Chapter One

    The silence was broken by a knock on the door. He could remember his mother dusting her flour covered hands on her apron, and rushed to the six foot tall slab of wood to see who could possibly be knocking on our door at such an hour. His mother was a short, perfectly curved woman with lush, curly, vivid red locks, and the most beautiful, wide blue eyes. Her skin was pale as freshly fallen snow, her cheeks dotted with light brown freckles. He could understand why his father loved her so much. She was beautiful, but only to them.

His father, unlike his mother who stayed home all day to take care of him, was hardly ever home. He was a doctor that worked at least ten to fifteen hours a day, performing surgeries and saving lives. At least, that’s what his mother told him. As he heard the latch being undone, he peeked around the corner, curious as to who it could be. The boy watched as a man in a military uniform walked in, saluting her in an official way.

He loved to his mother, tugging her skirt gently. “Mama? Who is this man?” as he looked up at the man, he took in his features. He looked quite a bit like his father. Dark hair, light eyes, tall and muscular, fair skinned, and he realised quite quickly that he recognised this man, but only faintly.

His mother smiled softly at him, brushing back his dark brown hair and sighing. “This man is your uncle Cornelius, the name that you’re named after.” she said and looked at the man who was apparently his uncle. The man cleared his throat awkwardly. “Mariette, may I speak with you privately?” he inquired, seeming a bit concerned about something.

His mother seemed to hesitate before she nodded. “Of course. Corey, go to your room.” she requested, moving her hand from his head and sighing softly. Despite his father being a doctor, their little apartment wasn't very large. It was home to many cracks in the walls and creaky floor boards, a upstairs neighbour that stomped around his flat like an elephant, and neighbours on either side with seven screaming children for each apartment.

His room didn't have walls, it was just a little section of the den with old, off-white and stained sheets hung on a rope that had been nailed into the wall. It had a mattress with broken springs, a pillow that had lost three fourths of it’s feathers, and a brown potato sack blanket covered in holes. He never complained, since he knew that if he looked out the window, he would see a bench. On that bench would be a old man and a child, the man sleeping on top of the bench, and the little girl sleeping underneath the old bench on a pile of soggy newspapers.

To them, just having a mattress would be a luxury that they would never be able to afford. so , he never complained about how his back ached or how he always woke up with a stiff neck.

He could hear his mother and uncle mumbling in the kitchen, but he couldn't make out any words except “Robert”. Robert was his father, the tall and handsome man that was never around anymore. He decided that maybe he should go to bed, let them talk about whatever it was they needed to talk about, so he slowly lay down, sighing softly.

Maybe he wouldn't wonder if his father would actually come home that night.

― ☾ ー
As the years passed, he still didn't see his father. His mother made up excuses about why he wasn't there. “Oh, sweetheart, he’s just working late.” or “He’s out having a drink with his doctor friends is all” were the most common of the millions upon millions of different excuses. It wasn’t until his mother was on her deathbed that the truth was revealed to him.

“Cory, darling, come to mama.” she murmured, holding a hand out to him as she lay in the hospital bed, still as a rock. He hadn’t seen his father once at the hospital, and this was where he worked. He moved to his mother’s side, trying to hide the slight quiver in his bottom lip. His eyes stung with tears, and Cornelius couldn’t form words to say anything to her.

He took a few moments, closing his eyes and leaning down to place a kiss on her head. “Mum? Why isn’t dad here? You’d think that he would be here when his wife was ill..” he uttered quietly. She took a deep breath and shook her head. “You sweet boy.. I think it’s about time i tell you the truth about your father.”

Cornelius fell silent as his mother spoke those words. The truth? What could she mean by ‘the truth’? He took her hand gently, looking her in the eyes and frowning poutedly.

“Your father was never a doctor. That’s why we’ve never lived in luxury or had enough money to get you what you wanted on your birthday.. In fact, your father spent all of our life saving to build a submergible ship to find some made up city he fabricated in his head with a few inventor buddies of him. Never be like your father boy, or so help me, i will come back to haunt you.” she threatened, her gaunt face holding a deadpan expression.