Haunted

s k i p p e d

✫ ༒ Joey ༒ ✫

I was stood in the doorway of my mother's bedroom staring at her unmoving body.

"Mam," I called out, trying not to lose my cool.

My father had walked out on our mother three nights ago because he 'found himself a real woman.'

Mam had fallen to the floor in tears and then headed off to bed and hadn't left since.

It wasn't like she had five kids to take care of or anything.

"You have to get up," I told her, "I've the rest of them sent off to school, but Sean is downstairs. Nanny's in Beara with Aunty Alice so she can't take him, and I can't miss school again. Please, Mam."

Nothing.

"I have to get my project sorted for construction."

Again, nothing.

"It's worth over fifty percent of my leaving cert exam."

Silence.

"Mam!" I nearly shouted, "You're better off without him. Do you hear me? You are better off. Let him fuck off that that barmaid from town. He's her problem now."

She didn't even twitch, so I forced myself to walk over to the bed.

"Mam," I muttered as I crouched in front of her and tapped on her hand.

Still nothing.

"Mam, please," I softened my voice and tucked her hair behind her ear, "You have to get up."

A tear fell onto her cheek, letting me know she could hear me.

"Okay, Mam," I sighed, heading for the door, "I'll stay home and mind Sean."

It wasn't fair, but it was my life. I knew Gabriella would be texting me any minute to ask if I was alright. She worried a lot about me which was an interesting concept.

No one had ever cared about me.
Not like she did.

———————————————————

𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧 Gabriella 𖤣𖥧𖡼𖤣𖥧

It was the second day of Joey not being at school and I was worried. One, because that meant something was going on at home and two, because he would fall behind in class.

"You okay?" Aoife asked, obviously noticing my distress.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"He's fine, Gabs," Casey nudged me, "He always ditches school."

You don't know why!

"Yeah, I know," I lied.

I was hoping he wasn't being beaten to death by his monster of a father or that he wasn't dead in a ditch from doing drugs.

He'd been clean a month and I didn't want to watch that slip away. I'd been around high Joey and sober Joey and I liked the latter a lot better.