Grab N' Go [Robin Arellano]

20: a Delusional Mother, a Good Girlfriend

Valentina is finally able to calm the boy enough to pull away from the hug, but Robin continues holding onto her hand tightly as they make their way through the neighborhood. In full honesty, she doesn't know where they are. Not only has she never been to this neighborhood, but her mind is still trying to catch up with what just happened and she is struggling to regain her sense of direction.

"I think we're by the 8th street park," Robin croaks out, having picked up on her loss of direction. "We should probably go that way."

She looks to the direction he nods in and begins to follow it. Soon enough, she can somewhat tell where she is and they are able to find Robin's house.

They rush in, drenched in blood, dirt, and rain.

To no surprise, his mother is once again sat on the couch- only this time, she's smoking a cigarette while wrapped in a robe. After taking a single look at her boy, you would expect her to cry and scream with relief- but no. Instead, she looks him up and down, then to Valentina, and shakes her head.

"The hell did you get into this time, Robin?" She scoffs, puffing on the cancer stick. "You're gonna ruin my nice rug coming in here like that."

"I was kidnapped," he angrily raises his voice at her. "Call the police. I need the hospital."

His mothers eyes widen in surprise momentarily. Then, she begins shaking her head, leaning forward to out her cigarette out.

"Don't make up lies because you're ashamed of whatever trouble you got yourself into! Ran away all because of a measly fight about 20 dollars," she bickers back, moving to leave the living room.

Valentina's jaw drops in bewilderment, staring at her incredulously.

Robin is appalled by her claim, face warping into deeper frustration as his eyes water. "I'm not lying! I didn't run away, Ma! I was kidnapped by the grabber. Why do you think I'm covered in blood?"

"You were not kidnapped! And I will not have you calling the police and making me look like a bad mother," she yells back, clearly not believing his tale at all. "If you wanna runaway again, then go! Be my guest. But I will not have you shaming my name. I am a great mother!"

"Clearly, you're not!" Robin screams back loudly, making Valentina flinch at his tone.  "You're a shitty mother, and I hope you rot in hell! I'll call the police myself if you're too fucking delusional to!"

While his mother is shocked by his language, she quickly replaces the expression with intensified anger. Storming towards the boy, he expects to be slapped and closes his eyes shut tight. Instead, he hears the sound of a slap resonate from beside him.

When he opens his eyes again, he turns to his right to see his mother standing over Valentina. Apparently, she walked past him to slap her instead.

Towering over her, the woman spits her venom through gritted teeth, "it's you that poisoned my son with your ideas. What's your plan? Take him away from me? Call the state? You stupid little cunt, that wouldn't do anything but land his ass right in a foster home."

Valentina simply shrinks, cowering into herself and holding her cheek while trying to suppress the tears from flowing down her stinging cheek. Her tiny little body shakes as she whimpers, making her look far more vulnerable than before.

Robin's face morphs into an unprecedented amount of anger, and he storms over to push his mother away roughly. After taking the girl into his arms and holding her head to his chest, he turns to his mother with a spiteful look.

"Don't ever put your fucking hands on her again," he growls out, ignoring the weary expression his mother is now wearing. "Have it your way. No police. But I'm leaving, and I'll never fucking come back to you. Don't send anyone looking or I'll tell them everything. I'll tell them how you leave for weeks, and months sometimes. I'll tell I was kidnapped and you ignored it. I'll tell them you hit someone else's kid. So look at my face closely because this is the last time you'll see it."