The Night Children

Chapter 2

"Well I'm glad."

I looked sharply up at mum in astonishment. "Why?"

She looked at me with her haunted brown eyes and dropped the newspaper onto the table. "Because you deserved it, maybe it will teach you a lesson." She answered, her gaze pointedly fixating on mine.

I took another bite of the apple, ensuring I could use the extra time to control the sudden flare of anger that surged through me. "What makes you say that?" I asked carefully, picking my way through my words.

"Clearly you did something wrong to Miss Anderson," Mum continued, her voice almost robotic like. "So therefore your punishment must be severe if she wanted to teach you a lesson."

I nearly dropped my apple but instead placed it half eaten on the counter. I then rounded on Mum, moving to stop in front of her. "Want to know the reason why I was so late mother?"

Mum's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. I saw a piece of myself in her at that moment. A flash of stubbornness that crossed her gaze. Maybe the reason why we clashed so much was because we were so alike.

"Because my bi-polar mother conveniently forgot everything I had done for her over the years." I snarled, my fingers clenching on the unoccupied seat in front of me. "And then for the benefit of the doubt I listened to the rubbish that came out of her mouth. So, after hearing her side of the story, I thought it would be better if I walked to school. Otherwise I would've had to listen to more lies that came out of her mouth." I sucked in a breath, feeling the heat rise to blossom my cheeks. "That is why I was late."

Mum only stared, however her skin had lost its colour. Her bottom lip trembled but her eyes were steel like. She stared me down, her hands clenching on the newspaper she had discarded. She looked furious, with veins along her forehead rising to the surface.

"If your father was here, he would punish you severely." She hissed but the words stung like the icy wind outside. I felt my heart skip a beat at the mention of him but I covered it up by shoving the chair in front of me to bang into the table.

"Guess what mum?" I said, my voice soft but full of spite. "He's not here is he, and he never will be. Quit bringing him up when you yourself know he's never going to come back. I am the decider of my own actions, he is not, and never will be back to judge my mistakes."

Her eyes widened, her clenched fingers slackening with shock but I wasn't finished.

"Oh wait-" I glanced down at my watch with raised eyebrows. "You wouldn't want to be late for work mum, you might have to do ten hours of scrubbing stains in the carpet of your crappy office room." I cocked my head at her, watching as unshed tears began to dust her eyelashes. "Maybe you should practise what you preach." And with that I stormed away, snatching my discarded bag as I went. The sound of the door slamming was the only thing that echoed in my mind even after I was halfway down the street.

Guilt immediately sank in as I stalked away, walking down the curb into the street. For years I had built up anger that I never released. Even to Aleena, I usually kept my mouth shut about my current emotional state. But my patience was drying up, as well as my ability to stay around Mum.

I had helped her, fed her, cleaned her. I had done everything for her in hopes of fixing her. But after seven years I was finally realising that sometimes you can't help the people who don't want to be helped.

I sighed, and glanced down at my phone, wondering if I should ring Aleena to see if she could pick me up. She's probably still asleep, I thought dismissively before putting my phone back into my pocket.

Snow lined the street from the previous night, and I pulled my thin jumper closer to my chest. Snowflakes trickled into my hair, wedging into thin strands to melt against my exposed skin. I shivered and walked faster, hunching over like a shadow to remain warm.