Broken Homes {Lashton & Malum}

IX

Michael was beginning to feel like he'd been at the children's home for too long. Sure, he'd only been at the home for a few days, but he'd been in care for over a month and he was beginning to think that it was time that he returned home to his mum. She should be better by now, which meant that he couldn't be kept away from her.

He didn't understand why his mum's drinking was a problem. Sure, she got drunk almost every day, but Michael had quickly gotten used to it so it no longer bothered him. He didn't mind taking care of both himself and his mum, Michael would do anything for her, she was his family. Besides, it wasn't like she had ever hurt him. Despite the constant drinking, she had always loved Michael and made it clear, so for what reason had he been taken away from a parent who loved him? The only problem it had caused was, once the people at school had found out, people always teased Michael about it, though he tried not to let it bother him.

But, Michael hadn't expected to be in the system for so long. Why was he in a children's home? It wasn't like he wanted to be fostered, he wanted to go home to his mum.

Whenever Michael thought about this, one of his first thoughts was Calum. If Michael went home, then that would mean leaving Calum alone, which he didn't necessarily want to do. He wasn't sure if Calum would cope, especially not after everything that's been happening with his panic attacks. But Michael just had to try to get Calum closer to Ashton and Luke before he left, and he had to keep promising himself he'd visit as often as he could. He wouldn't just ditch Calum like that, he couldn't.

He knew seeing their parents wasn't completely forbidden for everyone, a couple of the other kids had been allowed to go out with their parents a couple times with Nathan or Haley's supervision. So why hadn't he been allowed to see his mum? It's not like there was anything wrong with her, and Michael just knew if she had a chance to see him, she wouldn't drink and they'd be together again, even if it was just for a day. Michael would prefer forever, but he'll take what he can get.

It wasn't like he didn't know that his mother drinking all the time wasn't good for her. He'd spent many nights taking care of her instead of the other way around, but she really did love her son, and Michael just didn't understand why he was here. Everyone else had stories of abuse or abandonment or even death, but his mother loved him and would never hurt him.

With these thoughts in mind, Michael made sure to head straight into Nathan's office after he came home from school. He hadn't really planned any of this out, but he knew what he wanted to say and just hoped it would come out right. Michael was confident that there was no way Nathan could deny him of this simple request - not only was it Friday afternoon, so he had nothing else to do for the whole weekend, but this was his mother. Of course he'd be allowed to see her...right?

Taking a deep breath, Michael raised his knuckles and knocked on the door, opening it when a familiar voice called, "Come in!" Nathan looked kind of surprised to see Michael standing expectantly in the doorway. "Oh, Michael, what can I do for you?"

"Well, um," Michael mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He really should've made a plan of action or something, because there was probably a right way and a wrong way to say this. "Not that I don't love it here or anything, but when, uh, when do I go home?"

Nathan just stared at Michael, baffled. Did Michael even realize why he was here? "Tha-That's not...Michael, you understand why you're here, right?"

"Well, kinda, it's about the drinking thing," Michael muttered, somewhat bitterly. It's not like he enjoyed talking about his mum's excessive drinking, especially because it had torn them apart from one another. "But that doesn't mean I can't go home at some point. I mean, she didn't do anything wrong!"