Work hard(er) (dadzawa)

8: Should be safe

My mother wasn't a stupid woman— weak and constantly running from her problems— but not stupid.

The day was going fine. I went to school, heard about the sports festival, had a conversation with Aizawa about making sure I would be training enough even with my 'situation'.

Once I reached home that afternoon I found my mother outside. She was lying on the floor, moaning in pain.
I stopped in front of her, my hands in my pockets as I wondered what was up with the day. Work wasn't in it, the manager was sick and closed the shop for a few days.
"You need help?" I muttered as I kept on staring as though bored.

My mother was clutching her bleeding nose. As she looked up some blood trailed down her face, onto the floor.
"___?"

"That's me." I sighed, "What happened?"
Someone walked passed, giving us a strange eye.
At my glare they hurried on.

"I didn't pay the... candy, on time."

Squinting my eyes I tried my best to stay patient, "Alright... so if you didn't pay for you drugs what did you do with my fucking money?"

My mother looked up some more, her eyes slightly vague as she tried to remember, "I got... I don't know... drugs?"

The glare resting on my face at that scramble of words might have scared my mother. She tried to sit up, "I— I'll fix this. I can, I'm sure of it. I just... I need to borrow someone's money."
Seeing her pale face I wondered wether I could be this mean, though the person who did this might come back. If he did I'd rather be able to pay them back— in money I mean, though if I met them they'd meet my fist as well.

"Borrow..." I muttered, "You do realise that means giving back, eventually?"

My mother fidgeted with her hands, "I don't know..."

"Right well, I'm going to change and train— make sure to be clean or something, find a job." I rolled my eyes, "If you can even walk on your own."

The afternoon turned into a late evening while I trained for the sports festival. I had studied it— not in a creepy way, but I knew how it worked. The requirements for me were to be able to be quick, to have a good strategy and if it came down to it, to be able to beat someone with a quirk in hand to hand combat.

When I got back home though, the house was empty.
Confused, I checked my mothers bedroom, but she wasn't there.
Walking to the fridge to see wether it somehow would contain something edible, I found a note sticking on the door of it.

'You're right, I need to get my shit together.
I'm sorry, I messed up.
I love you, be safe,
—Mom'

I stared at the note for a moment before I opened the fridge.
Still empty.

As I closed it, the small bit off hope it would be full some day rested in the back of my head.

+++++

The UA sports festival was drawing closer.
As I looked trough my clothes I tried to gather my thoughts.
Just a few weeks and I needed to be ready. A lot depended on my preparations and I couldn't afford to not get an internship.

Finding an outfit for the day I got ready and even brushed my hair.

It didn't take long for me to reach the local mall. I looked around a little before entering a shop and did a job interview.
Fortunately I got the job and walked out with a relieved sigh. The manager from my (now) old job had called in sick a lot lately and discovered some scary disease. The doctors would be able to save them, though it would take some time and now I was practically jobless for a long while.