Always Been You

Katherine shook her head. They could talk about that later. “Tim isn’t home yet, Jensen” she said. “I have been trying to reach him but I can’t get through to him. I’m really getting worried here.”

Katherine was staring at panic as lots of thoughts were going on in her head. What if something bad had happened to him? What if someone grabbed him? He didn’t have his car. This was all her fault.

“What?” Jensen said. “He’s not home by this time?”

“Yes” Katherine said, almost screaming with fear.

“Alright baby,” Jensen said. “Don’t panic. I will be home soon okay? We will figure this out. Try not to overreact”

“Okay” Katherine said, trying to calm herself down.

————————

By the time Jensen got home Katherine was totally loosing it.

“Is he home?” Jensen asked as soon as he got into the house. Katherine was pacing the house, unable to sit down, unable to think straight.

“No he is not home obviously” she snapped at him. “I have called everyone. No has seen him. I have called Claire, I called Dillon and Jon. I even called mom. He is not with them. Jensen I took his car keys today. What if something happened to him? It’s all my fault. Look, it’s starting to rain and he is not here. Oh by God… I can’t.. I can’t”

Katherine broke down, unable to say anything else, and Jensen pulled her into his arms.

“It’s alright, Kat” he said, trying to reassure her and trying not to panic as well. “I’m sure he is fine. But just to be safe I’m going to call the police so they can-”

The sound of the back door opening made him stop talking and they both watched in surprise as Tim walked into the house, all wet from head to toe.

Katherine forgot all about her fear and ran towards him. She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

“Mom” Tim protested. “Mom, you are choking me”

Katherine released him, but she held onto his shoulder. “Are you okay?” she asked and he nodded. “Where the hell have you been? I have been calling you. What the hell happened to your phone?”

“It died,” Tim said.

“It died?” Jensen asked as he moved closer. “And you couldn’t find a way to call home and let us know that you are okay? You couldn’t charge your phone so we could reach you? Do you have any idea how worried we have been?”

Tim shrugged. “Well, you didn’t have to be worried,” he said. “I’m fine, ain’t I?” Then he began to walk out of the living room.

“Don’t you dare take another step, young man” Jensen thundered. “Don’t you dare walk away from us. Now get back here”

Tim frowned, but he did as he was told.

“Now tell us where the hell you have been and why you are coming home so late” Jensen said. “And I want the truth”

Tim rolled his eyes, looking exasperated. “I was at a friend’s place… I kinda lost track of time”

“A friend’s place?” Katherine repeated, her anger returning now that she saw that he was okay. “How could you be at a friend’s place when I told you that you are grounded? I told you this morning that you had to go from school to practice and back home”

“Yeah I know what you said” Tim replied carelessly. “And maybe I would have been able to get home sooner if you hadn’t taken away my car”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Katherine moved towards him angrily and Jensen held her back. “Hey” he said to Tim. “Don’t you talk back to your mother that way. You do not get to leave this house and come home whenever you want”

“And why can’t I?” Tim snapped at Jensen. “You do it all the time. You are hardly home these days. You don’t even eat at home anymore. And now when I do it, it’s such a bad thing. You know, maybe before you start to give me any advice, you should….”

“Alright that’s it” Katherine shouted and Tim shut up. “You know you are getting way out of line Tim. I don’t know what you are trying to prove here but I have had it with you. Your acting out doesn’t change anything. Now that I see that you are okay, You are still grounded. You still won’t have your car back, and now I’m taking away more stuff, like you videos games and stuff… And oh guess what? Your phone too… Hand it over ”

“What?” Tim yelled.

“Yeah that’s right,” Katherine said. “I have had enough. You decided not to call today because you wanted to act out. You decided to stay out late. So you are going to face the consequences. You obviously don’t need your phone then if you won’t call us to tell us where you are. And just so you know, your punishment will only get worse as long as you continue to misbehave. Now give it to me “