It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

Evicted

I stood there staring at the paper, still in shock. The top three words etched themselves into my brain, NOTICE TO VACATE. What gave anyone the right to kick my mom and me from our home? It was the only thing we had and it was being taken away, just like that! There was only one person in this world with the means.

"Did you stop paying your taxes?" was the first question that came out of my mouth when I'd seen the notice. Mom just shook her head. It wasn't like she was the one in shock. Actually, thinking about it, it was as if she'd known about this for some time and kept it from me until the very last possible second.

"You knew," I accused. "You knew all along."

"I don't think one week can constitute 'knowing all along,'" she stated back at my accusation.

"It's sure a lot longer than ten minutes!" I yelled back. Everything I owned sat in my pony travel suitcase. The one that matched the comforter on what was no longer my bed in the house I didn't live in anymore.

"If you'd been home this morning," she started to say.

"This morning?" I said, cutting her off. "This morning isn't a week to pack. This morning isn't notice."

"Well it would have been better than ten minutes," she countered. "Besides, it only became final this morning, so that's when I thought it prudent to tell you."

I really wanted to smack her, but I knew I shouldn't. She's my mom and it's not like this was her fault. She'd always put the house first before. I couldn't see how that had changed in the last week. I stood there silently glaring at her, trying to use my mental powers to make her talk. She owed me an explanation at least. Silence stretched out between us, but I knew she'd be the one to break it. She always was.

"Look Mae," Mom began, " I really never thought it would get this far. That's he'd take things this far, but maybe it is for the best." I cut her off there.

"What do you mean, 'he?'" I asked, "He who?" My mind raced. Brian wouldn't ever evict his own mother, he was too much of a goodie two-shoes for that. Dad was dead, and so were both my grandpas. That left only one living male relative on either side of the family. My jerk of an uncle.

"David," Mom continued, "really is a good guy."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "he's a real gem. That's why he took all the money and equities from Grandma and Grandpa's estate in the settlement." It had been a long two-year court battle. Even as young as I'd been, I still remembered the drama. His drunken rages outside the house after long days in the courtroom. Brian had once locked both of us in our room, it had gotten so bad. Grandma and Grandpa had both left wills, but David had gotten one of his shark lawyer friends to contest them.

In the end, Mom was just thankful she'd gotten anything, even though she'd been willed half of everything. The house had been a total wreak, but at least it was something from her parents that she'd saved from David's drug habits. Apparently that was no longer the case.

"He's just not all there," she started. Oh, no. Here it comes. Mom was going to go into that speech again, the one all of them used to justify his behavior. "He's sick, Mae."

"And sick people need to be cared for," I finished for her. It's not like I haven't heard this speech a million times. In fact, I don't think there was a single conversation I'd ever had in my life about David that didn't include this exact speech. At least me finishing it threw Mom off a little.

"Yes," she said, "that's right. So what if he's put a hold on the house?" Apparently, it only threw her off a little. I rolled my eyes and turned my back on the notice. With David it always came back to money. Every time, always money.

"What is it this time?" I asked, already knowing the answer. She'd say drugs but not say drugs, I just knew it.

"Apparently the value of the house wasn't fairly distributed originally. He wants his fair share, and the judge has decided we have to leave until the matter is settled," was her answer, bypassing the question altogether.

"That's total bull and you know it!" I said. Mom just shrugged.

"I'm tired, Mae," she said, "I'm just tired of it all. And with you graduating and going off on your own, maybe it's ok."

"No!" I said, "that so does not make this ok. Nothing David ever does is ok! I just don't understand why you never stand up for yourself!" Like I'd really stand up to Brian if he became a money hungry drug addict. It's not like I couldn't see Mom's point. It's just that I didn't want to.

This was my home we were talking about. It might be a run down piece of junk held together by duct tape, but it was still mine. Well, ours. Ok, Mom's. But I was her kid and that kind of made it mine. Plus, I'd grown up here. That had to count for something.

This was Brian's home too, for all that he was living in the dorms. Why wasn't he doing anything to help? So I asked Mom just that.

"Why isn't Brian here helping?" I asked, leaning up against the edge between the double doors that made up our front entrance.

"Brian who?" Mom said.

"My brother Brian," I said. "Your only son." She returned with a blank look.

"You're my only child," Mom said, still looking at me funny. I didn't have time to probe further because right at that moment a light blue Prius pulled into our, well not ours anymore, I guess, but still the house's drive way.

The driver was a guy wearing a blue jacket and sharp black shoes. I thought maybe it was David's sleazy lawyer checking to make sure that Mom and I were both out of the house. But that theory unraveled when the guy kissed my mother on the lips right in front of me. I choked. Mom didn't have a boyfriend that I knew of and wasn't dating, or so I'd thought. Apparently I was wrong. I was wrong about so many things.

"Thanks, Gary," Mom said as the guy loaded her bags into the back of his car.

"Mae, Gary. Gary, Mae," Mom said. I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Gary and I..." she started to say, "Me and Gary. Well, we kind of have a thing going." I kept nodding, even though I really wasn't accepting what she was saying.

"I know that you took your dad's death really hard,"she continued, "and I haven't been one to expose you to the men I have dated since it was only you and me for so long, but given the circumstances Gary's been kind enough to ask me to move in, permanently." I kept nodding. Stupid me.

"Only Gary has this thing about kids. Not that you are a kid anymore. Which is kind of my point." She was rambling now, "And it's only a one bedroom. Downtown. Great views. Not that that's the point." She paused to gather her words. I could already feel the weight of them coming.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're grown enough to get your own place," she said. She might as well have punched me in the gut. "With you graduating this week and all." Why was I still nodding?

"I knew you would understand," she said, kissing my cheek. Then she stepped into the car and closed the door. I watched as the two of them sped off down the culdesac away from the only home I'd ever known.

I stood there dumbstruck on the steps of the place that was no longer my home, abandoned by my mother, homeless and apparently now an only child.

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Hi Everyone!

I'm back from vacation and ready for Zombie Monday! Hope you all had a great last two weeks. I really poured a lot out into this scene. Is it too much at once? Your input is important to me. Do you feel how lost and overwhelmed Mae is? Please comment about how this chapter made you feel or thoughts on where you think Mae should live next. As always, I really appreciate your comments and votes. Thanks so very much!