Questioning Reality

His last straw.

x.

My mind sometimes wonders when's my cousin's last straw.

As I hear my mother's complaints, I look over to the tall raven boy in front of my mother—my cousin. He stands there with a small awkward smile while his eyes look around the room as he tries to avoid my mother's burning gaze.

I watched from behind the wall of the kitchen's entrance. My eyes wander to my cousin's hands as my eyebrow slightly furrowed in confusion at how he swiftly massaged both the centre of his palms.

It bugs me that I don't know why he does that every time this happens. Could it be because his hands hurt from holding the bike's handle? No? Maybe from panicking and trying to calm himself down or... hold himself back.

Unconsciously, I felt my hands mirror what my cousin did.

From my view, you can see how tense his whole body is. He has this slouched posture, yet you could see how stiff his shoulder was while his head hung low. As for my mother, she stood there with her head up high, as she continued to ramble and rant about how he, my cousin, bought the wrong product, or how it was not the same amount that she wanted.

With no signs of her stopping, I sighed and leaned on the wall.

I let myself have a couple of minutes to clear my head before walking back to the hall to my room as I didn't want to hear more of my mother's scoldings. Though I could still hear her voice from here I decided it was for the best that I let them be and focus on myself.

I walked back to my room and I immediately rummaged through my cabinet. I looked for clothes and undergarments, readying them for when I finished showering.

This was our normal routine. Every time my mother lectures my cousin, I take showers to block the sound of my mother's high-pitched voice. It was annoying when it happened the first time a year ago, but as the days passed, I got used to this repetitive cycle.

Hopefully, my cousin did too.

I don't know why, but I have this uneasy feeling whenever I leave them alone every time this happens. Maybe because my cousin tends to bottle up what he feels and he might...

Nevermind.

My wild imagination creates a lot of scenarios inside my head, which I have no problem with, it certainly helped me with some of the stories I wrote or the art I used to make... but sometimes it gets too extreme for my liking.

As I took my time in the shower, I noticed the silence that filled the outside; no screams, no annoying lectures, no voices, just silence.

What happened?

Mother doesn't usually stop blabbering her mouth until I finish showering. Did her mouth get tired or something? Or was she at a loss for words?

Well, that's odd.

I quickly finished showering to witness the miracle of silence from the outside while managing to almost kill myself from hurrying. With a playful grin on my lips, I opened the bathroom door and...

"Uh...?"

In seconds, the grin I had from earlier dropped while my eyes widened in shock. Before I could even let out a gasp, I covered my mouth with my free hand as I was carrying my clothes on the other. 

The scene before me made my whole body tremble as I stared at my mother's dead body.

"I–I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I hear as I stand there frozen. My mind was nothing but blank as I continued to stand there like a statue with vines snaking around its body.

"Why..." I was at a loss for words, I... I didn't think it was going to happen, the thought I had earlier was a mere question, a thought...

I felt a small tug from my hand, tearing my eyes away from my mother.

"P-please believe me, I didn't mean to kill her! I–Auntie–she was the one who threatened me with a knife!" He says with desperation in his voice while his tight hold on my hand started to hurt me a little, I tried to take my hand away but a sharp pain in my head distracted me from what was happening.


And then for a moment, it went dark.

"Do-don't touch me! Get away from me!" He shouted as he swatted away the hand I tried to hold him with, his eyes were full of fear as he looked at me. I tried to go after him as he backed away but they, the officers held me back and stood in front of me, their backs facing my cousin.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Lauriel Ablerado, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Everything then fell silent for me as my mind became hazy, every word that fell out of their mouth turned to this very vague sound. With every passing second, a high-pitched ringing starts to cave in my ears.

With my mind filled with confusion and numbness, my eyes instinctively followed my cousin who was getting escorted by the medical staff to their ambulance. I stared at them for a while before my eyes caught a stretcher getting pushed by two people. On view was a white cloth getting soaked by blood covering the body that was laid on it.

Was that... Mother?

End Scene?

—Lol, that was craaazy. stay safe out there y'all.