His Love

Chapter 25- Just Drive.

He simply laughs in response.

I listen carefully, not a sound in the house.

"I was just checking on you." His breathing is heavy and loud.

"Just got back from your run?" I ask, mindlessly walking around the house.

As always, I can hear the boys screaming like children somewhere in the background.

"Yeah I- can you just piss off, Nate?" 

There's a sequence of very loud noises and even more screaming.

He lets out a long exhale before talking again.

"When are you coming home? I miss you."

The boys start mocking him with kissing noise and I hold back my laughter.

"I'm not sure, hopeully soon."

Throwing myself on my bed again, I stare up at the ceiling.

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse." I nod my head, even though he can't see.

My eyes feel awfully heavy, basically on the brink of closing and falling to sleep.

This bedroom isn't as nice as I remember it being.

Like as a kid when you draw something, and your so proud of it and looking back, its just a blue blob.

Yeah, that's what this family and house feels like.

"Alaina?"

"Hm?"

"You sound exhausted. Why don't you try and get some sleep?" He seems slightly concerned.

And that's the last thing I heard before I gave in and fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake to my body being prodded at and someone talking beside me.

"Alaina! I taught you better than to sleep in the day, you know how it can affect your scheduele and health."

"I sleep when I'm tired, Mom, just go away for once." I snap, smothering my face in the pillow.

She takes a few steps back, her eyes widening.

Blanking out her incessant rambling about how I shouldn't talk to my mother that way, I close my eyes again.

It's impossible to live here I don't know how the others do this.

My eyes shoot open when she grabs my arm and pulls me from the comfort of my bed.

Her fingers tighten on my wrist and my confusion grows.

"I am so sick of you and your sister taking me for granted, I gave birth to you, and all you do is disrespect me!"

Once again, she rambles about how she cared for us and fed us blah blah, you know, average mother ranting.

I break out of her pretty solid grip, rubbing the redness on my arm.

Taking a deep breath, I calm myself before I say something I'll regret, just letting her get her anger out.

All this because I fell asleep, what is her problem?

I begin walking out the room, desperate to escape from her shrieking voice.

"Woah, what's going on out here?"

My dad steps out of the room down the hall, I don't even know what's in there anymore.

"Your daughter has been messing around with this family for too long, it's time she had some respect for us!"

He reaches out for her arm in attempts to calm her slightly, but she jumps away before they even make contact.

"Mom, I call you all the time, you never answer, I do everything possible to help you through anything, I buy you gifts, I take care of you whenever you need me. What am I doing wrong to make you hate me this much?" 

I manage to keep my voice from wavering, but the stinging in my throat is unbearable.

"Oh, darling, she doesn-" his sympathetic voice gets cut off.

"You are no help to us, we did just fine when you moved away! No hesitation, you just got up and left!"

"I wasn't going to live here forever, I'm a fucking adult, Mom!"

"Well it's about time you started acting like one!"

My fists are clenched so tight, they are about to break.

I look up at my dad, pure shock and disgust painting his face as he looks at her.

"Here's what's going to happen, I'm going to walk away. You win. I'm done fighting with you. Don't follow me, okay?"

I can't control the small breaks in my voice as I talk, but I turn around and make my way towards the stairs.

There's no sound, no footsteps, so I assume she listened.

That's until she decides to give it one last try.

"Your brother would be so disappointed in you, Alaina."

I freeze.

The words run through my brain, over and over.

Disappointed.

Its like my mind can't process each letter, like its all just a jumble.

Disappointed.

Before I even realise what I'm doing, I turn to look at her.

"And he would have been ashamed of what his mother has become."

I feel like I just blinked but now I'm sat in the car, gripping the steering wheel as my vision clouds with tears.

Slamming my head onto the wheel, I let my arms fall limp beside me, trying to contain myself.

I'm not thinking straight, I know I shouldn't go anywhere.

But here I am, turning the keys and listening to the engine as it starts.

Pressing my foot down, I take a bunch of turns, I'm probably lost.

I roll down all 4 windows, letting the harsh, bitter breeze into the car.

I can't see anything, my eyes shielded by the tears that continue to flood.

It's cold.

So cold.

The rain pours into the car, completely soaking everything.

My thoughts are going so fast, I can't even focus on the roads ahead of me.

I know I should stop, I know I should wait until I can actually take a full breath of air and I can see.

But I keep driving.

I have no idea why or where I'm going.

But I just keep driving.

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I'm back!

Updates will still be slow for a while, but its great to be writing again.

What do we think of the new cover?