One More Time

Chapter 1: March 4, 2016 2:30 am

My head was about to explode by the time I reached the clearing. When I finally reached the bottom of the hill I sat down and listened to the flowing water that ran through the trees and the forest and right into the small pond secluded far behind my house. The wind blue through my red-tinted, brunette hair, if I had to take one more minute of listening to my mom and dad argue about the fact that they could not pay the bills or keep their marriage 'pure', I would of had gone insane and then what I saw, I couldn't believe it. I looked out on the water and saw a fish pop to the surface and dip back in. The ripple effect caused the late night moon's reflection to move and dance across the pond, the stars twinkling over the surface. Laying back on the grass I wiped a tear from my cheek. It was silly of me to cry when I had heard their fighting a thousand times before since I was a little girl.
It started the same way as always; my mother had started drinking at 4:30 pm when she got off her sift from our local Walmart, my father came home at 11:30 pm, late as always, my mother came out of the den, empty bottles trailing behind her, and start angrily asking questions about where my father had been. He worked as a manager for a phone sale company and was suppose to be get off at 6:00 pm and only worked 10 minutes away, but he never came home until after 10:00 pm. Immediately the screaming started, 'Where have you been Howard? What is her name?' 'Calm down Rina, I was just working late.' 'Why can't you just love me what have I done to deserve this Howard?!' 'Maybe if you didn't drink and could contribute to the bills things would be better."  Then, when I finally got done listening to their arguing, I would climb out of my bay window, leaving my casement windows wide open, and climbed down the ladder I placed under my window, reaching up to my second floor window, and went to the pond, knowing my parents wouldn't be looking for me until morning.
    I could take a lot of crap, I could deal with no money, the fact that my dad was having an affair, and the fact that my mother needed her daily dose of vodka, but the pills, sitting on the kitchen table. My mom was popping pills and thats a whole other level of crazy. I was seventeen but I still needed my parents, not some dysfunctional couple who did not even take a moment to see if their only child was alright. I took a deep breath, it was Friday and I had a test in my English class so I stood up and let out my breath. A scholarship to college was my only way out of that house and to a better life, therefore studying and good grades were my top priority. I'd be back to the pond, probably the next day after school to keep from my mother crying about how my father probably would not come home until Saturday. I turned away from the pond that had become so familiar to me and walked back up to the house as the moon was lowering in the sky.
When I got up to the house my mother was passed out on the couch, vodka was spilled on the carpet next to her and she was snoring loudly. One of her piercing blue eyes were open, blue eyes were the one and hopefully the only thing I got from my mother. On the kitchen table was the pills from earlier. I counted them and noticed two missing, looking back at my mother anger started bubbling up and I grabbed them and ran up stairs to my fathers room which was closed, again, and put my hand up to knock on the door. Although I knew it was hopeless for my parents to ever regain what they had when I was a just a baby, my father never left my mother and I, and he had always made sure we had what we needed. I was going to ask him if he knew what my mother was doing with these pills. My knuckles were centimeters from the door when I froze.
"She's drunk on the couch again."
A strangers voice is on the other line on speaker phone. "Just leave that bitch Howard, she does nothing but spend your money on booze and now she's popping pills? Why wont you just leave?"
I looked down at the pills laying in my hand. He knows. I thought to myself. "I can't just leave her Malinda, we have Sophia and all our accounts are conjoined, it will be a matter of time before she kills herself or loses her mind from drinking."
"Whatever Howard I don't care." Her voice changed and got lower and seductive. "On a better note, I got a little something something for you when you come over tomorrow night and new set of-"
I walked away then, I couldn't bare to listen to another moment of my fathers adultery. In the bathroom I dropped the pills in the toilet then watched them go down the drain. She's a fucking pill popper now? I shook my head and went into my room locking the door behind me and closing my window. I kicked off my shoes and shook off my jacket, throwing it on the chair in the corner of my room. Grabbing my English note book I laid on my bed and started reading over my notes. About 20 minutes in I gave up and threw my note book on the ground next to my bed, I looked at the time, 3:00 am. Frowning, I turned over on to my side, clicked off my lamp and closed my eyes. The air conditioning was blasting and I wrapped the blanket closer to my chin and let the darkness of the night envelop me. Tonight would be a dreamless night.