Silence is Golden

Chapter 10: October 2010

I walked home, finally finding serenity from the chaotic grounds of school. Dad's jeep was parked on the driveway; he must have came back home from his business trip to Taiwan. Walking into the house, I was greeted with a lot of yelling. That scared me, my heart dropping to my stomach. Running into the kitchen, I saw my father yelling at my mother.
"It's all your fault!" he screamed before laying eyes on me. "He's all your fault."
"What did I ever do to you? Don't you dare bring Aiden into this," my mother countered him.
"He's dumb!"
I cringed, wondering what happened for them to be going at each other like this.
"You don't talk about my son that, you bastard!"
My dad stood there, staring at her, fire in his eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he made his way to his suitcase.
"What the hell are you doing?" my mother asked, "you stay here and resolve this like a man."
"I'm leaving. I can't do this anymore. Pretending to love your son when he has no vocal cords. He's a fucking retard," he paused, breathing heavy. "Ever since you brought that... thing home from the hospital, I stopped loving you. I got nothing for you, Margaret."
"Fine, leave, go back to Taiwan with your girlfriend and start a life there. I don't need you," Mother buried her face into her hands, tears dripping from her chin.
"She is not my girlfriend."
    "You keep telling yourself that."
I watched as my dad made his way to to door, suitcase in hand. The sound of the Jeep starting was muffled in the house before I saw the shadow of the car rush past the window shades. My mother bursted into more tears, sinking into the floor of the kitchen. I took a seat next to her, watching as she continued to wipe away the continuous stream of tears that flowed from her eyes. She glanced at me through her tear-filled eyes before wrapping her arms around me.
"Oh Aiden, I will never leave you," she sobbed into my shoulder. "I love you."
She hiccupped, looking into my eyes. All I saw was sadness, knowing exactly how much my father had just hurt her. That was enough to bring tears into my eyes, thinking of all the times we had a joyful family dinner after his long days at work. It was all fake. He had never loved us. He had never loved me. And it was all my fault.
I love you too. I wrapped my arms around her, crying. I didn't do any of my homework that day.