Castaway ➳ cth [EDITING/HIATUS]

Chapters 19

*Calum's P.O.V*

I fidget with one of the beans laying on the edge of the plate.

The green bean had no common traits with their other fellow beans. While the pile was light green, firm and round, the bean I repeatedly massacred with the silver fork appeared to be wrinkled, darker in color and deformed.

That green bean was exactly how I felt. Like and abomination, something people push aside and stare at it with disgusted eyes.

"Calum? Can you please stop playing with your food?"

At first, I pretended I haven't heard my mother and continued shifting the crippled bean from one side of the plate to the other.

My little sister Miriam sat left next to me, her eyes trained on her halfway emptied plate. But I didn't fail to notice that her thin arms were shaky, she seemed skittish.

"Calum? Did you hear me?"

The loud jangle my fork created when I slammed it on the porcelain plaste made my sister startle slightly.

"I'm talking to you."

"I know", I growled. My fists clenched under the table, and I had to hold myself on the chair to not lose myself once again like I did at school.

She pouted her lips, shaking her head. Her eyes landed on my right fist that I now brought onto the table. I clenched them so much they turned white.

"If you don't stop doing that, I..."

The phone rang in the back of the hallway, preventing her from finishing the sentence. Standing up and folding the white cloth on her lap neatly, she left the dining room and answered the call.

All of a sudden, Miriam began to speak, as if she waited for my mom to leave to get the chance. "Why is mommy so... weird lately?"

I tried to soften my gaze, in order to make her less anxious of this situation, but I failed miserably. I watch her as she lowered her head, scrunching her shoulders. She made a submissive gesture. I felt guilty for that.

"Hey", I whispered softly, "don't worry right now. Just, do what you normally do and obey her. So she doesn't get angry or anything."

Miriam looked over my head to see if our mom was back yet. "That's not the thing", she murmured while letting herself sink in the antique, dining chair that was probably couple hundred years old.

There was no point to sugarcoat this conversation, so I assured her not to think about it and go to school, get good grades and play with her friends. She was a young girl who needs to focus on her things, not her mother's anger issues.

"She seems so secluded from life. Every time she picks me up from school, she won't talk during the time she drives until we get home. I see her with this... big bottle of wine or something and every night, she sits in front of the TV. Calum... I'm a little bit scared."

"Miri, listen to me." I knelt in front of her and took her little hands in mine. "Let her be, don't bother her. Honestly, I don't know what's going on either. Just stay with me and listen to what I'm telling you to do. If mom is weird again, but she actually gets... dangerous, go to your room and write a note that you are at Jorge's. You know him, the friendly Milkshake-man?"

She nodded.

"We'll meet there as soon as I see your note. Only go to Jorge's if you feel threatened by her actions. Understood?"

She opened her mouth again, but nothing came out.

"Calum Hood!" My mother's voice boomed across the hall and I hear rapid footsteps approaching the dining room.