Mothers Club •5sos•

Jodie and Michael

Jodie

There's a million ways to justify your fear.

There's a million ways to measure out your worth.

But to leave behind this small, innocent child that now lay here in my arms, sick as the flu swept his kindergarten. Coughing as I stroke his hair sending my deep motherly love at the AM hours of the night.

Tell me how do you live with that?

"Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you had attended church!" Carmen scolded me.

I let out a loud sigh, rolling my eyes slightly at my mentor. Matthew was just sick with the flu, not possessed by the devil himself.

"You're supposed to be mentoring me" I tell her "not listing all of my sins"

Carmen sat down and rubbed her temples. Obviously angsty of my condition. "You need to move on Jodie" she said my name with an accent which made it sound more like 'ho- di' "he broke your heart, so what? You must movie on for the benefit of yourself and your child. "

I groaned and rolled on my side, facing my son on the bed. His small green eyes finally closing.

"How old is he anyway?" She said from my bedside as she sipped her awfully strong chai tea.

"Two" I told her.

"Does he have any friends? Do you ever do activities with him? Swimming lessons? Mothers club?" She questioned.

"No" I replied bluntly.

She let out a loud and aspirated sigh, getting out her notebook and scribbling something on the paper. I heard the loud rip as she tore it away from her book and handed it to me.

I plucked the paper from her hands and examined it's content.

It read:

"Riversdale Mothers and Maternity club. 205 lonhil road." Followed by a number.

I tuned to look at my midwife/ housekeeper/ councillor/ mentor and sighed.

"You seriously what me to do this?" I asked. The sound of a mothers club less that appealing.

"It's already too late for you to join this year, but next year when positions open again I highly suggest it as a bonding activity for you and Matthew.

I let out another loud groan. I didn't want to join some mothers club. I didn't need to join some mothers club. So I wasn't going to join some mothers club.

"Fine, I'll think about it" I told Carmen just as Matthew began to stir. "I think I have it from here. You can go home if you'd like" I told her, allowing her to knock off early. I want paying her, child support was paying for that. But she still deserved a break.

She nodded. Rising from her position on the armchair beside my bed. Touching me on the shoulder and blessing Matthew to get better.

"I've hung a photo of Saint Mary in the living room" she told me "for good luck"

I groaned my response. Not happy about the idea of Carmen re decorating my house yet too exhausted to care.

"Bye bye dear" she replied

"Bye Carmen, thanks" I murmured into my pillow as I drifted off into the first deep sleep i'd had since Matthew got sick.

It was mid May and the trees were an abundance of colour, ranging from bright, exiting reds to pastel, somber pinks. The leaves lit up the trees and scattered the ground creating a carpet of colour.

I stood there in my patterned maxi skirt and black singlet top. Long hair blowing in the autumn wind. Brown dress sandals strapped to my feet.

He was dressed in skinny black jeans, the kind that come intact, but almost everyone rips themselves at the knee. He had ripped his a little too much and now hung off his knee and flapped in the wind. He wore a red flannel, one of which the top button had popped off revealing a portion of his chest. A leather necklace hung over his neck with a shark tooth pendant. It was driving me a little insane. On top of all these things the most attractive thing he wore was his smile.

"I dyed my hair bright red, to match the autumn leaves" he smirked at me. Green eyes bright and vibrant. I laughed happily in return. He was like this exotic creature who appeared in my life and I couldn't seem to get away from. He was a light in my dull life and I was forevermore grateful. The punk boy from the city and the hippie girl from the country.

He stepped close to me, our noses touching, and pulled me in for a passionate yet lustful kiss. It wasn't rough, or rushed or forced. It was soft and caring like he was savouring every moment with uttermost delicacy and ethereality. As if I was a fragile gemstone that he mustn't break. That he must treat with caution yet is so beautiful and captivating that he must keep for himself.

And i'd never felt that in a kiss before.

It happened that afternoon. After lunch and after my father had left for his afternoon shift at work. It was just like the kiss. Delicate, gentle and kind. Yet passionate and strongly desired. Beneath the sheets of my bed. Our bodies melted into one and I imagined this feeling to last a lifetime.

But it didn't.

"I can't believe he left me" I whispered into my pillow. Waking up from my reoccurring flashback of a dream "Alone, frightened and pregnant." I understand that he was scared, but so was I. I was terrified. I was barely eighteen at the time and was beyond afraid.

But he still left.

"Please" I had begged as he ran for the door.

He let out a loud huff and tangled his fingers in this hair, which was blue at the time and pulled at the roots.

"Damnit! Damnit damnit!!!" He screamed as his heavy chest rose and fell. His eyes were full of anger and pain.

"Michael I-"

"No. No. NO! this was not supposed to happen!" He hissed "I can't do this, I can't handle this I can't! No stop" he snapped, cutting off my attempts to console him. With a big huff of his chest and one swift movement he spun around towards the door and propelled himself outside into the now winter air. Then he was gone.

It was mid July and the trees were bare and their branches seemed frail. The leaves were no longer on the trees and scattered the ground creating a carpet of soggy brown mush.

I stood there in my fluffy pink dressing gown and tears streaming down my face. Messy, knotted bed hair clung to my head like a groundhog as I stood there in the doorway. The freezing, cold winter air chilling me to the bone.

And him, he was gone.

Hey it's Jas. I'm 1/2 of the authors of this book. I will be writing all of the Michael and Jodie parts of this story.