No Place for My Slippers or Me - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Standing on the steps, I looked down at Luna. She was thinner than before. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her lips were dry and peeling, like she hadn't slept properly in days. I asked, "How did you find this place?" "T looked it up on the school's website. I waited outside for six hours." Luna sniffled, then held up a white plastic bag. "Mom asked me to bring this to you. I didn't take it. Luna opened the bag and pulled out three pairs of slippers-gray, black, and navy. The tags were still on.

"She didn't know what color you liked, so she bought all three." Ijust looked at them. Luna started crying quietly. Her nose was so stuffed up that she could barely speak. "Leon, the room's all cleared out now. I've moved all my things. Mom bought new sheets and a comforter, and even got one of those memory foam pillows. Dad cleared out a whole compartment in the shoe cabinet. "Mom goes into your room and just sits there for a long time every day." She wiped her face with her sleeve before pulling an envelope from her pocket. " Here's 800 dollars.

I should've paid you back a long time ago." I laughed quietly. Instead of taking the envelope, I took out a pair of cotton slippers from my backpack's side pocket. The soles had been worn pale, and the fabric was starting to pill, but they were still clean. They were the same pair I'd bought at the supermarket two years ago. They'd followed me from this city to Blackrock Flats, from a dormitory in sub-freezing temperatures to the temporary prefab buildings beside the test stand. I turned the slippers over in my hands. "No need. I've got my own." Luna froze. looked at her calmly.

"Luna, I don't hate you guys. I really don't." Luna's voice trembled. "Then can you visit us at home? Just once. Mom knows she was wrong. She's been crying every day-" I interrupted, "I know. This isn't something an apology can make me go back to. I spent ten years in that house waiting -waiting for a place to put my slippers, waiting for someone to remember that I'm allergic to peanuts, and waiting for someone to ask when I was coming home. But none of it ever happened." Wind swept between the buildings, rustling the leaves on the trees. "T'm not waiting anymore.

I have my own place and my own shoe cabinet now. My slippers won't be given to someone else to wear." Luna was crying so hard that she could barely get the words out. Her final question came in broken, halting breaths. "Then... Are we still family?" I gave her a long look. The streetlights came on, casting a warm orange glow between us. "You've always been family." Luna's expression stiffened. She understood what I meant. They were a family, but I wasn't a part of it. I never was. I patted her on the shoulder. My hand lingered there for two seconds before I let go. "Go home.