My American Idiot ~ Septiplier

21

The fights between Megan and their Ma suddenly became more and more heated.

Megan had got herself a new fella except this one was all the way over in America. His name was Jason, she used to tell him with a massive smile on her face as he made his breakfast before school; he was everything she had ever dreamed for in a man, funny, kind and handsome all in one. Jack was just happy to see her smiling again.

But the problem was that this 'Jason' wanted Megan to come live with him in his apartment in America, and their Ma not only disapproved of the man himself but she couldn't stand the thought of her baby going so far away. But Megan didn't didn't seem to give a shit and she left not long after.

Jack's Ma couldn't sleep anymore, constantly waking Jack up when she switched on the lights to make a cup of tea at 3am in the morning. When he asked her about it she told him she was just having nightmares but Jack, only 13 at the time, was getting more and more worried, dark shadows appearing underneath his Ma's bright blue eyes. Jack began to wonder if she slept at all.

He eventually convinced her, after nearly a month of watching her drive herself into the ground, to go to a doctor, even though she continuously protested that nothing was wrong.

Jack wasn't allowed to hear what the doctor said, he waited outside the room, twiddling his thumbs until his Ma came out looking a little pale but reasonably okay. When they reached the car she explained to him that she had something called 'Insomnia' which meant she found it difficult to sleep. The doctor did give her some sleeping pills though, so Jack felt like the whole situation was resolved and for a while it was, until it wasn't.

He was around 15 when he woke up in the middle of the night to find his Ma standing at the side of his bed, shaking him gently. He'd groaned and grumbled a little at the early wake up call but it was what she said to him that made his blood run cold.

"Jack? Jack. I ca- I can't remember the way to my room, please wake up, I really want to go to sleep. Please." She sounded a little drowsy but Jack didn't miss the panic in her voice, the terror of not knowing where she was.

And that was only the first incident. Sometimes a relative or friend would come to visit and his Ma would look at them in complete confusion, wondering why a stranger was in their house until Jack explained to her who they were. There were a few incidents where she meant to drive herself to work but ended up somewhere completely different and having no idea how she got there. Jack couldn't count the amount of phone calls he got in the middle of class with his mother in a blind panic, crying quietly as she muttered that she had no idea where she was.

It shattered Jack's heart to see her that way.

Even though her son insisted she should go to the doctor she refused, becoming irritable and bitter, sometimes even scared any time he even brought the subject up. One time she got so annoyed that she threatened to kick him out, her eyes burning and her finger pointed towards the door.

Jack shut up about the doctor after that.

By the time he was 16 he was working at the local supermarket to try and keep them afloat. His Ma hadn't been going to work at the hospital ever since her friends there had began worrying about her, constantly asking her if she was alright and if she was getting enough sleep. Something Jack knew she wasn't.

She kept forgetting to take her pills no matter how much Jack tried to remind her and so he was now so used to the 5am wake up call of the lights in the kitchen switching on and the sound of the kettle boiling that he sometimes just got out of bed and joined her. They would just sit at the kitchen table, silently sipping their hot drinks until Jack had to go get ready for school or his Ma decided she might try and sleep for a while.