Empêchement

Back to the Hell House

As I pulled next to the curb of my house, I noticed that there were four cars outside.

That's interesting, I thought. It was both my parents' cars, my brothers and another one I didn't recognize.

I put the truck in park and sat back in the seat. It's odd to see both cars in the driveway and then two out by the curb, excluding mine. No one is ever home at the same time.

God, this is probably because of me. I pulled my phone from my bag to check for any missed calls, but the damn thing wouldn't turn on. It's dead. Now I know this is because of me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I cannot walk in there like this. That'd just make this worse. I scrambled around the cab of my truck for my old jeans and shoes. The shirt would be easier to explain than the skirt and wedges that I had borrowed from Alice.

I changed my pants as discretely as I could, then opened the door to make it easier to put on my shoes. I took off all of the borrowed jewelry and tossed it in the passenger seat, then messed up my hair. I was still wearing the makeup, but there's not a whole lot I could do about that.

Then I grabbed my stuff and prepared for the worst.

When I opened the door and walked into the living room, I was met with my dad pacing a hole in the carpet, my mother suppressing sobs, my brother trying to counsel her, and my brother's girlfriend coming from the kitchen with a mug that I assumed held hot coffee or tea.

Guilt instantly built up in my chest. Oh my goodness. I looked at the clock. It was about noon now and I left around six last evening. I wasn't gone too long was I?

My dad turned around to continue his pacing when he saw me.

"Ena!" He gasped.

The next thing I know he had his arms around me, and my mom and brother stood up. I'm pretty sure his girlfriend could care less about me because she just sat down on the couch.

My dad let go and pushed me arms' length away, leaving his hands on my shoulders. He looked like he lost five years of his youth from worry. "Where were you, child? Are you okay?" He asked looking all over, trying to find signs of abuse or damage.

"And what are you wearing?" My brother asked quietly from behind my dad.

Apparently, the shirt attracted more attention than I thought it would. "I-I'm fine, I promise. I was just driving in the mountains and I ran out of gas. It was getting late and there wasn't any service, so I spent the night at a friend's house who lives up there,"

"You have friends?" My brother said sarcastically.

I was taken back by that comment. Dave knew I was struggling to find my place here without school, so he must've intended to hurt me.

There was an awkward silence while I tried to figure out why he would said that.

"No, really, what are you wearing? You would never wear a shirt like that," My brother pushed.

I guess he was right. I hated spaghetti straps, and I never saw the appeal in crop tops. If he's flipping out about this, I wonder what his reaction would be if I hadn't changed.

That's when it happened. My mom did the most violent thing she had ever done. Suddenly, without warning, she slammed both palms onto the hard-oak coffee table making a loud sharp sound and stood up faster than I could process what was happening.

Her eyes were red and puffy, and you could see the paths her tears took on their way down her face, but anger rolled off of her in waves. "Verlena Rea Jones." She said slowly.

Yup. Todays the day I die. I involuntarily shrunk away from her rage, knowing that she would only use my full name when she was truly angry.

"I cannot believe what you have done." She was staring at me, tears still rolling down her cheeks. "There was no note, no text message or even an email. Then you come home out of the blue without any explanation! Do you have any idea how worried we were!?" She practically screamed the last part.

I was terrified, and I realized very suddenly that the GPS on a dead phone did absolutely nothing. I wanted to puke from the guilt. I never meant to make anyone cry or worry this much.

I stood in front of eight prying eyes trying to come up with an excuse. When I couldn't find one, I tried switching gears. "Okay, maybe I should have left a note, but look at it this way; you and dad aren't fighting, Dave is actually in our house and has stayed longer than five minutes and now we're all here, as a family. Not only that, but this is the first time I've even seen his girlfriend. Maybe my sudden absence was a good thing." I said.

My mom took a shaky breath and sat down on the couch again "That wasn't the point, Ena." She wouldn't look at me. My dad was shaking his head, obviously disappointed in me.

"Then what is the point? I know I messed up, but I'm here now. I'm okay. What's the issue??"

My brother stood up. "Now that we know this was just some rebellious bullshit, I'm gonna leave." He knocked his shoulder aggressively into mine on the way to the door and his girlfriend followed him down the hallway like a little puppy.

All I could do was stand there while I watched everyone leave. I looked around the room, wanting to say something, anything, that would make them stay, but my mind couldn't come up with the words.

I felt stupid, standing there practically half naked and very, very alone.