Surviving the Aces (#Wattys2018)

Meet Dakota

"Dakota Fey Hart! You open the door this instant!" My mother called. I groaned and rolled over; I loved my mother with all my heart but I was still too angry to face her, which proved difficult since we slept in the same bed. Despite how close we were, all the love in the world couldn't defend what she was doing to me.   

If I was honest with myself, I was more upset than angry. I knew she meant well, but sending me to another state to live with people I didn't know wasn't exactly the solution that I had in mind. I'd had bad dreams over the last few days, wondering what the family would be like. I imagined joining a family with an only child who was a spoiled brat with a sixty inch television set and nonexistent list of chores. Somehow, when I moved in, a list of chores would magically appear with my name on it.

Some nights I dreamed that their brat of a child would play endless pranks on me and leave me with a bald head or no eyebrows. That was a horror story in itself.

My age seemed to mean nothing to my mother; I was much too old to be babysat, yet she insisted that I could not live on my own.

"You're digging yourself into a deeper hole." She warned, still on the other side of the door. Honestly, I'd forgotten she was there.

I scoffed and stared up at the ceiling, still wondering whether I should let her in. Three months from today, I would be eighteen. Her threats no longer affected  me; my birthday seemed so close that I could touch it. My heart hung heavily at the thought of not being able to go to college. My grades were only nearly good enough for a scholarship. I didn't have much time to study because I had to work to help pay the bills.

It wasn't that I was the rebellious type; I was pretty compliant with my mother, but the current circumstances weren't helping anything. We'd had an okay relationship up until now. We had to work together to survive, though that was impossible when she wasn't always compliant or responsible.

"Dakota!" The sound barreled through the wood and filled the small room, actually making me jump. I'd once again fell victim to my own thoughts.

"I'm coming!" I exclaimed with resignation. I dropped down from my bed and padded to the door, taking my time before throwing it open and frowning at my mother.

Technically, it was our bedroom because we had to share it. We couldn't afford a two bedroom apartment. Not with the horrible job she had, and the bit of change I made every two weeks. Life was hard for us, but we were so accustomed to it by now that it was nearly normal.

Fortunately, we were lucky enough to have a queen sized bed that fit the both of us. On the right side of our room was a small closet that fit my mother's limited clothing. My belongings were inside of the nightstand next to our bed.

That was pretty much it.
No television set, no gaming consoles. I didn't watch tv much and when I did, it was usually football at Ash's house or random shows that we found funny.
There was a desk in the corner that came with the room but that was all there was to our life. Some days I came home from work to find my mother just sitting on the bed staring at nothing. It was those nights that I wished that I could do better for her. We were accustomed, not happy. I knew she was trying to take care of the both of us, but things were only getting worse.

Outside of our small room was a kitchen which was basically the same size of the bedroom; it had a stove, refrigerator, two tall cabinets and a microwave that we got for free from a friend.

The fridge was mostly empty, save a few TV dinners, some leftovers from my job and a gallon of water and milk. My boss at the local supermarket was aware of our condition and gave me an extra employee discount and allowed me to take any leftovers home, like the donuts that stayed out or any fruit in jeopardy of going bad. We were never really satisfied with what we had, but we weren't completely helpless and that was a blessing in itself.