Bound For Ruin

Chapter 8

I groaned when I heard the loud three knocks and the call for my name from my mother who was behind my bedroom door. I looked at the alarm clock beside me and groaned once more when I saw that it was 5 in the morning. "This is way too early," I whispered as I rubbed my eyes tiredly and called out to her so that she could enter the room.

I yawned loudly whilst I sat up on the bed, pulling the pink blanket to my neck and trying to stay awake by constantly rubbing my eyes with my covered hands. I smiled slightly when I heard the slow beginnings of the Happy Birthday song from both my parents and saw the medium sized chocolate cupcake in my mother's hands that had a small candle in the middle of it.

"Make a wish," my mother said as she took a seat beside me and brought the cupcake near my mouth so that it could be easy for me to blow out the candle. I closed my eyes and wished for the one thing that I've been wishing to have since the beginning of this year, a car. It was the one thing that I desperately craved as I seen my peers enjoying theirs on multiple trips with their friends. Seeing them have so much freedom with their cars made me wish for one.

I had my eyes set on a particular car, Mercedes-Benz R107. I fell in love with its beauty when I saw it in a movie that I was watching when I needed background noises so that I could keep myself up to do the homework that was piling up on my desk. It was when I looked up to take a five minute break from the long two hours did I see the car being driven by some boy. It was the perfect car for me to drive around and I would not accept any other gift than that car right there.

I had been getting posters about the car and informing my parents on how I was obsessed with the sound of the car whenever I had the chance. I made sure that my hints were quite obvious but if my parents hadn't bothered to take my hints into mind, it would completely shatter my heart. I needed it and I blew the candle with the sole intention of hoping that the biggest wish of them all was about to be granted.

"You need to get ready so that we could start preparations for the party." I nodded as I bit into the tasty cupcake that my mother bought from the grocery store as she hated to bake.

~~~~~~~

My birthday parties were always an extravagant occasion as my parents often used them to ascertain their status in the privileged society. Their peers, who were wealthy people who owned businesses and were a product of generational wealth, always looked down at my parents because of their professions. They labeled them as poor folk who just tried to fit in even though they've seen the houses that we moved to on a yearly basis and the cars that my father changed almost every four months.

My parents made sure to hire party planners who were worth quite a penny so that they could boast about their contact with them. They also used this as an opportunity to make me familiar with their peers due to them being of the same status as I am but at most times it were annoying because I preferred to stay alone instead of conversing with others even if they were quite fun to hang around with.

"Wow!" My mother exclaimed whilst covering her mouth with her paint covered hands when I walked out of the dressing room to show the beautiful dress that was custom made for my birthday party. "You look breathtaking, baby."

I blushed at the compliment and turned towards the floor to ceiling mirror to see how the dress looked on me. I was in awe of the pink ballgown that was inspired by seashells. "I'm obsessed," I said as I twirled around until I was content with the way it flowed around me with each twist. I stopped to look at myself once more when I felt dizzy and said, "I can't wait for my friends to see me in this. They're going to love everything about it. Don't you think, daddy?"

I looked at the reflection of my father through the mirror and sighed at the horrible condition that he was in. My father was a neat man, he hadn't liked people seeing him anything other than proper so it was a bit concerning to see him out of his usual slacks and shirt  and in a worn out tracksuit that I'm surprised had even made into his closet.

"I'm sure that they're going to love it," my father responded as he chugged down the rest of his drink until there was nothing left. I tsked when he stood up from his seat and walked towards the kitchen to probably take another bottle of Black Label to satisfy his thirst for cheap alcohol.

The horrible state of my father became a growing concern as it became worse as more days go by. It was just a few days ago when I had seen my father entering the house with 5 crates of different brands of cheap alcohol and 6 packs of cigarettes. I initially thought that it was for a friend who needed a favour, but it was a horror to see my father drown himself in these until he dropped from doing too much.

I asked my mother countless of times about the reasoning of these actions, and she would always say "Work is a bit overwhelming at this moment so he needs to deal with it before he goes it becomes too much to handle." Her reasonings made me more concerned because not many people will turn to litres of alcohol and cigarettes because of hard days at school.

Although I wanted to help my father in getting back to his usual self, I had to respect that he had his own way in dealing with the issues that he faced at work.

"I think your friends are going to be jealous," my mother said as took a sip of her wine. "Your makeup artist is coming soon so get ready."

~~~~~~

"Mia!" I scream, hoping that she could hear me through the extremely loud music. "I'm so glad you're here. I thought you wouldn't come." I was bummed out when I sent an invitation to her in regards to my birthday and she informed me that she wouldn't be able to attend due to some family business trip. Although she was an odd person, I still preferred her company over anyone else in this hall so it was a delight to see that she could attend.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. Plus where else would I get to see such beauty? You look amazing, honey." I blushed at her compliment and took ahold of her hand so that I could guide her to the dance floor so that we could enjoy the playlist that I spent on.

After dancing to over 7 songs, I chose to guide Mia to the sitting lounge so that we could take the pressure off of our feet and have a couple of drinks to calm ourselves down. "What would you like?" I asked as I pointed at all of the bottles of alcohol that were in one of the cabinets.

"Some pinotage would be lovely," she said as she prompt her feet onto the couch and closed her eyes.

"You can't be sleeping at this time, Mia," I reprimanded as I passed her a glass and took a seat besides her.

"I can't help it, I haven't slept in days." I shook my head in disappointment at the statement. It was her responsibility to sleep at the appropriate times but I'm sure she was way too busy watching YouTube videos and reading her manga to even consider doing that.

"You should sleep tho," I replied tiredly as I massaged the balls of my feet and took a sip of the wine, almost moaning at the delicious taste of the drink.

We soon fell into a period of silence, where the only thing could be heard were the occasional pop that indicated a new bottle was opened and our sloppy slurps of the drink that could drive any sane person mad. I knew that I was supposed to keep my drinking at a minimum but it was much too difficult to do so when the drink tasted so good.

"I'm sorry, Minnie." I scrunched my eyebrows at the odd statement.

"Why are you apologising?"

"I'll tell you later."

Before I could even ask her what she meant, I felt a cloth covering my nose and then soon lost consciousness.