Broken Souls Collide

Chapter 38 - Broken Confessions

REECE

If you asked me what I expected to see while entering the kitchen one random Thursday morning, I certainly wouldn't think to assume it'd be finding my mother slumped on the tiled floors with her back against the middle island.

Nothing but confusion washed over me as I pondered over why she sat there with an unopened bottle of whiskey between her outstretched legs and a dead look in her unfocused gaze. I rubbed at my sore eyes and took a cautious step forward as I continued to observe her unmoving figure.

"Mom?" I murmured hesitantly and didn't miss the way my heart seemed to drop for a mere moment when she didn't respond in the slightest– not even the blink of an eye, as if I wasn't even in the room.

I debated whether to just leave her to her weird antics and continue getting ready for school, or to actually be concerned over her odd behaviour this morning.

I didn't want to worry over someone who couldn't care less about me, but if I was honest with myself, she was still my mother and I became concerned the moment I walked through the opened archway.

I just couldn't help it, not when I still clearly remembered the woman she once was.

Before I could even attempt to ask her why she was acting so out of character today, I was hit with the sudden realization that we were already nearing the end of May, and mom always behaved like this when it reached the end of this month.

Was it already that time of the year again?

Sure enough, when I looked over at the calendar that hung against the plain grey wall of our kitchen, each box had been crossed out in bold red marker up until the twenty-sixth.

The twenty-sixth of May; today was dad's birthday.

If the marked calendar was anything to go by, it seemed mom had been keeping count of the days– as if to torture herself.

Shame seeped its way into my bones at the prospect that I hadn't even realized how much significance today actually held. It certainly wasn't just some random Thursday; in just the span of ten seconds, my mood had plummeted drastically.

Had I seriously been so stuck in my own head recently that I hadn't even remembered the substantial detail of my own deceased father's birthday coming up soon?

Had the current events in my life really been that much of a disaster lately?

It seemed to be that way, I've always been painfully aware of this day lingering around the corner each year until now.

I suddenly felt awful, and it wasn't hard to pinpoint the reason why.

"You okay?" Came Sammy's soft voice from my left. With a quick blink back to reality, I took a brief glance in his direction to find his focus on our unresponsive mother who still sat on the floor in a dejected manner.

"It's the twenty-sixth," I simply replied instead of answering his question directly. My response was an answer in itself.

"Sounds like you just found that out," he murmured and when I didn't disagree after a few silent moments, he got his answer. "I figured you might not have realized it was today. You've been pretty distracted lately," he added once he concluded that I wasn't planning on responding to his comment anytime soon.