Shadows of the Moon

Atticus rifled through documents he discovered while spring cleaning and was agasp that everything he'd been told was a lie. How could he not have seen it? He continued thumbing through the spiral-bound pages and newspaper articles that filled a deep rectangular tub, like seawater to a sinking ship, in total disbelief. It was all there in black and white for him to read. The one person he trusted the most had betrayed him. He snatched his mobile from the table behind him.  

"Hey, you need to get over here. There's something you need to see. I can't go into it on the phone. Just get here as soon as you can .. bye."

Shaking his head, Atticus sat on the floor surrounded by documents and papers he'd uncovered. He'd only heard about similar incidents on the news or documentaries and now he was an unsuspecting victim.  His imagination ran wild as he envisioned what would happen now that he knew the truth. Questions raced through his mind as to what steps he should take next. Was it safe to confront this person and would he endanger himself by doing so? One by one, he skim read pages, articles and emails, unable to fathom what happened and how the perpetrator could live with themselves. He felt betrayed, anger and hurt. His whole world transformed into an avalanche that just buried him alive. His life would never be the same.

Looking back, everything that happened 20 years ago suddenly made sense. He and his brother no longer saw their father or heard from him by phone, on birthdays, Christmas or Easter, while relatives on the paternal side of his family just vanished into thin air, never to be heard from again. It explains why they constantly relocated, attended so may schools and their last names were changed. Atticus recollected conversations he overheard his mother having over the phone with friends when she thought he'd fallen asleep. Most of what he could make out from eavesdropping was his mum being resentful about a situation and a person. Growing up, he remembers how unhappy she had been and how she was always temperamental. One minute she'd be cheery, the next minute she would fly off the handle. Unlike his younger brother, he was always perceptive of her irrational behaviour and always suspected she had mental issues that were never addressed when she was younger. Sad really. Now, with the information he uncovered, everything was crystal clear and there was no denying her toxicity that she'd attempted to transfer to her innocent children. Memories of conversations had, came flooding back and how at the time, it caused feelings of confusion for him and his brother. He'd grown apart from his mother as he got older, aware that something just wasn't right with her. Atticus knew she needed help but was in denial. He once suggested to her to see a psychologist but was met with fury. Everything made sense now but the one act she did that he never in a million years would expect her to carry out.

He resented her even more and wished he had a time machine to make things right so none of what he and his brother went through would've happened. The emotional abuse, the suffering in silence and the humiliation. The pair never talked about it and come to think of it, they were never encouraged to see someone to help them navigate through their feelings. They'd been living under a cloak of subterfuge, one-upmanship and alienation created by a sociopath who fed them nothing but falsehoods and now, THIS. Atticus didn't know how he was going to break the news to his younger brother who thought and still does think she could do no wrong. That's what regular brainwashing does to a person, eventually lies become the truth. Conversations with his mother were always strained but now he knew this discovery spelled the end of their relationship as mother and son for him. 

Atticus had to think on his feet what to do with this newfound knowledge. It wasn't something you could ignore and hoped it would go away. Many scenarios went through his mind, including finding his father and not to mention his entire paternal family. How would his father react? Did their father miss them? He was saddened thinking about all the missed quality time with him. He has fond memories of he and his brother happily living with their dad in the US. He would always take them out for ice-cream on Sundays, play ball with them in the park, teach them how to bake and read them stories at bedtime. He and his brother had no photos of him or anyone from their dad's side of the family.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of his front door opening and slamming shut. It was his brother whom he'd called earlier.

"Up here in the spare bedroom, Jermain!"

He raced up the stairs to meet Atticus and was stunned to see paper carpeting the bedroom floor.

"What ... what is all this and why the urgent phone call?"

"You need to sit down. You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you."

"You're scaring me bro. What is it?"

Atticus let out a deep sigh before revealing what he found.

"Mum is not the person you think she is .. she never was and never will be."

"What do you mean?"

Atticus locked eyes with him as if communicating telepathically.

"Mum is wanted for .. "

"For what? Is this one of your practical jokes?"

"No Jermain. This is serious and the evidence is all here. She's wanted for kidnapping."

He laughed, "KIDNAPPING?"

"I'm afraid so, which is why we suddenly stopped hearing from dad and the rest of his side of the family. She was on the run and remains a fugitive two decades on."

"How do you know all this. Surely it's a mistake. She's been so good to us."

"It's all here. There are newspaper clippings about how she took us from school and never brought us back to dad. Remember, she told us we were taking a long trip? That's how we wound up living here in this Australian seaside town."

Still in denial, Jermain joined his brother on the floor to see for himself what Atticus had uncovered and read some of the affidavits filed by their father and vice versa. The divorce was messy and evidently, their mother was bitter and resentful that their father had full custody of them, remarried and made a new life for himself.

"Does she know you've found her out?"

"No. I'm calling the US authorities. She needs to pay for what she did to dad, his family, us ... she destroyed people's lives and turned ours upside down then and now. Look how messed up we are with personal relationships. It's all because of her. I have no intention of speaking to that woman ever again."

"Let me talk to her, maybe she has a good explanation for what she did. You always taught me that there are three sides to a story -- yours, theirs and the truth," said Jermain.

"We were pawns in a custody battle that didn't go her way. That's why she took us from him, as revenge. She alienated us from him. You can't see that even though we grew up around her?"

"All I remember was our single mum struggling and still managing to send us to piano lessons, soccer and tennis, on top of managing to get food on the table," said Jermain.

"Yeh, she received a healthy alimony from the divorce and the rest was government payouts. She cried poor to get us on side because she loves being a victim of circumstance and was portraying dad as a villain by constantly bad-mouthing him. Dad went broke hiring private investigators to find her, not to mention barristers. He wasn't the loser she made him out to be."

The pair spent the afternoon carefully going through the documents and articles contained in the tub Atticus had found, while talking to authorities who'd made their way into the home to see the evidence for themselves.

Hours later when police had left, they switched on the TV in the living room ... 

"In breaking news -- a 50 year-old woman accused of kidnapping her two sons from the US 20 years ago, has been arrested by Federal Police..."