Glimpse: The Broken by Nicholas Martellacci (book club recommendations txt) 📕

the voice of Luna Lauriston. He was crazy about this girl, with her hair like the night sky, amber eyes that to this day were like gateways directly into her soul, and a smile that could light up any room she entered, she was the ideal picture of all things of beauty. Of course right now while asking this question, she wasn't smiling at all, not to mention all those things were only things Maxwell wished he could tell her. She looked dumbfounded as she gazed upon Maxwell’s eye.

 

“Nothing Luna I am fin-” started Maxwell. “Got his lights knocked out by Dante,” interrupted Jaxon. “Thanks for clarifying jackass,” Luna said, shoving Jaxon back down onto the couch, meaning no ill will to the clumsy oaf. “Doesn't anybody know good humor these days,” asked Jaxon. Luna touched Maxwell's cheek under his bandaged eye, causing a jolt of pain through it and a pleasurable tingle to go up his spine at the same time, it was a weird feeling. Maxwell looked away as he blushed from her touch. The girl was perfect.

 

“I just came from there actually, while I was looking for you,” Luna exclaimed. “Your mom was acting really strange, real… fidgety like. She told me I should try Jaxon's place… and lo and behold you’re over here on another date with him,” Luna joked warmly, her hand finally letting go of his face. Maxwell’s body shivered with displeasure and he felt the urge to put her hand back to his sking again, to feel her warm touch once more. “I am right here!” shouted Faelynn from the kitchen.” She came back into the room with an ice pack and a cigar, handing both to Maxwell. He lit the cigar, and put the ice pack to his eye, thanking Faelynn as he did so. He walked to the fridge and cracked open an apple ale. Sipping the sweet tangy fizz of the drink and filling his mouth with the thick plumage of smoke kept his nerves at ease, what with the brawl that he just got out of… and of course Luna’s presence in the room.

 

“I know Faelynn,” giggled Luna, “but you know how these guy's are, Maxwell came first.” “Yeah, tell me about it, thick as thieves these two,” responded Faelynn. “Faelynn you won't believe who I ran into the other day,” Luna began saying as the two stood up and crossed the room to enter the kitchen. “Oh and Maxwell I almost forgot!” She shrilled, running back to the boy smoking his cigar. “Your mom said something weird came for you in the mail,” Luna exclaimed. “So, I got mail? What's so weird about that, I am a popular guy,” smirked Maxwell jokingly.

 

“The package looked really old, and it has no return address,” stated Luna matter of factly. “I left it on the bed in your old room.” Maxwell nodded, “That is really weird, I wonder what it could be,” he bemused. Just having recently moved from his childhood home into his own apartment, he still had most of his belongings and was receiving most of his mail at the Amelletti house. “Alright guys well I better go figure out what's going on with Ma,” Maxwell admitted. “And check out my secret admirer's package of course. I'll catch ya later Luna. And Faelynn, don't let Jaxon knock you up while I am gone,” Maxwell shouted as he was half way out the door, laughing loudly. The response from Jaxon being a boot thrown at the door as Maxwell hastily shut it behind himself.

 

It was a long ride home, longer than usual as Maxwell had to squint most of the way with the sun shining off the snow. This damned bandage on his face messing with his depth perception didn’t help either. When he walked in the door he didn't see anyone, which was odd for the Amelletti house. He still wasn’t used to it being so quiet these days since he and his brother moved out… and his dad’s passing. Not even Dante was passed out on the couch like after his usual benders. “Mom!” shouted Maxwell, “You home? I came here earlier and Dante was here binge drinking as usual but I couldn't find you!”

 

“I am in the bathroom sweetheart! Just got home from work,” replied Lucille with a shaky voice from the bathroom. “And don't scare me like that honey! I told you I have been hearing weird things at night outside your old bedroom window. Last thing I want is a burglar breaking in!” Maxwell equated this stress to her having been up for over thirty hours, and of course her working her two jobs nowadays. “Sorry, Ma!” the son yelled in reply. Maxwell entered his old room, causing a wave of nostalgia to flood over him instantly. From the old video games scoured across the room that he and his brother used to play until it was almost light outside, to the picture of the trip the family took to the Grand Canyon when the boys were still young and in school, everything had a story.

 

Maxwell studied the picture intently, staring at the smile that he had across his face. THAT was happiness. The shear adventure and whimsy of it all, leaving to go off on a trip without a care in the world. Antonio, Maxwell's brother, was his adoptive parent's Lucille and Giovanni’s real child by birth. Anyone could tell that he was theirs’, his features a mirror image of their own. This never stopped them from getting along growing up however. Things only became weird when Antonio graduated and went to the military, and Maxwell had two years left to go with just him and his adoptive parents in the house.

 

They always tried their best to make things feel the same for he and his brother, but he always felt as if something was missing. He could never blame them for not trying, but at times it felt as if he didn't belong here, as if there was another calling for him elsewhere. He shrugged, placing the picture back on the table, deep in his thoughts once again. Maxwell supposed all adopted kids felt that way. He strode across the room and sat on the bed, examining the package before him. Luna hadn't been kidding, there was no label on it whatsoever, just his name emboldened on the front. “Maxwell Amelletti.” Maxwell felt the box, it felt light for its size. He shook it slightly, feeling something smack around on the inside. Maxwell opened the box, and was first greeted by a note.

 

To Maxwell,

 

 

I am not sure when you will receive this, but as you read this note, my death has already taken place. I hope you know that everything I have done, I have done to protect you. I can only hope that perhaps now you are now old enough to understand, and may even have something you will want to protect as well. There is so much you have yet to learn, and I wish I could have been the one to teach you. As it stands, I believe that you are better off learning these things of your own volition, and using the things you learn along the way to help you decide who you are and what you want to be. As is with many things in this life, the burden lies not upon the shoulder’s of others, but of your own to sculpt your destiny.

 

 

 

Never lose sight of who you are, or where you came from… but keep an open mind my dear son. As this box may very well mark the ending of my life, it is only the beginning of yours.

 

 

-L-

 

 

 

Maxwell had never been more confused in his life. His mother strode into the room.

“Mom is this some kind of sick joke, why are you signing a package for me and saying you are dead!?” Maxwell half asked, half scolded. Maxwell’s mother looked at the boy like he had gone mad. “I have no idea what you are talking about hon,” his mother replied. “You’re telling me you aren’t L?” Maxwell asked his mother, all too well aware her first name was Lucille. She shook her head. “Is that the package you got? What is it?”

 

“I don't know,” exclaimed Maxwell. He dug through the cotton in the box, and rested his hand on something smooth on its front, with a sharp point on the bottom. He grabbed hold of it, and pulled his hand out of the box, now holding a shard of what looked to be a crystal made of a polished glass. It’s design was unlike any Maxwell had ever seen. It was beautiful, with colors of blue and red of every shade one could imagine, swirling around each other in an endless vortex. It was connected to a thick, shining, sterling silver chain, changing the piece into a necklace.

 

 

Maxwell placed the necklace around his neck, allowing it to rest on his chest. It gave him a strange feeling pressed against him. Firstly, it was much heavier than it looked. Furthermore, when he touched with his hands, it gave him a slight burning sensation, confusing his nerve endings. It was as if his skin couldn't decide if it was hot or if it was cold. “Well at least with some bling Luna might finally notice ya!” Lucille cheered. “Thanks for the words of inspiration Ma,” chuckled Maxwell. Not everyone's parents decide who they marry like you and dad.” Even though it was true that they were an arranged marriage, he had never seen two people in love like his mom and dad were. They completed each others sentences.

 

Lucille sighed, “I miss him too Maxwell. But give Dante a chance, he isn’t as bad as you make him out to be. Maxwell looked skeptically to his mother, then rolled his yes. Deep down he knew that Dante was only there for the financial aspect, and nothing more, regardless of what his mother says. To this day he still didn’t know what his mother saw in the man.

 

“It is weird that you get to receive a gift when it is MY birthday after all, yours isn't for a couple days,” Lucille commented in attempt to change the subject. Maxwell had almost forgotten, today was his mother’s birthday. “Yeah fifty-six going on thirty–five, eh ma?” He laughed. She blushed and looked away. Though Maxwell said that to his mother, her age was certainly apparent to him. When did she get those wrinkles, and her hair start graying in such a way, Maxwell thought to himself. These things he had never noticed just a year ago when his dad was still alive. She never had this dark circle under her… eye?

 

What the hell, Maxwell thought to himself. He put his hand to his mother’s face and wiped, pulling with the movement a smear of make up over his thumb. A tear rolled down his mothers face carrying with it even more of the concealer. Maxwell pulled his sleeve over his hand and wiped the side of his mothers face, wiping away a thick glaze of cover up she had been wearing. As his hands moved across the woman’s face, it revealed the large blue and yellow stain of a bruise and a black eye. “It's not what it looks like!” Lucille shouted. “I had an accident at work and dropped a box from the supply closet on my fa-…”

 

 

But it was too late. Maxwell heard none of her explanation as he was already storming out of the room, down onto the porch, and to his car. Dante hit his mother, the sweetest woman he had ever known. ON. HER. BIRTHDAY. Two things were apparent at this point. First of all, this explained why his mother was acting so strange earlier from what Luna said, why she was in the bathroom for so long, and why Dante was nowhere to be seen. But one other thing was apparent at