Mother

Mother - 2

Ben woke up and looked out of the window at the uncaring grey skies of another day. Stretching his arms and yawning he rubbed the grit from his eyes before slipping out of bed into the mess that was his room. He lifted his jeans from the pile of dirty laundry on the floor shuffling them on as he looked for a top.  The smell from his room was beginning to get a little high even for him, but he slipped on a grubby looking hooded top reeling away with a look of disgust from the stink of sweat as he pulled it over his head.

Making his way towards his bedroom door he stepped over empty boxes of cereal and mouldering piles of detritus that lay scattered across the floor quietly opened it and stepped out into the hall. As he passed his mothers bedroom he paused and put his ear to the door. Happy with the lack of any sound, he moved towards the stairs and slowly descended to the lower floor.

Once downstairs he walked into the kitchen and sniffed warily, his nose immediately assaulted by a strong smell of rotting food. The kitchen was covered in used plates and cups. Empty tins and food boxes covered the worktops and dining table, half eaten apples and bananas adding to the mess in the kitchen. Ben walked to the corner of the kitchen and unzipping his jeans relieved himself in the half full orange bucket that sat in grimy obscenity by the washing machine. Once done, he picked it up and poured the urine down the sink not seeming to worry about splashing it across the dirty plates that lay in unwashed in the bowl.         

 Lighting some candles in the kitchen, he rummaged through the mess looking for something to eat. Finding an unopened tin of corned beef, he pulled the key from the tin and opened it before taking up a fork that was wiped hastily across the seat of his jeans in a vague attempt at cleanliness. Seating himself at the one clean spot on the kitchen table, Ben started to chew his way through the cold meat.

 He chucked the empty tin to the floor after he was done and then searched the messy kitchen for water, finding a half full bottle. Unscrewing the top, he sniffed the contents cautiously before drinking it and took a small sip; satisfied that it was okay he finished off the water in one go, dropping the empty bottle to the floor.

Ben turned and pushed the rubbish from a nearby chair, sat down and for the next ten minutes did nothing but stare at the floor, his mind drifting back to the past.