Innocent Love-Eddie Kaspbrak-IT

The Ceramic Mug

Song of the Chapter: DNA by Lia Marie Johnson

WARNING: UNEDITED!

"Coffee's in the pot, I'm going out. See you later." Holly spoke to the woman sitting at their dining table as she shut her bedroom door, a draft of air in the hallway closing it harder than she intended. Her mother's customers had a habit of venturing off into her room if she wasn't there, and occasionally if she was. It was a poor excuse for a dining table really. Consisting of a fold-out table and a few cheap outdoor chairs. It wasn't much at all but Holly had compiled the collection and was proud of her work done with such minimal money.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Cooped said, her tone venomous and laced with attitude. Holly's brown eyes scanned over Mrs. Cooper, her long bare legs crossed. She had a lit cigarette between her fingers, the smoke billowing out of the end and a coffee mug in her hand. Her red painted fingernails at the end of her long, thin fingers tapped of the ceramic.

In theory, she could be a beautiful, elegant woman. Perhaps to some she was. At times, Holly was jealous of her mother's smooth skin, lighter hair, tall height and plump lips. The woman's personality shone through however, and shielding her outward beauty from her own daughter.

"I said coffee's in the pot?" Holly questioned. Mrs. Cooper took a deep breath before shifting the coffee mug in her hands. Her long, pink painted fingernails tapped against the ceramic exterior. On the coffee mug were colorful painted flowers.

"No, what bills do you pay around here to be slamming doors like that!" Mrs. Cooper yelled at her confused and newly irritated daughter. She uncrossed her legs, leaning over the table with an angry glare on her face. Holly removed her scared, frozen daze from her face and replaced it with one riddled with annoyance.

"All of them, I pay all of our bills actually." Holly said, looking at the woman who she could barely call a mother.

"Don't you dare back talk me!" Mrs. Cooper stood, screaming at Holly who flinched at the intensity of her nasty voice. Holly's eyes traveled down to the inside of the woman's elbows, track marks lined the skin.

"Sorry, didnt mean to." Holly said, looking up and making her way to the front door. Mrs. Cooper's tapping on the mug halts as she is fuming. Holly opens the screen door and is about to step out when a ceramic coffee mug is thrown into the wall right beside her, shattering into hundreds of pieces. It would have hit her head it she hadn't taken a step towards the door. Her mother tried to hit her.

At first, Holly freezes up, tears forming in her eyes. For a moment, there is a tension filled silence, the only noises being the other tenants in the surrounding rooms and the television that no body was paying any mind to. Holly wipes a tear before it escapes any farther down her cheek, turning to her mother. She was never weak. The woman was standing out of her chair, fuming in her spot. Holly knew she was most likely only this angry due to whatever drugs she was currently on, but it was still no excuse.

"Love you too, Renee." Holly choked out, her voice weak but defiant and sarcastic. It was enough for Mrs. Cooper's face to show defeat. The girl shut the screen door, followed by the front door. She closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to rid the previous events from her mind. Her mother had always been like this. Cold, unloving, neglectful. There was nothing good about her, yet it still hurt nonetheless. Holly wanted to be loved like a daughter should be, sadly that love would never be known by the brunette. The only love she had ever known was from her friends. They where the family she desired.

Opening her eyes, she began down the apartment building. She walked down familiar hallways and staircases until she reached the outside, heading to the bike rack and waiting for Beverly as she had promised the girl she would. After watching the birds, squirrels and other wild animals run around freely, without a care in the world, a mop of red hair hopped down to the bike rack.