Foreign Objects

04 • Galileo

Now looking at it, all I can think about is death. The person who got me this is far gone, never coming back. Sometimes I think about how the Pillars of Creation can be representative of the cycle of life and death. They may look beautiful and majestic now, but one day they too will fade and change, just as my grandma did, just like Jeremy did. They're a reminder that even the most magnificent things in the universe are not eternal and now it's got me thinking, is it going to be my turn too? How soon or how far is it?

"Baby?" My mom walks slowly into my room, face already contorted in pity as she comes to sit on my bed.

It makes me angry, angry that that's the expression she's making, pity at me because she can tell I'm taking Gran's death hard but no ounce of sadness in her features. No ounce of sadness in the way she's been behaving. She's practically accepted that Gran's already dead since she got put in the hospital a month ago.

And it makes my chest tighten when I remember how she'd been this way when Jeremy died too. She'd go on and on to people about "Yeah Jeremy was a handful, but I still miss him". Sometimes I even go as far as to think she was relieved he died because then she wouldn't have to deal with his 'troubles' anymore and at this moment, I'm starting to think the same thing about Gran's death. Mom was always complaining about how expensive it was to take care of her and I remember how Henry, her asshole of a boyfriend, would always make stupid comments about 'letting the bitch go'.

I grit my teeth, my fists clenching on my bedsheet involuntarily.

"They've already taken her to the morgue," she says, her lips downturned but I can see the insincerity in her actions from a mile away.

My chest tightens more.

"This is so sad, isn't it?" She raises her hand up to my face and starts to stroke my hair. "I know you must be going through a hard time."

Yeah but you aren't.

Before I can say anything, I hear the front door opening and closing aggressively and hard footsteps prod on the living room floor.

"Ann!"

Seriously? Why is he here? She couldn't just keep him away for now?

"Why the fuck is he here?" I say through gritted teeth.

Mom's apologetic expression lasts for only a second.

"He's here to comfort me, to be here for us."

I can't believe what I'm hearing.

I huff a small laugh. "Like you need any comforting?"

"Hey where are you?!"

I lick my teeth, trying to stop myself from blowing up in anger. The smell of pastries comes up strong in my nostrils again and a few seconds later, I start noticing that there's a new taste on my tongue and when I realise that whatever it is is strawberry flavoured, I wince.

"Got some change?" I question hastily, getting off my bed. "Craving donuts right now."

That's if Henry hasn't taken all your money already.

Mom nods, standing up and shrugging her hand into the front pocket of her jeans.

When I get to the living room, I see Henry's already got himself comfortable on the couch, like he owns it. He's pretty much taken over everything in this house.

Mom's always had so many boyfriends and one common thing about them is that, they were all assholes but they'd always been fleeting relationships.

When she started dating Henry five months ago, I expected it to be the same. Expected her to break up with him a week later but, that week turned to two and then it was a month, and then it was him coming over to our house every day, eating our food, claiming the couch, inviting his fellow dirtbag friends over. And my mom saw absolutely nothing wrong with this. Absolutely nothing wrong with him when I can't even count the number of red flags he has with both my fingers and toes combined.