“You can’t spend your entire life being couped up in this house of yours,” Jane lectured as she watched her son play with Uriel. “And just have that stupid bird as your company!”

Ever since Riley’s death, he had grown attached to Uriel and took great good care of him. Uriel was the reminiscent memory of Riley’s presence and he wanted to hang on to that for as long as he could. He took him out of his cage as he let Uriel sit on his left pointer finger while he stroked his feather in a downward direction.

“Nick, are you listening to me?” Jane said, somewhat irritated that her son has managed to build a wall around him. “Riley’s gone and you need to accept that and moved on”

“You like that idea don’t you?” he said coldly without giving his mother a single glance.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I bet you danced and pranced around so happily when you found out Riley was dead”

“I will not be spoken in this kind of tone, young man!”

Nick quickly got up from where he was seated and walked back to Uriel’s cage and placed him gently back in there and closed the cage and turned to his mother. “Just go away and leave me alone!”

“Nickolas, you come back here this instant!” she demanded

“Has it ever crossed your mind that I’m no longer a little kid that you can order around? Riley’s gone, that’s what you wanted, you got it now just get the hell out of my house and leave me alone! Just…just get out of my life.” with those harsh words, he walked out on his own mother and up to his room, shutting the entire world.

Jane found herself dumbfounded from the words that escaped the mouth of a son she once could control. The sudden firmness of her hand diminished and her domination was nothing but a fainted memory, just like the memory of Riley’s presence.