Flawed [Ashton Irwin]

“I am done, Brendon! For good this time!” The words echo through the small house.

The tone of his mother’s voice makes the little boy jump as he leans against the kitchen door. He’s been sitting there for over an hour now, listening to his parents argue back and forth. This happens so often that he’s gotten kind of used to it. Staying up after midnight, helping his father clean all the broken plates and glasses off the floor when the fights are over. This time though he didn’t hear any shattering of glass, but the way his mother said her last words made his knees go weak for a few seconds. She just sounded so… sure of herself; like never before.

“What do you mean? Penelope, you can’t just leave, what about the boy? What about this family?” His father’s voice was almost desperate, probably feeling the seriousness in the woman’s words as well.

“Fuck this family, there was never a family to begin with! I never even wanted that little brat! You can take care of him your damn self, I am done playing house wife!”

The five year old got up from his spot and ran back to his room, hearing the kitchen door open just a few seconds later. The two adults kept on yelling at each other as someone slammed drawer after drawer. The man kept on saying “You can’t leave!” but the woman just replied with “Watch me!”. It was hell on earth for about ten minutes.

His mother’s words kept replaying in his head over and over. She didn’t mean what she said, right? He knew his mother loved him, well, she must have. Otherwise she wouldn’t have stuck around and taken care of him for so long. Her words were just empty, spit out in anger. He was sure that he loved his mother and in some kind of weird, twisted way she loved him too. She would sometimes take him grocery shopping with her and if it was a good day she would even let him pick himself some candy. Yes, his mother did love him, he was sure of that.

Then suddenly all the yelling stopped and there was a loud bang of the front door slamming shut. Taking small steps towards the hallway, he saw his father sit there with an expressionless figure, just looking into empty space with his hands in his hair. Getting closer to the man, the boy looked inside his parent’s room, seeing lots of clothes on the ground and also drawers emptied out.

“Dad?” He whispered. “Mom is going to come back, right?” Looking up at his father, he saw the uncertain look on his face.

Sitting there for a few moments, just looking at each other, the little boy didn’t really know what to think anymore. This was just another scene, right? His mother was going to go away for a few hours, eliminate all of her anger and then come back the next day. But the way his father said his next words made him a bit scared for what was to happen next.

“Yeah, kid… I think she will.”

She never did.

Notes