Don't Talk To Daddy

Chapter Twelve

As the weeks passed, and school came around, the unfortunate events of the Summer started to drift off into the past. I was able to bring Jake around the house, Mom and Dad's arguing became less and less frequent, and things started to be ----- calm. For once I was relaxed. Mom started to take over a little more responsibility of Harmony, and neither Mom nor Dad had any business trips scheduled for the entire month of September. During September, I felt as though maybe I had saved my family, that maybe I would have the happy family desired.

Unfortunately, my happy family didn't last long.

****

It was October eleventh when I once again became suspicious of my Mom.

"Mom, where are you? You're supposed to be here to watch Harmony. I'm going out tonight," I said into the phone, running around the house, trying to get ready, while at the same time trying to make dinner for Harmony, which Mom was supposed to be doing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey, but I'm busy. Can't you just stay home tonight?" Mom said, sounding sorry, but not sorry enough not to make me stay home.

"Mom, it's mine and Jake's anniversary, we planned on going out," I said, still scrambling around the kitchen, frequently almost dropping the phone into the food.

"Can't you just call it off? Your father and I never go out for our anniversary," She lied, they always went out for some fancy dinner, a few times they had even taken trips out of the country to celebrate.

"Mom, can't you just come home?" I asked. She shouldn't be busy doing anything. She has the week off from work, so she shouldn't have had anything to do, or any place to be.

"I'm sorr-" Mom started, and but she stopped in the middle of speaking. There was a few minutes before Mom said anything else. "Honey, I've got to go."

"Mom? Mom?" I started repeating into the phone, but Mom had already hung up. "Fuck you," I muttered and then sighed and placed the phone down on the counter. Nothing is important to Mom, unless it directly applies to her.

***

"I'm so sorry," I apologized for about the tenth time to Jake, who was stuck sitting on the floor with me, playing dolls with Harmony.

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. Where is your Mom, anyways?" He said, not making me feel the least bit better.

"She didn't tell me," I said, still disappointed that we were spending our fourth anniversary taking care of Harmony.

"Baltimore?" Jake joked, reminiscing from the Summer.

"Not this time," I said, knowing that she definitely wasn't in Baltimore.

"Have any ideas where she is?" He asked. I thought he had an idea of where she was himself.

"I'll be right back," I said, getting up. Figuring out where Mom is probably wouldn't be that hard. I went directly to Mom's office, an off-limits area to everyone but herself. If she was hiding anything, it would be in her office. I went directly for the computer, Mom's prized possession, next to her phone. I was easily able to figure out the password: Harmony. Once on her computer, at first glance it looked mostly like things for work, until I checked her e-mail.

Her inbox was filled with two things, spam and messages from Aaron. I couldn't believe she was still talking to that asshole. The fact that she still talked to him enraged me enough that if it weren't for Jake walking into the office, I would've thrown the computer at the wall. I rested my head on my hand, trying to keep my emotions under control, muttering to Jake, "She's with Aaron."

"I kind of guessed," He said, sounding partially sympathetic.

I couldn't speak anymore. I just sat there, staring at the screen. Staring at Aaron's name continuously running down the length of the page. A deep sadness overcame me. With all I've done, I still couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop Mom from going back to him, and there was no way I would be able to keep Dad from finding out. Jake was still standing by the door, probably wondering if it was best to leave me alone or not. He had apparently made up his mind when he finally said to me, "Trin, I'm really sorry. I'm not quite sure what to say,"

It took me a few minutes to finally answer him, "You don't have to say anything." I was still staring blankly at the screen. My mind was dead, and surprisingly nothing was going through my mind. There was a long pause, maybe several minutes long before everything came back to me. It was a flash flood of emotion and thoughts that ran through my mind. I felt like I was going insane again, almost the same feeling I had had back in Baltimore in the Summer, but this time, it was thirty times worse. "I'm going to kill him. I swear, Jake, I'm going to. I've never hated anyone more in my life. He's going to die," I started muttering just loud enough for Jake to hear me. I really did sound crazy, and I felt like it too. "Dammit! Mom! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I screamed, as I sunk deeper into the realms of insanity. "Aaron's going to die! I'll make sure of it!" I started screaming afterwards. I could see Jake was getting worried as I screamed out even more death threats against Aaron.

Suddenly, I was calm. The threats against Aaron came to a stop, and then the tears came. Emotion overtook me and I was no longer able to speak. The tears clouded up my vision, causing everything in sight to ripple, but I could still make out Jake's face, troubled with worry, unsure of what to do. I had no way to make the tears stop, nor to call out to Jake. I just had to sit there and wait it out, all the time being tortured by Aaron's name written all across the screen in front of me. The name was playing tricks on me; it started multiplying and stretching all across the screen. Cruel and unusual punishment it was. The words started twisting and turning, morphing into a picture of Aaron's face, mocking me. I couldn't have been anymore insane than I was at that moment. I had no control over myself, my emotions, or the words that were before me; the picture that was before me.

When the tears stopped, rage once again replaced it. When I could once again move, the first thing I did was take the computer and smash it into the wall across the room. The screen shattered and the words should've disappeared, but they seemed to be permanently burned into my vision. Everywhere I looked, Aaron was there with his crooked, drug-addicted, smile. It was everywhere I looked, even covering Jake's face.

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Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter, but I felt like I hadn't updated in so long and I knew if I didn't update, I never would.

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