Aspire

Chapter 3

"What are you doing here?" My mom stands up to face my dad, even though she's atleast six inches shorter than him. "I told you to never come back." My father held his hands up in defense. "I just wanted to stop by, see how my kids are doing." He reaches his hand out towards me but I back away. Tyler walks over to my side. "Well this is quite the surprise." I say as I take the lettuce and fruit to the kitchen. "Look, I've changed. I'm sober, I'm looking for a steady job. I mean, c'mon. It's been over a year since I've seen you all. I can't stand not seeing my family every once in a while." I closed the refrigerator door and glared at him. "What did you expect to get from this?"

My dad took a deep breath. "I wanted to see if the kids could... live with me for a while." Tyler and I furrow our brows and Mom takes a step back. "What makes you think you could be trustworthy enough to take care of these kids? You were never there for us before. How could I hand off my kids, to you?" Her voice falters and she looks to the ground. Tyler finally speaks up and says, "Get out of here, Dad." He takes a deep breath. "We're not going with you." Dad clenches his fists and takes a deep breath. "Fine." He raises his voice slightly. "But I'll be back again. I'm not done yet. I can't live anymore without any connection." He storms out of the house and seconds later I hear his car drive away. Tyler walks into his room and I sit next to Mom on the couch. She lets out a silent weep. "It's okay, Mom. I'm not going anywhere."

   "So when did he show up?" I ask either Mom or Tyler in the kitchen. "A few minutes after you left, I think." Mom responded. Tyler nodded and lifts himself up to sit on the counter. "We just heard a knock on the door and he was there. No warning. Neither of us knew what to think." He looked over at Mom. She nodded, dropping the plate she was washing into the sink and turned around. "I knew he'd come back, I always did. You can't avoid it, especially with two kids he wants to see. But now? I didn't even think he still remembered the address."

   We all sat in silence for a few moments, not sure what to say. Finally, at a loss for words, I went to work on my painting and Tyler wandered back into his room. Mom went back to the abandoned plate and continued to wash dishes, looking out the window.

•

   "I finished the painting, Mom. Come see." I could see her smile as she looked up from the book she was reading and glanced at it. "Oh, it's beautiful, honey. I love it." Her eyes started to water as she stood up to get a better look at my painting. "I love you, Crys. You give me hope." She kisses the top of my head and leaves to go to her room. "Hey I'm gonna take a nap. Call me if you need anything."

She closed her door, and I sat and studied my painting. I was pretty pleased with it, and grabbed the one I smashed from under the coffee table where I had placed it and threw it in the garbage. I was going to really try to still be what hope my mom saw. Little did I know it would take a lot more than throwing out an old painting.