Chapter Text
Vanessa was now walking down the stairs, slowly even, she really needed time to think about how she could approach something as brutal as their son spoke about.
now Vanessa had to talk to his parents about it.
Even though she was a very competent psychologist, it was never easy to diagnose her patients with their parents;
especially Anthony's, who is around 14 years old and barely knows how to read.
Even she is curious to know how they didn't notice this?!
like, his reading is impaired, his handwriting is impaired, and he clearly shows signs of hyperactivity, how the hell did they not notice that?!
Of course they had another son, but did they pay so much attention to her that they couldn't realize that their son had serious problems at school?
Vanessa's biggest fear is that one day she will be a mother and end up taking better care of her children, others than hers, because bad people are not always bad people.
and she believes that this applies in their case, they appear to be very kind people but they are negligent with their son, and this news will probably cause a lot of confusion.
God, she was anxious, she can't even imagine how to understand Anthony feeling;
waiting in the room knowing that his parents would know it was the biggest secret, parents that he didn't have a good relationship with, oh God she really needed a vacation after tonight.
There was also the fact that her aunt was there, the aunt who was Daniel's mother.
She needs to talk about this in private with both of them, but she knows that their reaction will probably make this knowledge reach her...
Vanessa then approaches the two, with the notebook in hand.
At that moment Daniel and Amanda were talking in the living room with his mother, he seemed a little nervous about trying to hide the real reason for Anthony's absence, but he seemed to be more relaxed.
the calm before the storm...
Daniel and Amanda quickly notice Vanessa's presence, they wave to her, and she tries to act naturally. He is still a little nervous.
that before giving the diagnosis to her parents she always had some preparation to cushion her fall, which made their reactions less intense despite being visibly unstable, but now she didn't have that, so without much ado she speaks.
"Hi, can you guys go to the kitchen now? I need to talk to you about something."
"what happened?"
Lucile asks, confused and slightly worried.
she really didn't want to say that in front of Aunt Lucile, things would already be very difficult with just the reaction of these two.
"it's no big deal I just need to talk to them for a moment."
She doesn't show her feelings by hiding everything behind a fake smile, little did they know that she was so nervous that if you paid attention you could hear her heartbeat accelerating.
Daniel and Amanda understand that she wants to say something, so they kindly ask Daniel's mother for permission and go to the kitchen.
a little worried, curious too but they seemed relatively calm.
They quickly walk there, without even imagining what awaited them...
They go to the kitchen and sit at the table as far away from the room as possible, Amanda sits down right after Daniel.
"did you discover anything?"
Amanda asked, looking worried but curious most of all.
Vanessa knows this information will break them, and she regrets it;
but she couldn't put her hand on their heads, they neglected their own son, and now they need to face the consequences, for the sake of their son.
No messing around.
"ok, I talked to your son, I discovered something very important about him, we urgently need to talk to you."
They became a little more serious, without having the slightest idea what she was going to say, but they didn't believe it was something very serious.
"right, you can talk."
Vanessa takes a deep breath, she wanted to enjoy the few seconds she had left before the storm that would come.
Daniel feels the tension, so he jumps to conclusions, he thinks Anthony did something because he knows his son is a good liar.
"look, I don't think my son is a bad person, but he is a good liar, he already deceived me once, maybe he did that to you too."
Daniel speaks with an expression of disgust for his own son;
Amanda doesn't seem to like what her husband said, but she can't help but silently agree.
Vanessa sighs, she knows he didn't lie, she saw the notebook, he didn't even want to tell her, that desperation in his eyes wasn't something that could be faked.
Besides, all the pages he wrote were like that, if everything was a lie she would have to give him credit for his dedication to writing everything in illegible handwriting, full of grammar errors, with everything messed up.
"I've been a psychologist for a long time, I can see when people are lying or not, It's not infallible but most of the time I get it right."
Vanessa speaks seriously, making it very clear that she is telling the truth, and that she is about to say something very serious.
Daniel and Amanda are serious about this, eagerly awaiting what she has to say.
"I believe your child has a developmental disorder, dyslexia, ADHD, or even both"
Vanessa uses the most professional tone she has, this has happened before and the reactions are never good...
Daniel and Amanda appear shocked, but at the same time they don't seem to take her seriously as they seem to not believe what Vanessa is saying, so Daniel asks, irritated but still confused:
"I don't know much about ADHD, but I know that dyslexia is when someone has difficulty reading, right?"
okay, here we go.
"Yes, you're right"
Vanessa responds, already seeing where this was going.
"Anthony never had difficulty reading. He was always a normal child, I mean, it's not that people who have that aren't normal, it's just..."
Daniel was wrapping himself up, he didn't want to seem ignorant and end up offending people who had this disorder but he was sure and his son didn't have any of that, otherwise he would have realized, right?
Amanda realizing that her husband was lost continues.
"but Anthony never had any major problems at school, he may have gotten a low grade there or here but nothing major, nothing that would be considered a problem."
Amanda responds with conviction in what she is saying.
Vanessa sighs, then takes the notebook and puts it on the table, it was time for her to present the evidence.
"I've been a psychologist for a long time, I can see when people are lying or not, It's not infallible but most of the time I get it right."
Vanessa speaks seriously, making it very clear that she is telling the truth, and that she is about to say something very serious.
Daniel and Amanda are serious about this, eagerly awaiting what she has to say.
"I believe your child has a developmental disorder, dyslexia, ADHD, or even both"
Vanessa uses the most professional tone she has, this has happened before and the reactions are never good...
Daniel and Amanda appear shocked, but at the same time they don't seem to take her seriously as they seem to not believe what Vanessa is saying, so Daniel asks, irritated but still confused:
"I don't know much about ADHD, but I know that dyslexia is when someone has difficulty reading, right?"
okay, here we go.
"Yes, you're right"
Vanessa responds, already seeing where this was going.
"Anthony never had difficulty reading. He was always a normal child, I mean, it's not that people who have that aren't normal, it's just..."
Daniel was wrapping himself up, he didn't want to seem ignorant and end up offending people who had this disorder but he was sure and his son didn't have any of that, otherwise he would have realized, right?
Amanda realizing that her husband was lost continues.
"but Anthony never had any major problems at school, he may have gotten a low grade there or here but nothing major, nothing that would be considered a problem."
Amanda responds with conviction in what she is saying.
Vanessa sighs, then takes the notebook and puts it on the table, it was time for her to present the evidence.
"this is Anthony's notebook, he wrote in it all year, and you can see that there are some mistakes that a teenager shouldn't make."
Amanda takes the notebook.
She is horrified to see her own son's handwriting, it was horrible handwriting, it looked like a 3-year-old child had written it.
Vanessa then continues speaking:
"apparently your son can't even read properly, he used other tools to get them to read to him, so he ended up being able to solve it, but both his reading and writing seem to be compromised."
Daniel, who was as mortified as Amanda, then asked Vanessa, still unable to believe what was happening:
"If this problem is so serious, how come no one at school noticed?"
Vanessa sighs, she would have to explain how the school system worked to them.
"You know your child doesn't show behavioral changes big enough for other teachers to notice, and as your child performed the tasks they probably turned a blind eye and didn't care about it, because it's the Parents' responsibility to monitor their children's activities."
This last sentence seems to have hit Amanda and Daniel's nerves, they both seem very shocked, the surprise seems to be accompanied by anger, it seems that they had not yet processed the information.
Amanda flips through the notebook while observing all the handwriting, she is still in shock and can't believe it.
but Daniel is still in denial, so he responds in an irritated manner, raising his voice:
"that's a lie! there's some mistake! I would have realized if that was true!!"
Vanessa then responds, she seems to be irritated, but still maintains her professionalism:
"The truth is that your child's level of development is far below his age, and if you haven't noticed this, it's because you haven't been following him enough to realize it!"
she breathes a little before.
"The truth is that your son didn't receive the help he needed, and now this has come at a very high price. Because he is suffering a lot, and will continue to suffer if you don't do anything about this situation!"
She looks at the two of them, both still in shock, but Daniel looks furious.
"I want to hear it from his mouth."
Daniel gets up from his chair and goes to Antony's room with quick steps, Amanda goes right after him trying to calm him down, while Vanessa tries to warn him.
"Daniel!!"
Vanessa knew they needed to talk, but it was a bad idea for Daniel to talk to Anthony in this state.
Daniel goes to the room where Loui and his mother were and takes out a book.
Both Loui and his mother realize that Daniel is completely upset.
they get worried, they could feel the anger emanating from him.
"Daniel, what's going on?"
"Dude, are you okay?"
Loui and Luci ask, not understanding what is happening or what happened to make Daniel so angry.
Daniel just ignores it, he wanted to see if it was all true with Anthony himself.
the women come right behind him trying to talk
He takes the book and quickly leaves for Anthony's room.
"Daniel listen to me!! LET'S TALK BEFORE TALKING TO HIM!!"
Amanda speaks, begging Daniel to think better before exploding on Anthony.
Daniel goes up the stairs while calling for Anthony.
"ANTHONY!! COME HERE NOW!!"
At this point in the championship, the house's awnings were already on the steps, observing the whole situation without understanding while the girls tried to calm Daniel, who was shouting for Anthony by the way.
Anthony appears going to his father, realizing what had happened, but he still tries to act like he doesn't understand, a desperate attempt to avoid the situation.
"yes sir?"
Daniel looks at him coldly as he holds out a book to him.
"read the first page, now, out loud."
Daniel says this has a low tone But you can feel all the pressure in the atmosphere of the place.
Anthony obediently takes the book, He looks at the cover trying to identify what it was about, But apart from the title there was nothing else in the book that revealed any information about it other than the letters.
Anthony is desperate, he had never read it in front of his father before, and even worse he didn't know anything about that book that he could invent.
"Dad, I'm in a bad mood so I can't do this now-"
"READ THIS NOW IN FRONT OF ME!!!"
Daniel brutally interrupts him with his scream.
Amanda wanted to stop this but was paralyzed by it all and Vanessa was thinking about how to deal with this situation, while the others just watched without understanding anything.
"READ NOW NOW ANTHONY!!"
"I am unable..."
Anthony speaks softly that almost no one who was far away could understand but Daniel managed but he wanted him to speak louder.
"what did you say?"
Anthony at that point was already overwhelmed, so he just explodes.
"I SAID I CAN'T BECAUSE I CAN'T READ!!!!"
As soon as Anthony says this, he throws the book at the wall and runs to his room.
everything was silent when Anthony left, Daniel was wide-eyed when he realized that it was really true, Amanda was crying, Vanessa was standing there not knowing what to do, Loui seemed confused, and Luci seemed scared with everything that happened.
At least now all that's left is silence...
