Temptress

41|Punishing Myself Again

Sereia's POV

"Oh, how about this one?" my mother pointed at the coffin from the funeral home's website.

I shook my head. "Dad, would've hated that."

She picked up her lighter and lit a cigarette.

"Can you please not smoke in my house?" I requested as I looked over dad's mortgages. "I'm selling it in a few weeks."

"Oh come on baby," she said. "This is such a nice house. You and I can live in it."

I ignored her. "Can you please just pick another coffin? We need to order it by today."

"My daughter is so grumpy," she complained as she put the cigarette between her lips.

I pulled back my hair feeling stressed as I looked at all the missing payments on the house. "The bank's gonna take this place."

"Who cares?" she asked as she scrolled through the site.

"I care," I said. "This is where Violet and I grew up. This is where Dad grew up."

"Violet's dead, dad's dead, and soon you'll be too if you don't take a drag from my cigarette."

I buried my face in my palms. "Mom, can you just be sane for once and help me?"

I was barely keeping it together.

"Baby, I am, but you're acting too moody," she said. "Is this because your boyfriend broke up with you?"

"He wasn't my boyfriend," I clarified as I put away the bills.

"Does he know that your father died?" she asked and I shook my head.

"No, and I doubt he'll care anyway," I said. "I told you what I did to him."

"Oh baby, he'll come around," she tried to comfort me.

"Not him," I answered. "I did the one thing he asked me not to do."

"And so what?" she asked. "I didn't make the perfect daughter. You mess up sometimes, but you always make up for it."

My eyes swelled with tears again and I quickly wiped them away.

My mother was actually comforting me.

I still haven't allowed myself to cry. I shouldn't cry.

"How about this one?" I asked as I pointed at something I believed my dad would've wanted.

"Oh baby that's beautiful," she smiled. "But the price."

"It's fine," I told her. "I can pay for everything."

She pinched my cheek with a smile.

"Owe," I complained. "That hurt."

"Your dad was so proud when I told him that you were working in the big leagues," she smiled. "You did something that poor folks like us can only dream of."

"Mom," I sighed heavily when my eyes started to burn.

She looked at the time on my laptop before standing up. "I have to go."

"Wait what?" I asked as I stood up with her. "Can't you just stay a bit longer?"

"No baby," she said. "I'm meeting my friends at the bar. We're going to drink for your father."

"So you didn't consider inviting me?" I asked, trying to find any way not to be alone tonight.

She scoffed. "As if such a young girl like you would want to drink with old ladies like us."