Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter 10

    For weeks on end, the atmosphere of my house was very intense. With Mariah walking out, that made things turn out to be the worst. Meals were ate in awkward silence, nobody laughed at or with each other, we didn't even talk, let alone look at each other. If we passed each other in th house, like the living room, kitchen, or hallway, we would avoid eye contact and keep walking. I kept having a funny feeling that this was going to continue until either myself or my mom apologized. Personally, I felt she should be the bigger person, considering she's my mom. But I guess it was my turn to wear the pants in the family. So one night, at yet another awkward family dinner, I spoke up.

    "Mom, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said. It was wrong and I take it all back." I stared at her, my eyebrows raised, waiting patiently for a reply. My mom stared back, her expression blank. After a few seconds of intense staring, no words, she took a drink of water from the glass in front of her, stood up, and swept from the room.

    I groaned in frustration, smacking my forehead with my left hand. I didn't think I could handle much more of this.

    "Dad, what am I supposed to do about - her?" I said, waving my hand in the direction in which she left the room.

    "Wait for it," my dad said quietly, putting his index finger in the air, signalling for me to wait a minute. Approximately ten seconds later,my mom quietly came back into the room, and took her place at the table. After another second of silence, a tear slid down my mom's cheek, and she whispered to me, "I'm sorry too."

    I stood up, took the one step towards her, and hugged her tightly. My dad started rubbing her back, attempting to comfort her. After we finished hugging, I sat back down, and we finished our suppe, which consisted of steak and potatoes. I felt suddenly closer to my mom than ever before.

    When I went to bed that night, it was ten o'clock. Normally, I'd go to bed later, but I have school tomorrow. I got comfortable in bed, and started to read. It was extremely hard to focus on Harry Potter, because there were so many thoughts running through my head. It was impossible to focus after only  minute, so I got up, walked over to my calender, and crossed off another box with a marker.

    After that short task was done, I took a sidde-step to my left, which had me standing in front of my mirror - this is something I do when I'm bored, I'm not conceited. I took a glance at my reflection, then noticed something in the reflection of my window behind me. There was a person's face. Mariah's face to be exact. I looked closer at it in the mirror, because I was afraid to turn around. Mariah was giving me a death glare. She mouthed something, and then she vanished. My heart was pounding, but I had to suppress a scream. I walked over to my lightswitch, and as soon as it went out, I made a run for my bed, in the dark.