Where had this chain come from? Never in his life did he feel so perplexed and utterly confused. It's surreal. Completely breaks the laws of physics. This had to be brought out straight from a fairy tail, not a happy one though. Why is it the chain is touching him yet he cannot touch the chain? Its almost as if the chain was not letting him touch, as if it had a mind of its own. It felt bothersome to him. But something has to be done. And nothing can be done without learning more about it.
He repeated to himself: Think. Think. Think. Think. Think Miles, THINK.
He needs to figure out what the chain is but he wonders if it is even there in the first place. What if it's an illusion? Could it be he has schizophrenia ? Shivers run down his body at the thought of it. That one word has such a negative connotation but it was totally possible. He was seeing something but it wasn't physically there. He had been through a lot too the last past year. -Maybe something is wrong with me at this point- he thought to himself. But he refused to call anyone to see if the chain was real for 2 reasons
1. Who would he even call?
2. How would he even word it ?
So there was a solution Miles found to be obvious.
Use his mom.
Simple. All he had to do was tell her he wanted to "let it out" and she would come right over. She would either question the chain if she saw it or ignore it if she didn't. The second scenario scared him because it could give rise to many more questions. Trembling from fear and confusion and in a broken worried voice he calls for his picture perfect mother.
Miles:"Mom!"
Sofia:"Yes, honey?" She replies to his call immediately as she always would and even more now as she's been worried for him day after day for a year.
Miles:"Could we talk for a bit?"
Sofia:"Of course. Going." She says in a sung tone.
Miles:"Listen, I kiiiiiiinda wanna talk about it. Not my grades though, no worries there I promise." He says as she opens the door.
Sofia:"———" she starts to fidget standing leaning on the doorway. Inside his head, Miles is
H O P E F U L. Seems like maybe she saw the chain. But all she says is "Yeah .Sure" in a nervous and uncertain tone. This knocks off Miles' thoughts. Was she seeing it or not? If she's fidgeting and getting nervous then it means 2 things: she sees the chain and is weirded out or she doesn't want to talk about "it." So Miles decides to simply go on with the conversation.
Miles:"Mom... is there anything wrong with me?" he says in a perfectly "teenage" confused tone. Great actor we've got to admit that about him at least.
Sofia:"No, of course not Honey" she replies in a comforting worried way. Miles is still confused. She may not be seeing the chain. Actor Miles says-
Miles:"Is there seriously nothing wrong with me physically or mentally?"
Sofia:"Honey why would there be. You are a healthy young man. Sure, emotionally you may not be at your best, but thats what you were looking to let out, right? I'm here for that. I love you, tell me everything."
Perfect response. A perfect mother's response. This leaves Miles speechless though he hides it by laying back down and staring at the ceiling. Now he thinks -AHHHHHHHHH!!!! SHE'S NOT SEEING THE CHAIN. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME. THIS IS FAKE, THERE IS SIMPLY NO WAY THIS IS REAL-
But damn it all, now what will be his next move? He can't just tell her there's a chain on his foot which he could feel, see, and hear, even smell yet she can't do any of those. It hasn't even crossed his mind that she maybe saw it and ignored it, she always notices every single little detail. It's bothersome but in this case it at least answers one question.
The chain is supernatural.
Or at least that thought was better than thinking he's lost it. His dad was a psychologist and so Miles had a general idea of what mental illnesses are and how they work. Many times he asked his dad and talked about psychotic depression, schizophrenia, hallucinations, and other ways in which people see or hear things even when they are nonexistent. Well, they exist in their mind, people decide what's real and what's not by their 5 senses. If those "crazy" people pulled out a list of their 5 senses and checked them off for all which apply to their hallucinations, then those "hallucinations" would be considered real. Or, at least to those people, it checks off as real. But back to Miles-
Now, what? He thinks quickly not wasting a single second. His mom is mostly one-dimensional, he knows what she will say to each of his questions with accuracy. He could simply tell her "I don't want to talk anymore." But, this would simply make her try to keep it going on longer. Going completely silent is just utterly stupid without a doubt. So he comes up with a great option, maybe not the best one but to his confused and twisted mind, it made sense to try it out at least. A good option, but with great colateral damage.
Make her leave.
For the moment he simply has to make her leave so he could start figuring out the C H A I N after. He'll either get into a fight with her, or make her feel horrible by attacking herself or himself. Though he's apprehensive about the theme this could lead into.
All these thoughts speed through his mind until he makes the decision in just the couple seconds of silence there were between what each of them said. He responds to her perfect response-
Miles:"How come YOU never tell me anything?" He says in a daring "teenagery" way.
Sofia:"——"
Her perfect mother personality is getting broken into with this simple reply, because it was true and a fragile topic. Miles was maybe putting too much truth into his "act." Knocking with brass knuckles on the glass house can't end well.
Miles:"How come YOU never show how YOU feel? You ALWAYS wear a smile and hide away how you truly want to act. Don't you think it hurts me to see you in such a happy mood after he went away ? It makes me feel so A L O N E!" He says in an emotional tone.
Miles: "It's not just bothersome-" shes tearing up. "-its P A I N F U L. Am I the only one who hasn't moved on? Am i supposed to forget him and act like he never existed ?? Is it hard for you to act more like a HUMAN than just a mom at times???"
He let go of himself too much. The actor wasn't acting at this point anymore. Sometimes voice actors will literally cry when they are doing their voice acting. Some fall in L O V E with each other from so many scenes they share. Some make themselves remember a painful time of their lives or imagine a horrible future, and sob. Miles wasn't acting anymore. They say a good lie is told using some truth but Miles dropped the whole bottle of truth into the pot of his act. It's too late to take it out. And for his mother, the same thing happened. But she didn't say anything to break her act. Her tears broke it.
Sofia:"WELL WHAT SHOULD I DO?!-" she cries back.
Sofia:"Don't you think it hurts me too? I LIVED WITH HIM LONGER THAN YOU. I RELIED ON HIM FOR LONGER. HE HELD ME IN HIS ARMS LONGER. NOW HES'S GONE! What will sulking over it for a year do? I WISH I could do the same as you. Just cry all day and cut connections with everyone and act like brat towards your only parent left. But i cannot do that, I'm the one that has to suck it all up and bear with the P A I N!!! It all hurts me too. I want to cry my eyes out every night since he left. There's no one beside my bed now at night. No one i can hold or be held by at night. There's an empty space now next to me where his silhouette used to lay at night. WHY DO I EVEN HAVE A SECOND PILLOW THERE IF THERE IS NO ONE TO USE IT...?"
And she leaves the room in tears.
Miles has nothing to say anymore. Even if he tried to talk words would not come out. He expected half of this, but the intensity and amount of EMOTIONS which traveled through his arteries and throat were overwhelming. So overwhelming he went from sitting on his bed to just sitting on the ground. Hands around his head. Knees and feet tucked in with his back leaning on his bed. His mind was a whirlpool and didn't know how to act. He looked like a lonely little child. And at perfect timing, in his head crosses a memory-
???:"And remember Champ, if at some point I'm not around for whatever reason, then you will be the one to protect her from getting hurt. Got it?"
Miles:"AHHHHHHH- im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry. Dad, i failed you..."
Up until afternoon, he finally lifted his head. His eyes swollen, bloodshot, sore. His voice hoarse, tired, gone. Like his state of mind. He gets out of his room and walks to the kitchen, dinner is served, but the other seat is empty, it will be for a couple days, she's a sensitive person, what he said was too much to bear. It doesn't seem like much, but her mom was just as fucked up as he was, hearing his words after so much effort broke her.
He eats his tasteless dinner, takes another shower, brushes his teeth, and goes to bed. As he goes to sleep he makes up his mind. The next day he will follow-
The Chain.