Careful: twists and turns up ahead.
Love has never worked out for Ann in the past, and she's long since sworn off of it. But, when her brother starts bringing around a new friend named Ether, everything changes.
At first, they acknowledge their mut...
WARNING: This chapter contains sexual content that is not appropriate for audiences under the age of 17.
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There were some days that Mom woke up and went on a tirade. Usually, I was the recipient of such episodes and today was no different.
Sometimes, I wanted to call her what she was: bitter. Bitter because she chose to have children with a non-committal man, and she hated her life because of it. A lot of the time, I hated my life because of her. I couldn't see past what she showed me: the non-stop working just to make ends meet, the crappy apartment with raucous upstairs neighbors, the EBT card, the never-ending hardships that she endured only to get up the next day and do it all over again.
Other times, I wanted to hug her and tell her that I understood, that I felt a fraction of her pain, but something always stopped me. That something was probably the words coming out of her mouth.
"Annandale, you have got me all the way messed up if you think you're not doing these dishes today."
"Mom, not to throw Dawn under the bus, but..."
"I don't care about Dawn! I'm talking to you, get your ass up and clean this damn kitchen. You go to school and come home, you don't work like your brother does so I'm expecting you to pull your damn weight!"
I groaned and tossed the blanket off my legs, it fell in the floor.
"Girl, pick that blanket up!"
"Yes, ma'am..." I murmured, folding the blanket precariously.
"I'm on my way to work. I want this house clean today, Ann."
I padded into the kitchen behind her and nodded even though she was facing away from me. "Clean the kitchen," had quickly turned into "Clean the house," but I knew complaining would be useless.
"Did you hear what I just said?"
"Yeah, Mom."
She harrumphed and grabbed her oversized tote bag before slamming the front door shut behind her, with her went all of the tension from my body. I exhaled and sank into the couch, rubbing my forehead miserably.
Dawn had successfully avoided a verbal bashing for the millionth time. Hell, even if he had been in mom's line of vision she still would have targeted me.
On cue, Dawn came out of his room and whistled, "Mom went in on your ass this morning."
I could have strangled him, knowing that the reason for the pileup of dishes was because he was a food dumpster that didn't have a cleanup feature. Deciding not to give him the energy that I felt like giving him, I just rolled my eyes.
