To Throw It All Away

Chapter Ten: Mackenzie in the Middle

"What do you mean Mackenzie's hurt?!" I heard Mom yell at Dad on the other line after he informed her of what had happened. The phone wasn't on speaker, but she loud enough to hear without it.

"Calm down, Melissa. It's just a sprained ankle. It'll be all better in a few weeks."

"I can't believe you, Kurt! You broke my daughter!"

"Accidents happen. Calm down. Mackenzie's fine. She's been a brave girl."

"You are so irresponsible! Ice skating?! What the hell were you thinking?!" He got up and left the room so I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, but it went pretty much how I expected it to. She was livid.

Dad returned a few minutes later. The expression on his face hinted that the talk with Mom hadn't gone well at all. He pursed his lips together then said,

"Well kid, it looks like your visit here is cut short."

"What do you mean?"

"Your mom's coming to get you tomorrow. Apparently I'm irresponsible and can't take care of you." I rolled my brown eyes. She always had to intervene. She was just jealous that I was spending time with Dad instead of her. She was such an annoying control freak. Maddie was a mini version of her and so in our household, I was outnumbered by their craziness.

"That's not fair! It wasn't your fault!"

"She doesn't see it that way. I promise you can come back soon though. The last person I want to be mad at me is your mother. I'm afraid she'll kill me in my sleep if I don't follow her orders." Mom wasn't Dad's biggest fan, but I didn't think she was going to kill him. At least I hoped she wouldn't.

"I'm not going with her!"

"Mackenzie, it's just the easiest thing to do. You know how your mother is."

"No! I'm not leaving!"

"Yes you are." I got up to storm off to the room where I was staying, but I was stopped by my injured food and had to limp. It didn't make much of a statement.

"Where are you going? Let me help you." I just flopped back down on the couch instead.

"Just leave me here to die."

"I know it sucks, Kenz. But your mother has primary custody, and she can sue me if I don't let you go back."

"I'm going to sue her for emotional distress." He chuckled as if I were joking. There were a few times that I'd googled how to report parents for emotional abuse because my mom had done tons of it.

"We can still have fun tonight. Do you want to rent another movie or something?"

"I just want to mope."

He tried to cheer me up by making spaghetti for dinner which was my favorite, but it didn't do much. He told me I could pick any movie I wanted to order off of pay-per-view but I just wanted to go to bed. I'd had a long day and just needed some alone time.

Yesterday I'd wished that my mom would just pick up the phone and call me, but now I regretted our decision to call her. We never should've told her about my foot. She would've found out when Dad took me home and could've had her tantrum then. I didn't want to leave Dad's, and I wasn't going to...