A breath in, a breath out. I count backwards from 10, and stand up from my chair. I open the door to my room, and walk towards the kitchen, my shoes echoing off the tiles of my ultra-pristine house. It's how my mom makes up for my dad being gone. Cleaning and drinking. Drinking and cleaning.
"Lauren, did you put your clothes away honey? Your dad's coming home today and I want the house to be clean," my mother asks frantically, wiping her hands on her apron.
"Mom, he's not coming home until next Sunday, you must have gotten your dates mixed up again."
"Oh, of course," she says quietly. "Please put them away anyway."
My mom unties her apron and tosses it onto the counter. She opens the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine.
How classy alcoholism can be, I thought.
As my mom takes a big swig of it straight from the bottle, I grab a can of Coke and walk back to my room, my shoes clicking yet again, the eerie quiet of the house breaking just a little.
I pick up my cell phone and dial my father's number, hoping he will pick up. It rings three times, each ring bouncing around my brain like one of those mini rubber balls you get from an arcade. It suddenly stops, and my breath catches in my throat. He picks up.
"Dad, is that you? I miss you. Mom misses you too."
"Lauren, honey, I really can't talk right now, I'm busy," he shouts over the sound of a construction site. "I love you! Say hi to mom for me!"
"Bye Dad."
I sigh, and hang up the phone. I stare at it for a second. And then I explode.
"HE DOESN'T LOVE ME! HE DOESN'T LOVE ANY OF US!"
I throw my phone at the wall, and it shatters, fragments of glass flying everywhere. My fit is over just as quickly as it starts. I sweep up the shards of glass and metal and throw them away.
This happens all the time, Lauren, don't be surprised, I tell myself. Has he ever really cared?
I take a deep breath and sit down at my computer. I turn it on and watch the display light up.
*******
Please comment any suggestions or improvements, I always appreciate constructive criticism. Thanks for reading, it means a lot!
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Away
Teen FictionLauren needs to get away from everything. School, her alcoholic mother, even her father, whose constant absence is a weight that plagues her family . ******* This is a really, really rough draft, like the roughest, version of a story I'm hoping will...
