Page 118 of Escape Velocity
Everything else seems to happen in a blur.
His mom on the phone with the police.
Mr. Brown hightailing it out of the clearing.
Her staying with them in the clearing until the police arrive, consoling a sobbing Callum.
Mr. Brown is taken away in the back of a police car not long after.
Mason, Callum, Mrs. Fanning, and Tammy, having caught up in the clearing much later, all watch as he’s taken away.
Mason finally sees Callum relax when the police car disappears out of view. He can finally relax.
Mason and Callum are both the most honest people of the day.
Everything is out in the open.
All the lying, secrets, and hiding. It’s over.
They both finally have their voices back.
They can both finally take a breath.
35
MASON
The last dayof Thanksgiving break looms over him like a tree barren of its leaves.
Winter has finally made its home in Northwood, and snow covers every street after one wild snowstorm overnight, with the snowplows creating rolling snow hills on every lawn.
The next few days were mostly comprised of speaking with the police and Callum. Some moments with Jenna in between it all. All his focus was on Callum and making sure Mr. Brown would never get to hold anything over Callum again.
Joel was never seen in the Fanning house again, and Elena had never looked happier in the days following their breakup.
He barely saw his parents of his own volition. He would say one word phrases and only speak unless spoken to. They still hadn’t told him if things would change with his degree or if he could just keep doing what he wanted to.
All he can think about is his future. He doesn’t knowwhat it holds anymore, but what he does know is that Callum could be part of it.
The threat between them is gone, and maybe, if they try hard enough, they can still make things work.
He’s in the middle of folding all of his laundry in his bag to head back to campus when he gets a knock on his door.
He folds his Montgomery Physics Department sweater and places it carefully in his suitcase and then gets up and answers the door.
He opens it to see his mom on the other side.
He immediately tenses, clenching his fist on the doorknob.
“Can I speak with you, Mason?” she asks, her voice taut and frame unsure.
“Yeah, come in,” he says, as he holds the door open and she walks in.
Mason watches her look around the room like it’s the first time she’s ever been in it.
She looks at the posters and knickknacks on his walls. His kinematic equation posters. The telescope Callum gave him. The stacks of physics textbooks on his bookcase. His “poly-nom-nom-nom-nomials” poster.
She plays with her necklace as she looks around, and her gaze fully lands on the framed article fromThe Goldberg. The first one he wrote. He had framed it when he first came back to town, just to remind him that he was more than just one thing.
