Much Like Falling

Chapter Two

After walking at a snail’s pace and detouring through all the suburbs, I reached home closer to seven o’clock. It took much longer for me to walk home than it did to walk to school, but that was because I was in no rush to see my family. I didn’t have homework, only things to study for but I was not going to waste my Friday afternoon studying.

Hayden’s about to close the lounge room door in my face, but one small push was all I needed to overtake him in strength. He fell back slightly, though still enough for me to squeeze passed him. “Dick,” I walked into his shoulder, making him step back.

“Just because I have one!” he snapped.

I narrowed my eyes at my fourteen-year-old brother and laughed, “Whatever, I used to change your nappy. What I saw was not a-”

“Boys,” Mum stepped passed us and sat down on one of our old, mangled couches. “Not in front of Rod, please.” She looked at me, her eyes pleading. I sighed and sat in the middle of Rod and Siobhan. Six to eight was always supposedly, what Mum would call, Family Time. Mum liked spending quality time with her husband and kids, apparently. It didn’t feel that way though, and perhaps it’s because it was hardly ever pleasant. We were supposed to play board games and talk about anything and everything, but to be honest, I was positive it was just Mum’s and Dad’s pathetic excuse to criticise their children.

My Dad was the first to spice up the tension this household was already painted in. “This is the second week this month that you’ve missed the bus, Emerson,”

So fucking what? I didn’t look at my Father; instead I picked up the little blue toy car at my feet, and moved it along Rod’s leg. Hearing that giggle brightened my day every time.

I shrugged.

“Hey Dad, I got-” Siobhan started, but was soon bound to be shut down.

“You’re not going to explain yourself?”

I pressed my back deeper into the couch. Hayden was smirking, perched on the armrest beside Mum. We would almost look the same, except I had Dad’s green eyes, and Hayden had Mum’s brown. Physically, he was just a younger and weaker, brown-eyed version of me, with a small amount of baby-fat still warming his neck and cheeks.  “I figured you wouldn’t listen, just like the other times,” I was playing with fire, but I was too tired to care.

Dad laughed. “Now’s not the time for your smart-ass comments. Where were you?”

“I just took a little longer at my locker and-”

Dad shook his head, “Last time you said that, you had detention,”

I tried my best to hide the smile that crept upon my lips as I remembered that Blake and I had to hold hands with our Dean as we walked around school, picking up rubbish at lunch time and after school, chanting nursery rhymes. It was a good day and totally worth the punishment. “Well I learned my lesson,” Once Dad found out I actually had detention, he decided it’d be a cool idea to take his anger out on me. I wasn’t going to mention that, though. I knew better. 

“You had chores to do,” my Mother’s voice was small and quiet, as if she hated to contribute to the madness of my Father. But I knew that deep down, she couldn’t care less.

“How did you learn your lesson, if you’re home late again?”

“I only missed the bus. What’s the big deal?”

Dad stood, his hands balling into fists. I wondered if he would do it, if he would punch me in front of his wife. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Well, you didn’t answer mine.” That should have been the last thing I said. I mean, I was pushing it. Soon he would blow, and Mum would see him for what he truly was; a coward. I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted to do. No matter what, he still made Mum happy. He was still the man of the house who provided us with food and shelter. Without him, we would be nothing.