‘Home’ was an hour’s drive away. It was as far as he had been allowed to go, because the tether of his mother’s aprons strings wouldn’t stretch any further.

He threaded his Audi through the large black gates and up a driveway straight out of nineties American Beverly hills drama, up towards his family home. The ground was covered in light coloured gravel, the meticulously kept lawn edging it perfectly. The gravel gave way to a smooth white concrete and curled around a fountain which splashed quietly, sitting opposite the four step stairway that led into the house itself.

The house had ‘new money’ written all over it. A lot of new money. It was a combination of taste, modernity and elegance. A double storied, futuristic villa, settled on the crest of a hill that overlooked a populated valley and out onto a length of white sand and grey, churning water. The building had this hilltop to itself, which meant that not only was it grand, but the grounds around it were generous too. It was his mother’s design, her dream home.

It wasn’t home to Eddie.

The only reason the summer was going to be bearable was because he would be sending most of it in the Philippines with his cousin Levi.

He let himself in, knowing that no-one was home by the lack of keys on the entryway table, and by the way their housekeeper came to greet him, offering him something to eat or drink. He shook his head and made his way to his room, which remained as it always did; immaculate, and unlived in. even as a child his bedroom had always felt like something out of a magazine. He went through a phase where he was so afraid to wrinkle the sheets, he’d slept on the floor instead.

He slept the night and most of the next morning before seeing his parents. Hi mother found him at the kitchen counter.

“Federico!” his mother had cried, all glamour and sanguine beauty. Not an eyelash out of place, looking as if she could easily attend a presidential dinner if suddenly asked. Eddie had always loved her, no matter how much it hurt to.

“Ciao, mama.” He greeted, his loved being pulled from him by her gregarious smile.

“I was at the spa with Vivienne, so I wasn’t home. But I haven’t seen you in so long! How is college? Are you eating? Did you miss me?”

“I always miss you Mamma.” Eddie replied quietly, allowing his mother to carry on with her monologue as he followed her through the house. Décor that was both familiar and casually expensive rested on the walls and pedestals, spoke through the quality of the carpet or the soundless opening of sliding doors. She led them into the guest sitting room, which had been redone, and currently held faux nouveau claw footed furniture upholstered in sepia coloured tapestry.

“So I take it classes are going well?” she said as she went to the imbuia wood liquor cabinet she’d bought on auction and had restored. He knew that she would pour them both a shot of Frangelico each. And even though he didn’t enjoy sweet drinks, he would accept it.

“Si Mamma. As well as always.”

After giving him his glass, she sat adjacent to him, folding her black clad legs elegantly and gaze don him with motherly affection. “Always, hmm?

“I’m surprised Papa didn’t tell you. He asked the same question a week ago.” Eddie said, tilting the glass until the liquid almost but not quite spilled. He heard his mother sigh and felt immediately penitent.

“Ai, Caro…” she said, her face the image of disappointment. “You have just gotten home, I don’t want to speak of these things now…”

Eddie swallowed a gup of sickly sweet liqueur. “Sorry Mamma. I just meant-“

“Since you bring it up, he did mention it me. In fact, we spoke of it together.” She went on, her tone changing into something a little more careful, eggshell cautious. “He…Eddie, I didn’t know you had heard us. That night.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, feeling suddenly prickly, but wishing he had stayed in safer conversational waters.

“He said those things a long time ago.”

“They are still true though, aren’t they?”

She was quiet for a time, then;

“He doesn’t know what to do about your…condition[1] .”

His condition. After so long, it shouldn’t still hurt.

“He does love you, carino. We both do. We only wants what is best for you.”

Eddie only nodded, preferring not to speak. 2 weeks, just weeks. Then Philippines.

“And I’m afraid he will not let it rest, the subject of your education. He is concerned you are wasting yourself there. That you have no purpose.” She went on, switching her tone to something less tender.

This again. Eddie pulled his gaze back to meet his mother’s. “I enjoy my studies.”

“But you are like a kite without string, flying about everywhere. He wants you to ground yourself. He is considering taking you out of college, and perhaps finding you work within the company.”

Eddie could not think of a worse kind of purgatory. He leaned forward, chuckling at how ridiculous the notion was. “But I’ve already enrolled in my courses.”

His mama shook her dark, glossy head, and emphasised her words with hands gestures. “It does not matter. You have been too flighty for too long. You need to apply yourself.”

Eddie looked at her as if he could somehow make her understand all the swirling thoughts in his head. But his parents had obviously been talking.

Unless he gave her a reason….

“Mama, I am. That is, I am involved in a new project.”

His mother gave him a fond, if disbelieving, look. “Rico, you always are.”

Eddie shook his head at her. “It involves changing school regulations, and I have been asked personally by the school staff to be part of the steering of it.” It wasn’t strictly the truth, but close enough.

Now honestly surprised, she said; “You are? They have? What is this project?”

He paused for a moment, recalling his mother’s distaste for things that were out of the perfect clean narrative of her life, but he had to make this part sincere. “It’s an on campus rape-crisis centre.”

This time the line between her brows really threatened to appear. “A what?”

“A crisis and trauma centre for victims of on-campus sexual assault and abuse.” Eddie was astonished how the world rolled off his tongue. Some of the Richards’ prattling must have sunk in. “The systems currently in place are useless. There are two staff members who are spearheading the project and they asked me personally to help it get off the ground. I can’t leave now that I’ve given them my word.”

He threw that in at the last, because he knew how much weight his father put on people's’ promises. His mother seemed slightly appeased, though still guarded. “Your father will want to have the details of these teachers.”

“If you insist, Mamma. But I promise it’s true.”

His mama looked slightly abashed at that. “Of course it is. I do not think you are a liar.” She cleared her throat delicately. “And I suppose…such a thing would be important to you.”

Eddie hated the way his mother made such a grand assumption without even asking him, but he let her believe it. It was easier than contradiction. Instead, he looked at her with intense hope. “So you will speak to Papa?”

She patted his leg then. “I will.”

Eddie almost wilted in relief. “Grazie Mamma.’’

-8-

Later that night, Eddie begrudgingly pulled his phone out and typed.

Eddie: alright. Ill join your little revolution. DON’T ASK.

After a few minutes;

Madam: oh my, what changed your tune?

Eddie: what did I just say?

He fell backwards on the pristine made bed, arms over his eyes.

Home is where the scars from our childhood are the easiest to see.