Tempest: Chapter 2

After a long wait I was finally allowed to leave. My mum, Rebecca, was waiting outside the airport, her tatty green mini grumbling impatiently. I threw my ripped case into the back seat and clambered into the front, next to my mum. I could see what my grandad meant – she was a mess. Her, usually bright, green eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with red and her pale sallow skin was in terrible condition. Her dark hair was frizzy beyond belief and just as greasy. As she climbed in, she gave me a half-hearted smile, showing her yellowing teeth, and pulled me awkwardly into an uncomfortable hug. I hugged her back, even though the bones under her translucent skin dug in painfully.
“Hey Mum,” I mumbled into her clothes quietly, afraid to look up at her sad face again.
“Hello darling,” she sobbed, breaking out into tears, which slowly dripped down her cheeks and into my hair.
“It’s okay Mum. You’ll get over him eventually. You just need time.” I really hoped that was true.
“Sure. Time. That’s what I need,” she spluttered sarcastically, though it was hard to understand what she was saying.
“It’ll be fine. I’m here now and you can just relax while I take care of it all for you. Just sit back and enjoy life, Mum. I won’t be here forever so you might as well take advantage of the time you have to enjoy yourself.” I wasn’t really that good when it came to soothing people.
“I don’t want to relax, Carmen!” she growled, starting the car and pulling out of her parking space.
“But you need to; otherwise you’ll never get better. That’s why I’m here.”
She scowled.
“So that’s it? That’s the only reason you’re here! You’re not here to see your Mum, just do all her work for her! Well you can just go back to Florham because I don’t need you to do my work!” she yelled, shaking her head defiantly.
“Mum, just chill! I only wanted to help you while you get over the divorce, okay? Of course I want to see you!”
She shook her head vigorously, her curls bouncing around her face.
“No, you think I’m crazy! Well, I’m not damnit! I’m not!”
“I know you’re not crazy, Mum! Just listen, okay?! It must have been hard for you with Barry leaving and all so I just wanted to take your jobs off your hands while you come to terms with it. I don’t want you to take on too much.”
“Fine, you can help, but we’re doing it my way, okay? I’m the parent and you’re the child. I tell you what to do, okay?”
“Sure,” I shrugged, not wanting to upset her again.
We drove home in silence, both feeling more comfortable that way.
As we pulled into the drive by her house, I couldn’t believe how little this house had changed in six years. The tree by the path hadn’t grown an inch and the immaculate white paint surrounding the house wasn’t even starting to peel off. I smiled as I stepped out of the car, shocked by the memories of this house that suddenly revealed themselves in my mind. I heaved my case out of the car and headed to the door, where my mum was trying to find the right key.
After about ten minutes she finally found the house key and held the door open as I struggled past her with my half-empty suitcase. Inside was like a bombsite, rubbish cluttering the entire house. Tissues covered the carpets like snow with random boxes in between them. I sighed as I waded through the sea of tissues. This was going to take a while to clean up. I was actually surprised when I found my bedroom completely devoid of tissues or rubbish, exactly as I had left it. I slung my suitcase on the bed before examining the many posters covering the faded blue walls of my room. The sheets on my bed were immaculate, not a speck of dust dulling them. I smiled as I remembered my mum the last time I’d been here – so happy and carefree and always cleaning.
She’d been married to Barry for twelve years back then, as well as having his child, and they were still so smitten. That was then of course, before my mum had found him cheating on her with his secretary. The two years had been tough for both of them and mainly consisted of Barry grovelling to my mum, telling her how deeply sorry he was. Eventually things worked themselves out and Barry and my mum were back on track. Or so I thought. Three years later, a week after my mum’s birthday (December 13th) she’d found him cheating on her again with the same secretary. And that was basically it. They’d had a shotgun wedding and a shotgun divorce and now she was all alone again.
Though that had been a year ago and I would have figured she’d be over it by now. Apparently not, considering the state she was in now.
I sighed and walked out of the room to the snowy mess that was my new home. My mum was in the kitchen, helping herself to a can of lager.
“Hello Mum,” I smiled vaguely as I grabbed the milk bottle and a glass.
“Oh hey sweetie. Heather is in the garden with her friends if you want to go and say hi to her,” my mum smiled, pointing to the grimy glass door behind her. Heather was Barry and my mum’s daughter. When they’d gotten divorced he promised to see Heather everyday. That lasted for a week before he took off, leaving Heather and my mum alone. That hurt Heather a lot. She’d had to go to therapy for weeks to get over it. My mum told me she wouldn’t eat and when she did eat she threw it all back up again. That’s how bad it hurt her. The first time I’d met her was last time I’d visited here, five years ago, and as soon as we met we were inseparable. I spent all summer here with my mum and Barry and Heather and some of Heather’s friends. I didn’t want to leave at the end of the holidays I was having so much fun! I made sure to IM with her every night and we kept in touch for a while. Then it became once a week. And then once a month if I was lucky. Eventually we both went our separate ways and grew apart, which was kind of sad. Well for me anyway. It probably wasn’t for her because she had so many friends, but I had no friends. Probably because of the whole so-clumsy-I’ll-soon-be-disabled thing or all the bad luck that seems to congregate around me. Then again it must have been hard for Heather too, what with her dad abandoning her and all.
I had to keep in mind that it had been five years since I’d last seen her and she may be a little to how I remember her. I could see figures outside through the muck, about six or seven of them sat on garden chairs in a circle.