Hell to the No

Figure It Out

"Mom!"

M&Q&M

Mercedes let herself into the house but immediately sensed something was off. "Hello?"

Things had gotten heavy with the Berrys and she was drained. She put a hand on her belly in a subconscious move to shield her daughter from ugliness. "Hello?"

Mrs. Gonzales came from the direction of the kitchen. "Hola, Señora Mercy."

"Buenos dios, Mrs. Gonzales. What's going on?"

"Su madre." She clucked. "She is resting."

"Why?" Mercedes put away her jacket. Puck had put her things in her car before rehearsals so she'd only have to carry her purse. She'd had to make him promise to put her things in their proper spaces before she left.

"She had an... accident."

"Is she okay?!" Mercedes clapped a hand to her mouth.

"She had too much to drink and took a tumble down the stairs." Mrs. Gonzales assured her. "She and Señor Jones was arguing and she missed a step."

Mercedes wondered if her father pushed her but refrained from asking. "Where is everyone else?"

"Señor Puck is in the den. Señorita Marcy is asleep. The arguing took a toll on her. Señorita Quinn left."

"What about Daddy?"

"He has gone, also."

Mercedes considered her options before going into the den. Puck was watching cartoons on Netflix and didn't see her come in until she sat beside him. "Hey."

"Hey."

She curled into his side and breathed deeply. "What's up?"

He peered at her underneath his long eyelashes. "Nothing much. I did my homework, your mom almost died and Angry Beavers is on."

"I'm sure she's fine." She knew it was weighing on his mind.

He began rubbing her arm slowly. "Who told you?"

"Mrs. Gonzales."

He nodded.

"Did she really fall or did he push her?"

"She fell." He admitted. "But he could have wished for it hard enough. They were arguing about his girlfriend again and she had way too much wine to be on the stairs."

"Where were you?"

"Getting Sprite© for Mini Mama. When we first came home, it was quiet. That's only cuz she was gulping back wine so her mouth was busy." His own twisted. "Mrs. G told us to be careful when we came in for our snack so we ran upstairs.

I guess I thought she meant they were mad or on the warpath or something but they started arguing not even five minutes later. Mini Mama had a meltdown. Q asked me to get some pop so she could have a drink while she took that one pill that calms her down."

"A Xanax."

"Okay." He didn't know what that meant. "So I went to get it but when I was coming back up the stairs, they were there. He grabbed her arm to make sure she didn't fall cuz she was at the edge of a step but she ripped away from him and fell anyway.

Freakiest thing I've ever seen. I couldn't even help her because I was behind him. But he just watched her fall." That really messed him up. "Then he walked down like it was no big deal and picked her up. Made sure she was awake, brought her upstairs and left."

She didn't know what to say. She knew her family confused him. Hell, they confused her! "She'll be fine."

He eyed her. He really hated the word "fine." "I guess."