-where art takes us-

Tea cups

It's Thursday which means I only have to survive the following lessons and tomorrow and then I am free for the weekend. No Jason, no cheerleader, and no devil that keeps observing me, waiting for me to do a backflip or some kind of trick. I don't know what he is waiting for but I'm not some monkey whose job it is to entertain people and I am certainly not some kind of supernatural being that he can lure out of its hiding and catch in act.

Aside from them, I seem to accomplish my plan of not being noticed as if I'm not existing. I got peace and quiet. Well not quite, Achilles jumps on the fridge and knocks off three tea cups of which I manage to hold on to two of them. The one left falls directly in front of my feet and shatters.

The loud noise attracts the attention of my mother who peeks her head in to make out the source. She notices my shocked expression and the two tea cups I am holding and inhales sharply only to breathe out in chunks and hurry over to me. „Hun! You are bleeding! Why are you barefoot? Come sit down, I'll help you." I sit slowly down and observe her worried and hasty movements.

In the middle of searching, she lets out a few insults and keeps complaining about not being able to find the first aid kit. I just sit there not sure what to do still holding onto the cups. It's seriously not that bad, just a few broken pieces stuck in my foot and toes but nothing to cry about. I look down and after putting the tea cups next to me on the table I bend down and start pulling them out piece by piece.

Akna is out of sight by now so I call for Grandma and ask her for a needle and thread for a minor wound. She enters the room with exactly that, looks at my feet, and sits down next to me. „See granny, nothing serious. We have seen worse, right?" I say while smiling. I am not playing anything down. We did see worse in Romania.

„I can do it myself, just pass me the needle." I add. Grandma mumbles in Romanian „Copil neîndemânatic. Întotdeauna pune grijile altora înaintea ta...lasa-ma sa te ajut.". I am not fluent in Romanian and her mumbling makes it difficult to understand her clearly. The only thing I do understand is her insulting me. I know those words out of experience, clumsy. I was always careless and destroyed half of her belongings by just walking by and taking all the edges which left tons of bruises on me and my grandma with almost nothing left.

Sofia takes my feet and places them on her lap covert by her huge vintage layered skirt. While stitching my feet my mother storms into the kitchen with the first aid kit in hand and shouts that she found it. She drops it on the ground the moment she sees me bleeding on my grandma. „Hi... we are almost done." I tell her. She stands there another minute and crouches slowly next to me, takes my hand, and holds it to her face. I didn't expect her to cry but she does.

Completely overwhelmed with her reactions I pat her back. She sniffs while talking "I am useless... you are bleeding and all I can do is panic and grandma you're- you just stitched her as if that were the most normal thing in the world for you. You are a better mother than I am... You're not making a big fuss about it and Bora you- ... You didn't even flinch.". I knew that she was jealous of grandma Sofia's relationship with me but I didn't think it would be this bad. I feel sorry for her. It is no Biggy and grandma is just used to my clumsiness is what I tell her and she starts to breathe in a healthy pattern again. „Will you be okay at school with this kind of injury?" is what she asks me after drinking some water and getting herself under control.

"I am ok! How many times do I have to tell you? I am already late for school. So if you'd excuse me I will take my leave now." I say and give her a kiss on her forehead. Before heading out I squeeze grandmas hand and take my leave. I am glad I didn't choose to wear boots this morning cause those sneakers give me enough space not to chafe my wounds too much. I get in my truck and drive on the streets towards Hawkins high.