After we had our cookies and milk we went upstairs to our rooms. Paul had a little homework and then sat in his room playing on his Wii. Greg had loads of revision to do for his up and coming exams and I had a history project to complete and why the second world war had started.
By six pm dad still hadn't arrived home, which wasn't really unusual, he was more often late than on time and never early. Mrs Bell called us into the kitchen and as we entered the smells were delicious. She had cooked a lovely stew which was in a large pot on the middle of the table. She told us to start eating and not to wait for our father. She said he had called and that he was due back around 7pm. She told us she was going home and that we should be good until our father arrived. She told us to leave the dirty dishes, she would be back in the morning to wash them up and clean everything. She let herself out the back door.
We were just finishing when dad came in. He looked really tired. He told us he had just been visiting mum, that she was much better. The following day she was going to be moved to a lovely clinic close by where she would stay for a few weeks. Until she got completely better. At the weekend we would all go and visit her.
Greg started to question dad, but he just raised his hand and told Greg not to bother him . That he was very tired and had a lot of work to do. With that he left us and went into his office at the back of the house and closed the door behind him.
We finished eating and then silently went up to bed. No one said anything. And that was really the main problem in our family. Or so I remember surmising. No one every said anything. Not really. We just didn't speak about our feelings. We didn't dare to say what we were really feeling as it may hurt or anger one of us. I mean, we were all hurting, we couldn't understand what was happening. But we just went along with our lives. We seemed incapable of helping each other.
I remember lying on my bed and thinking that I was going to change this. I was going to talk. I was going to dare to say what I really felt. I would do it at the weekend, when we were all together and see what happened.
To be continued
YOU ARE READING
Dare to Say
Short StoryIsn't it funny just how much your mother can influence your life. You don't even realise it. You're born into a family and take everything that happens within it as normal. I mean, until you are older and start comparing ......
