The Evolution of a Drowning Butterfly

Chapter Nine

As I walked through my door, I was greeted by a shower of hugs from the twins. I payed and thanked Gabby, and she left.

I walked straight to the bathroom to take a shower. A day of working outside had left a fine layer of sweat and grime spread over me.

Once I was stripped of the dirt, I tucked the twins in, and promptly scurried to my bedroom, tired from the long day.

I was pulled awake by a to soft knocking at my door and my mother's head peeking behind it.

"Hey, sweetie. Stephen and I are back," she said.

"Back so soon?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well, we thought it might be a good day to go out with you guys. Have a family day," she said.

I scoffed, "A family day? We have never had a family day! Since when have you started caring?"

I rolled back over.

I could tell that my words stung, but I didn't feel bad for saying them. She needed to open her eyes.

She held her head down for a moment, and then raised it slowly and said, "Well, we are having a family day whether you like it or not. Get dressed."

She didn't understand that it wasn't the fact that we were going to have a day as a family that made me angry. In fact, it made me a little happy. It almost gave me a slight bit of hope that things would turn around. Almost.

No, what made me angry was the fact that she had been ignoring us, and then, out of the blue, she wanted to force a family day.

But I didn't feel like arguing or making a point, so I just did as I was told. I got dressed.

I walked into the kitchen, half expecting my mother to actually be cooking for us for once. But of course, I was left to make my own breakfast as usual.

I grabbed three bowls from the cabinet and poured cereal into them.

Then Mom walked in, smelling of freshly applied perfume, and said, "Oh, we're going out for breakfast."

She caught my annoyance and said, "That's okay, just pour it back in the box," and walked off.

I put the cereal back in the box, resisting the temptation to just toss it in the trash.

I sat down on the couch in the living room, not sure of what to do with myself, or what to make of the things going on around me. My mother and Stephen were bustling around, grabbing keys, purses, sunglasses. Then, we were all in the car, headed to Clementine's, the local diner.

Once we were there and seated, I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"What is this all about?" I harshly whispered.

"Kids," Jennifer started, "Your father-"

I whipped my head up at her, eyes glaring.

"Excuse me. Your step-father and I have some news to tell you, and we thought this was the best way," she continued.

"Laying on the sugar before you punch us with the sour," I smirked.

She glared at me, and Stephen cut in, "The news: your mother and I-"

At this point I had, mistakingly, taken a big drink of orange juice.

"We are going to have a baby."

Orange juice spewed everywhere, and I spent five minutes trying to keep it from burning my lungs.

Once I could finally breath, I yelled, "What?"

They just smiled at me innocently.

"You already have three kids that you don't take care of! What makes you think you can to have another one? That's just another kid that I'm gonna have to take care of! While y'all are off every weekend, I'll be stuck at home with three kids that I have to feed, and take places. You know what, if you want to have kids, learn to be a mother!"

My throat felt raw. The words had exploded out of me, and I couldn't stop it.

I bust out of the restaurant with tears streaming down my face, and stared down at my phone. The one person I wanted to call, I couldn't. I dialed the one person I could.

Hello?

"Hey, Jay-"

Are you alright? What's wrong?

"Can you come get me from Clementine's? I'll be in the back."

Give me five minutes.