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New Perspectives- Part 5

Allison.

Allison had the urge to tell her mother to go fuck herself almost everyday. Some days, this urge was so persistent that Allison would have to leave the room altogether. It started small; Her mom would make a comment on Allison's behavior and the words tugged at her head. "Go fuck yourself," it echoed, quietly. But, it only grew louder as time passed. Allison was good at drowning it out. She had never acted on this urge, until the day she watched Cleo walk down the stairs, silent and tearful, and heard her mother's voice booming from Via's bedroom.

"You're trying to humiliate me," shouted her mother as Allison crept up the stairs and stood, back against the wall, right outside of her sister's bedroom.

"No," this was Olivia. "I'm so sorry, mom. I was going to tell you, but-"

"I don't care that you were going to tell me! I don't allow that under my roof! How is it that I give you all the freedom you want and you still find ways to defy me?" Allison had to stop herself from laughing at her mother's blatant lies. "You are trying to disgrace me, Olivia."

"I promise you, I'm not. I just... I-"

"Just what? You want to disappoint me? Do you think I like lecturing you like this?"

Yes. "No," Olivia muttered through heavy breaths. Allison knew without even looking through the door that her sister was crying. She knew from the shake in her voice, the hesitant replies. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry isn't going to fix the fact that you not only kissed this girl-" Allison blinked. "But you lied to me about it! You allowed her to sneak in and deliberately lied!"

Allison began to piece together what had happened, and wasn't exactly shocked to learn about Cleo. While, yes, her sister was the being that could "do no wrong", she also hadn't been exactly secretive about things. Cleo was over all the time. She had joined them for Christmas and their friendship was always a little suspicious; Allison wasn't stupid.

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have let her in my room at all. I'm sorry."

There was a long, stifling silence after that. Allison wondered to herself if both parties were even still breathing. "Your father would be so disappointed in you, Olivia."

And with that, she swung the door open to look at the two. Her mother still, shoulders raised and looking pointedly at Olivia who stood small in comparison. Her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes red. For a moment, Allison wasn't sure what to say.

"You cannot do that," she decided, looking to her mother.

"Allison, leave," her mom responded.

"You're not allowed to hide the fact that our dad passed away and then bring him up to prove some point. It isn't fair."

"I said leave."

"You have ruined your children. Do you understand that?" She glared into Allison, but the words couldn't stop. "You have turned our lives into these horrible performances where we have to smile and act like everything is just great whenever it so clearly isn't. Do you think you're doing Via a service by making her feel like shit about this?"

"I think I'm teaching her right from wrong," she replied. "I think she should know better by now."

"Yeah, that's wrong. You think that, by putting all these rules in place, you're showing us how to behave when really, you're just showing us how to be sneaky. You think Via being with a girl is bad? You should know some of the shit I've done."

"Allison," Olivia whispered, shaking her head. "This isn't worth it."

Allison knew that was true. This wasn't worth it, but it was as if something began to hit the back of her head, leaving her to spill out words like a salt shaker.