Normal With You

Chapter 46

Riaz didn't like being alone with his father.

He didn't know where his mother was but he was missing her. He was still frightened by what she had done the month before- he could still see the pool of blood surrounding her whenever he closed his eyes- but he missed her so badly.

His father scared him. He always told him to do things and when he didn't do it correctly, he would glare at him and scold him and send him to bed without supper. He didn't like going to sleep hungry but he was too afraid to sneak out of his bed and walk to the kitchen. His mother would always bring something with her when his father sent him to bed hungry. It was something small and stupid- a small packet of crisp or a stupid 2-piece milkybar but it made him full.

Now his tummy felt as if it was squeezing and folding into itself as it tried to quell its own emptiness but his father told him that if he heard even one sound from him, he'd have him skip breakfast as well. He couldn't skip breakfast though. He had to be full and happy when he finally got to see her. His father promised they would visit her the next day so he had to be on his best behaviour or he might just change his mind. He didn't know where she was just yet, though he heard the words Tara Hospital slip out of his father's mouth a few times.

He wished she would come back soon. He didn't like staying at their neighbour's house when his father went to work. They were old and strict and they didn't allow him to do anything except colour in pictures. He hated colouring. He wanted to play hopscotch and catches but they didn't believe in games so he had to colour. And they kept shouting at him if he coloured out of the line.

Maybe they were picking her up and bringing her back home...

He grinned at the idea before he turned over and pressed his hand to his stomach. If he went to sleep, when he woke up maybe she'd be back home and she'd be making breakfast for him.

He'd smell her oats on the stove and she'd shout him for eating it before she could mix it with his milk and maybe she'd bake biscuits for him too. It had been so long since he'd had a biscuit.

Maybe, just maybe.

He closed his eyes, excited to go to sleep.

But when he woke up, the house was absolutely still and quiet...

He woke up to the sound of hail pelting heavily against their window. They were ferocious in their attack and the sound of car alarms blaring in the distance only bore testimony to their actual strength. He rubbed his eyes as he reached for his watch on the pedestal beside him, glaring at the hour hand that had barely passed 1.

He looked to his side, somewhat envious at the sight of Tasneem sprawled out along her side of the bed. Their blanket had bunched up along her waist, allowing him to catch a glimpse of her back as she lay sprawled on her stomach. He sat up slowly, resting his elbows on his knees as rubbed a tired hand over his face before searching for the little Marlboro box hidden in his draw. Cracks of lightening illuminated their dimly lit room as he stood up and walked over to the window, surveying the hail-covered street below them. It looked almost like snow; every inch of grey below was completely covered by a thick layer of white hail.

It wouldn't last though. It was a temporary beauty that would be swept away as brown sludge as soon as morning peeked up over the night sky. He cracked the window open, leaving just enough space for the spirals of smoke to escape their room. Tiny hailstones veered off their path, finding residence upon the small squares of their tiled floor and melted around his feet. He yawned, stubbing out his cigarette before he turned around.