There was something sad about having a quiet home. There were no longer loud giggles of excitement or a small voice calling for dad. Teenagers were more solitary and didn’t need as much attention anymore. This also meant that Kyle was growing up.

One thing I didn’t really expect was that conversations were going to be near nonexistent between the two of us. He was only thirteen but he’s already become so detached from me. Mr. Matthews, on the other hand, only grew closer to Kyle.

I found Mr. Matthews and Kyle at the dinner table, hovering over it while doing some sort of activity. As I got closer, I recognized that it was the puzzle that Caleb made. There were some pieces scattered around but two-thirds of them were finished.

“Hey, you.”

Mr. Matthews’ voice called out to me and I was caught slightly off guard.

“Where did you hide the rest of the pieces?”

“The rest?” I got closer to the table to finally see what it was. The puzzle was half completed with my eyes and cheeks in view but the lower half of my face was still missing. It was odd seeing the artwork without the smile but I haven’t seen it taken apart and put together like an actual puzzle before.

I could feel my hands go cold while I took a long look at it.

“Hello? Did the cat get your tongue?” Mr. Matthews raised an eyebrow at me expectedly and I blinked. Kyle kept quiet throughout the interaction, probably not wanting to get in between me and Mr. Matthews.

“Yeah, sorry. I… don’t know where the rest of the pieces are exactly.”

“I call bull.” Mr. Matthews said it with such confidence that I took a double-take. “I found a bunch of these pieces hiding in my stuff. If this is your way of messing with me, then I’m just going to put the puzzle together.”

“What?”

“It’s a little irritating but putting together a puzzle is better than sitting at home alone.”

“Kyle is with you, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the point. The rest is missing.”

“Well, it’s been years since we had that puzzle. Pieces are bound to go missing especially with moving so often and the rest.” I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly.

“Where did you even get this puzzle anyways?” He said gruffly.

I stiffened. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“I asked you, didn’t I?” He remarked as if I were dumb.

“Caleb painted it.”

The room became silent and I could feel the awkward tension fall over the three of us like a heavy blanket. Mr. Matthews’ mouth turned into a flight frown as he stared at the puzzle. I could even see he was gently rubbing a puzzle piece between two fingers as if he was remembering something.

I went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of juice and started to walk in the direction towards my room.

“Well, you two have fun.” I gave a weak smile. “I’ll be getting ready for work this evening. There’s some leftover casserole in the fridge, let me know if you need anything else.”

“Okay,” Kyle called out while Mr. Matthews waved his hand dismissively.