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Chapter 1: Waterfall

(Aria's POV)
I glanced at my mother's unconscious body, wincing at how she was barely on the bed and could fall face first into the floor at any given moment.

She collapsed to the floor right after vomiting out her previous meal onto the carpet, making me have to carry her to a place more comfortable than the floor. But considering the fact she's much more heavier than me, the best thing I was able to do was... this.

The whole room- wait no, the whole house reeked of alcohol (now with the overbearing scent of puke) and was overall a mess. Clothes yet to be washed, miscellaneous objects scattered left and right, you get the gist. I didn't really have time to fix things since I was too busy with work. Then, I slowly realized that a certain stain was still present and sighed. After removing the food remains and carrying the carpet to the bathroom (with great difficulty), I started cleaning up. Out of pure boredom, my mind started to drift back to the day that all of this started.

It was midnight at the time. I couldn't really sleep as the shouts of my parents' argument grew louder and louder. They always fought like this but for the past weeks, it just became worse. Now concerned on what was going on, I quietly went down to the living room.

" - You lied to me! You cheated on me!" Mom shouted, tears forming in her eyes. "I was never happy being with you! The only reason I even agreed to this stupid marriage was for Aria!" Dad argued. "But that doesn't justify anything! When will you be satisfied with what we have?!" She exclaimed, refusing to look weak. Silence. "...I'm done." He started heading towards their bedroom. "Ohohoho, so you're just going to leave, you piece of s***?! You can't just walk in and out of conversations and lives as you wish." She exclaimed as she followed him into the room.

The shouts continued and I was surprised none of the neighbors complained or at least called. An hour later, Dad stormed out with bags in tow. Mom, now realizing the weight of the situation, started trying to convince my dad not to go. After all her attempts failed, she asked one last thing.

"...How about Aria?" her voice now strained from all the shouting, hot tears slowly starting to fall. He leaned in and whispered something to her, before walking away and closing the door.

Mom crumbled to the ground and started bursting into tears. I quickly ran towards her. "Mom, are you okay?! What just happened?!" I asked as I rubbed her back softly. She didn't answer; instead planting a light kiss on my head and wiping away her tears. "...I'm sorry." she whispered and then grabbed her keys and left.

~♪~♪~

She didn't come back for a few hours. The sun was barely starting to rise when she sloppily unlocked the door and tumbled to the couch, somehow avoiding all of the other furniture. "Mom... where were you?" I asked as I approached her, immediately getting hit by a wave of some weird smell.

"...don't touch me." she simply said, blankly staring at the wall. Still, I persisted. "Mom... I'll just put you up straight and-" I said, attempting to help but was cut off. "WHAT PART OF 'DON'T TOUCH ME' DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" she screamed, shoving me off her with strength she miraculously got out of nowhere. I ended up falling backwards towards the coffee table. Thankfully all I got was a bruise on the arm. If my position was even slightly different, things could have been worse.

But I was at lost for words. I was so confused. What on Earth is going on? "JUST LEAVE! GET OUT!" she continued, exaggerating her movements as she motioned to the front door and proceeded to cry. I wasn't sure what to do. If I left, who knows what she'll do all alone. If I stayed, things might go south for both her and me.

...

It was better to not get her more riled up, especially on how unstable she was getting. I went towards the door and ran outside. Since I didn't know exactly where to go, I opted for just wait until she was asleep or something. That plan was almost immediately thrown out the window when I heard rustling. I whipped my head towards the direction where it was coming from. I was instantly startled by seeing a distorted dark figure.