved in my life. That was a complete lie considering we never acknowledged each other since he there me out when I needed his help. My lip moved as if mere inches away from calling him out.

"We don't," I said, drawing three pairs of eyes towards me and trying to control my temper. "Nanna just happened to phone me and I just happened to pick up and we spoke for the first time in a month."

"Oh," Mum breathed out.

Nanna smiled at me in her usual warm way although there was a hint of worry in it. "Hello, Gabriel dear."

I nodded at her, my tense face relaxing a little.

Within a split second, Nanna seemed to snap back into her anger, staring at the pair of them. "So you are telling me that this is some joke?"

The silence gave her an answer and she looked at them both incredulously. "What would-"

My father interrupted, his brisque and dull voice perpetuating through the room. "It was Helena's idea. I-"

"Do not interrupt me when I am talking, Michael," she cut in sharply. My eyebrows would have raised infinitesimally at her tone had I not had control over my composure.

"Are you a child?" she questioned sternly, more towards my mother at this stage. "I'd have hoped you'd grown out of this infant like immature behaviour at this grand age. Lying about your husband being ill?"

Mum looked down a little. It seemed as if Nanna was having none of it. "There is absolutely nothing funny about that and hospitalisation is not something to be joked about."

A minute of straight-spined silence passed before Nanna broke it.

"Anyway," Nanna announced in a different tone. "This is probably the what- the tenth time I've visited your home. Are you not going to invite me in?" There was not a hint of superiority in Nanna's voice despite the fact the house was smattered and messier than her huge house in London. After spending a while living with Nanna, I knew she was joking through the trace of humour in the voice.

Mum didn't.

She failed to recognise it and quickly ushered Nanna in with embarrassment and closed the front door.

There was no way I was going to get caught up in this family business.

I had only been here ten minutes and I had already had enough. For some reason I had assumed that being blacklisted was going to be the worst part of the day. Not involving myself in the conversation, I walked towards the front door.

"Gabriel, where are you going?" From the small mirror by the door, I could see dark blonde, almost brown, lightened curls framed my Mum's round face as her silver eyes met mine.

With my back still to her, I spoke bluntly. "Back home."

I heard her gasp as if she hadn't expected that response and held back an eye roll. "But you only just got here? And- And this is your home."

At times like this, I struggled to understand how some people were so oblivious. The word home has been eradicated into dust a few years ago, the very moment I realised that they were never there when I needed them.

What was the point having someone who said you could lean on them but vanished when you called out to them?

I didn't answer and turned around. looking at her square in the eye. "Do you really want to do this right now?"

There was a flame of tentativeness in the corner of her gaze yet with a blink, it disappeared. She fell short of words, not knowing what to say.

"Just stay, Gabriel. It took us both a long time to get here. There's no point going all the way back today," a third voice interjected, one that I hadn't realised was still here. Nanna stood in her formal navy dress on the other side of the room.

I oddly found myself faltering at her words and soft eyes and I remembered that this was the exact reason I'd moved out.

"Fine. I'll be in my room."

In the tense silence, I slipped my shoes off and walked up the stairs having to duck my head a little to pass through the frame and feeling an odd emotion flowing through me at how I could have sworn the door frame had been higher up. I vaguely heard my mother call out that she would call me down when dinner was ready.

Nothing had changed in my room. How ironic. The walls were still a sky blue reflective of the waves that I could see from my window. It was rather small and for a moment, I stood there feeling as if I was in the room of another person. Things were relatively tidy - the opposite of how I was used to seeing this room. Since I was a boy, I'd always found peace in it's messiness but right now, its immaculateness was the only thing keeping me upright.

There were a few posters stuck with blu-tac on the wall of some rap, grime and RnB artists as well as an old calendar full of girls hanging from the notice board.

Pulling at the third draw from the set of drawers, I saw that it was empty. Mum had clearly discovered and discarded of my alcohol set. Taking a few steps forward, I bended down and looked under my bed. A small box hidden at the side of the brown crates caught my eye. Reaching for it, I sat down on the bed and opened it. They had clearly missed the boxes of cigarettes.

After opening the window, I climbed out slightly so that I was sitting on the ledge with my long legs dangling over the edge and lit it, taking a long drag. A few minutes later, I felt a lot more at ease at being back and everything I looked at felt a lot less triggered. It did help. But it wasn't enough.

Feeling agitated, I went to my phone and pressed ring before I talked myself out of it.

She answered before the second ring and I could tell there was an element of surprise in her voice. It quickly became overcome by a thick desire. "Gabriel?"

I could see stars in my eyes and I rubbed them in an attempt to regain focus. "Talk. Talk to me."

There was a pause as I heard Talisa try to catch up with me train of though. "About what?"

"About anything, dammit. Just talk," I muttered loudly in frustration, a razor sharpness in my voice. Talisa was more than eager to please and began rattling on about the upcoming Spring Ball, talking about dresses and outfits and limos to get there.

Pressing my eyes shut, I let the sound of her breathy, modulated voice drift into a comforting white noise that seemed to stop my mind from running at a thousand miles per hour.

Ahh, so we first met Gabriel's parents! What do you think of them and his odd little home, haha?

Also just wanted to say, a lot of characters are struggling at the moment (you'll see in other chapters) so try to understand things from all of their individual perspectives, even though that may be difficult. Remember that even though Louisa is thankfully in a better place and state of mind, not everyone else is.

Thanks for reading!

♥ 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫! ♥