A Deceiving Passion

Different Worlds

"Boys!" Stevie yelled.

She intimidated the teenagers and mindlessly, she caused a certain amount of fear within them by the tone of her voice that they actually came running down the stairs to see what it was that she needed.

"Yeah, mom?" Roman asked, standing tall next to his brother. 

"What's wrong?" Brandon then asked, crossing his arms as he watched her lean into the kitchen counter.

She was in some casual clothes from around the house; a long black maxi skirt and a simple long sleeve shirt; a much more homey, more soft looking version of Morticia Addams except she was blonde and makeup free thus far into the journey.

"Is something wrong?" Brian even tore himself from the couch and television in order to see what he could do. 

"This house is a sty," she then placed her hands to her hips. "I seriously don't know what was going on before, but whatever this is..." she gestured all around, "it's about to change. So boys, I need to you to start doing chores... Brandon, please take out the trash, and Roman, please start the dishes."

They stayed looking at her for a minute, slightly stunned to be told what to do. 

"Well...?" she lingered. 

Brian suddenly looked over and he noticed how frozen they were. "Go on, now. Get moving," he clapped his hand twice in order to get some sort of reaction out of them. "Listen to your mother."

"Okay..." Roman was the first to reply and he moved straight toward the dishes in order to wash the ones that had easily compiled from the day. He got the water hot enough that he could stand and he started loading the dishwasher. 

Brandon backed away from the scene slowly, unsure of his mother's new persona. 

She was so different.

Brian then looked over at the blonde. 

Her right brow arched and she moved toward him, her dark brow doe eyes settling on her husband's. 

"When is the last time this house was cleaned?"

"You wanna know the truth?"

"Absolutely," she crossed her arms. "I know I just swept and mopped the kitchen floors and they're filthy again. There are clothes thrown over the rails of the stairs again... I don't get it," she arched her brow. "It's like you guys don't know how to clean up after yourselves."

"Quite frankly, you used to do everything... And then when you left, everything got a little out of whack and now you're back... The boys assume you're gonna do it, you always did..."

"They don't seem to have a problem helping with the baby... If they can take care of a baby, they can take care of simple chores. I will clean this house top to bottom, but after that, they need to keep up with it. And that goes for you too..."

He was taken aback by her sudden outburst. 

"I haven't really seen you do a thing in the last few days other than take care of me, you said you had to work but you haven't worked. You've been held up by the television... Not even the kids seem to faze you."

"I take the boys to school every day and due to catering to you, I am working from home," he explained. 

"Fine, but as I clean around you, you do nothing..."

He was a little stunned to say the least; she was starting to sound like his wife and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do other than provide and protect like he had always done.

"Look, I don't want to argue..." Stevie walked over in order to pull Sofia out of the play pin and she sighed. "I just don't want to be the only one doing anything around here when you guys are perfectly capable of cleaning up after yourselves..." she then walked away and she made her way up the stairs in order to start readying the baby for bed.