The Only Exception

Capítulo Uno

I was fifteen when I broke my arm, slipping on a skateboard. I was sixteen when I got my wisdom teeth taken out. I was seventeen when my parents spent every night yelling at each other. I was eighteen when my mother found my father cheating on her. I was nineteen when my mother killed herself and left me the responsibility of my baby brother.

At the mere age of seventeen, I was exposed to how horrible people could be to each other. I questioned why we hurt the people we love and then I decided that I didn't need love to be happy. I couldn't believe in it after what my father did to my mother. It hurt too much to believe in something that only caused insanity and pain.

It's been one year since my mother left us. Today was her death anniversary and the flashes of that horrible day still run through my mind. I came home one day from my shift at the local diner to Wren crying in front of the television with my mother nowhere in sight. After I calmed Wren down and put him to sleep, I saw my mother's bathroom light on. It was weird that she left Wren crying in the living room to use the bathroom. She usually left him place with the toys on the floor of her bedroom. I knocked on the door several times to no answer before I pushed open the unlocked door.

I found her unconscious in the bathtub with a bottle of pills in her hand.

When the EMT's arrived, she was already dead.

I still have nightmares of that day and I refuse to go into her bedroom.

My door creaked open and I immediately wiped my tears away. Wren stood at the threshold, clutching his Superman plushy.

"I had a nightmare," he said quietly.

I pouted and patted the spot next to me. "Come here, munchkin." Wren jumped onto the bed and laid his head on my chest. My arms wrapped around his tiny body protectively and I kissed his soft hair.

Wren was only three when our father left us. He barely remembers him and I would like to keep it that way. I decided that I'd only tell Wren about our father when he asked about it, but other than that I'd never speak of him. I didn't want Wren to think our father left because of him. It was completely untrue. Our father left because he was selfish, to say the least. He found a younger, tighter girl and he jumped at the chance at someone half his age liking him. It was gross thinking that my dad was with a girl the same age as his daughter. To be honest, I'm not sure why exactly he did what he did, but I just know the way he broke my mother was enough for me to hate him.

Sighing, I looked down at Wren's small form. It was unfair that at such a small age, this was happening to his family. He'd never know his father -thankfully- or mother. But, even though his was happening, I promised myself that I'd do everything for Wren. I'd never leave him like our parents left us.

I ran my fingers through his blonde hair and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Wren." I whispered before I let sleep take over.

---

The next morning I slept through my alarm and was rushing to get ready. As I tried to slip on my jeans, I tripped over my feet and landed face first on the floor.

Groaning from the impact, I lift my head up to see a pair of blue shining eyes.

"Whatcha doin', Ama?" (pronounced like Emma)

I smiled at Wren's cute nickname for me. He never could follow pronounce Amy so he'd begun saying Ama and it stuck.

I removed some of the hair that fell in front of my face before grabbing Wren into my arms. "Nothing, munchkin. Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yes!" he said, showing off his pearly whites.

"Great job! Now get you cute butt downstairs, I need to finish getting ready and you have to get next door to Ms. June."