Enforcing Justice

Reflections and Fights

After school was out, momma and I went away on a summer vacation to grandpa's. Momma called it a vacation, but I assumed it wasn't just a vacation. We needed money, and we needed it badly.   

Momma wasn't overly fond of her father-in-law and frankly, he wasn't fond of her either. We'd avoided him all these years and now we needed him.

Ryan drove us to grandpa's, even though it was a little over two hours away. I thought it was very kind of him. The whole ride, momma stared out the window with a hand on her chin. I couldn't see her face, but I could see her reflection. She didn't look happy. She looked terrified. 

Like she wanted to run. But there was no where to run.

When we drove into grandpa's driveway, he was looking down at us from his front porch. His hair was grey and his face was wrinkled. His eyes were sunken into his head and his lips were dry. The creases around his mouth pointed downward, which gave the impression he was unhappy all the time. Even his smile looked displeasing. He looked at me, then Ryan, and lastly momma. His little grin faded when his eyes met hers. 

 "Is that a new boyfriend?!?" He hollered with his rough voice. 

Momma rolled her eyes and sighed as she went to get the baggage out of the trunk.

"No sir" Ryan replied politely, "I'm just a neighbor"

Grandpa nodded. 

"A very friendly neighbor to drive her down here" he added with a scowl.

Momma sighed again as she struggled to pull out her suitcase from the back of the car. 

Ryan helped bring our things to the porch, then left. Grandpa was now standing in front of us. 

"How long ya staying?" he asked. 

"We're not sure yet" Momma said as she pulled her suitcase inside the house.

Grandpa followed and I trailed behind him. 

The house was an older house, but it was in much better condition than ours was. The couches were white with a grotesque floral pattern on them. The TV was old and boxy. The carpet that was between the TV and the couches was a heinous mixture of a dull green and faded pink. It was an oval shape with a rather gaudy pattern on it. The kitchen was tiny, but it was much bigger than ours. The refrigerator was old and had several stains dripping down the sides. The cabinets hung directly over the counter top and the sink was placed in front of the window. There were two bedrooms, one was obviously grandpa's and the second was a guest bedroom. Momma lugged her suitcase into the guest bedroom and maneuvered her way back to the living room where she sat on the couch. Grandpa's eyes followed her every move with the same look of disgust. 

I could sense the tension in the air and didn't want to be part of a fight. I went into the guest bedroom and sat on the bed. Grandpa stood in the doorway to look at me, but I pretended I didn't notice him. I just stared out the window with a stolid gaze. Grandpa pulled the door mostly shut and went back into the living room. 

I could here two low voices that gradually grew louder and louder. 

"Just a couple hundred" momma said, voice raised. 

"What? So you can go buy some more Heroine?" Grandpa hissed.

I could hear momma's irritated sigh. 

"Your husband might've been my only child, but I swear my money isn't going to you!" He yelled at her.

"What about your grandson?" momma pleaded. Her emotion was hollow.

"What about him?" grandpa replied coldly.

I stood up from the bed and slowly walked over to the door. I closed it gently and returned to my place. I pulled out a little blue pen from my pocket and began to doodle on my arm a bit. It usually calmed me down a bit, but today wasn't one of those days.  

"He's the only reason I'm letting you stay!" I could hear grandpa shout through the closed door.

I sighed and put the pen away. I looked down at the little circuit-board pattern I had drawn and fell back on the bed. 

Did they know I could hear them? Did they know I was still there? Did they know I had feelings? Or did they just forget about me? 

A tear streamed down my face that night as I tried to fall asleep. My blinks grew longer and longer until my eyes stayed shut. That night I fell asleep with a broken heart. And a broken home.