A Million Hiding Places {Completed}

Chapter Two: A Break in the Rain

  A Morning Dove

A fawn in a meadow

Flew forth I to admire

Behold 'twas a serpent

Springing forth from the briar!

Now I'm reclaiming all

A most heart-felt desire

The wishes and blessings

You have stomped in the mire

~~~~~~

Robbie

I glanced after the girl, watching her force her way into her apartment and slam her door. What the hell just happened?

I a thud followed by a yell and quickly race up the carpeted hallway, swinging into my Mother’s room. She’s sitting on the floor in a towel, her body dripping with water as she rocks back and forth clutching her foot in her hands. “Ow...” She moans, rocking again, biting her lip in pain.

I lean on the door frame. “Want an icepack?” I ask my voice just a whisper.

She glances up, fixing me with her icy gaze. “What are you still doing here?” She jumps to her feet and crosses her arms, angry. “I thought I told you to go get some groceries! Was it honestly that hard to find some money and get out?!” I wince at her comment but I stand my ground.

She turns, flinging her closet door open and shuffles through all her dresses, muttering to herself. She glances over her shoulder at me, still leaning on the door way, and her expression softens. “I have a....client coming in tonight, Robs. Go stay at Parkers or something.”

I fight off the urge to be sick. A client? Ha. Yeah right. Those clients of hers came here for about an hour (maybe two) every other night and when they left, Mum was often drunk or high with $100 sticking out of her purse. I never fully accepted what she did for money and personally I don’t think any son in his right mind would. But if it meant money, which meant food on the table, I was willing to look past it all. As long as nothing happened to her; as long as she didn’t get hurt. I’d beaten up some of her clients before because they got too carried away or something. Not always fun.

“Fine, Mum. I was about to leave anyway. I’ll go shopping tomorrow on my way back.” I rolled my eyes as she pulled on a tight black dress that just covered her ass and showed more cleavage than a son cared to see on his mother.

She nodded, humming to herself. “Lock your bedroom door before you go and can you please put the ...uh, protection?... on my beside cupboard. Don’t want a repeat of last time, do we?”

I snorted. Did she mean the last time she got an abortion or the time before that? I picked up the protection, as she liked to call it, with one finger, touching the very corner of the packaging, my nose wrinkled with disgust. I threw it onto her bedside table and marched out of the room. Getting to my bed room, I flicked the lock, gathered my backpack (which was already packed for times like these) and walked out, hearing the door lock behind me.

~~~~~~

“So, how’s school been?” Parker asked, raising his head from his newspaper, pushing his thick, black glasses up with his index finger.

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, bro? The only reason I stay here is so I can play your Wii.”

Parker chuckled and sipped his beer. “Sorry. Just wanted to talk to you, little bro. Long time no see and all that.”

I pushed my feet up onto his coffee table, ignoring his scowl and took a large gulp of my own beer. I gazed around the small apartment, taking in the dusty surfaces, the out-of-date magazines and the left-over-bad-smelling Chinese take-out boxes. Parker rarely lived here and I figured that this apartment was just a backup plan encase his relationship with Cherry, his long-time girlfriend, fell through. Which I couldn’t see ever happening. It takes a lot to only date one girl from year nine ‘til your last year of University.