Whiskey Lullaby

The school day seemed to drag on forever that when the final bell rang I pretty much sprinted to the doors. I looked around for any sign of Tomas or Shania, once I saw that it was clear, I put my skateboard down and started my journey back home.

Once I got to my house, I skidded to a stop, I left my skateboard by the door and went inside. "Mom?" I called out, only to hear my voice echoing back to me. 

How strange..she's usually home around this time. I ran up the stairs, two at a time and ran into her room. I saw her sitting on the bed, flipping through an old photo album.

"Mom, you're okay. Thank God."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Well, you didn't answer when I called out earlier and it scared me." 

"Don't worry about me, Tristen. I'm okay," she flashed a soft, motherly smile at me.

I walked over and gave her a hug, I looked down to see that the album contained pictures of me and Kris, from when we were kids to the last time we took a picture, three years ago.

"You guys were so close..she was like another member of the family. Your father and I loved her very much, she was like our very own daughter." 

I chewed on my bottom lip. About five years ago, my mom found out that she was pregnant, we were all so happy because the doctors said that I would be the only baby she would ever have. That baby was a joy to us all, but when she was born, she had a very serious birth defect. The doctors only gave her about a five to twenty four hours to live. She only lived an hour, an hour. Still to this day, I blame the doctors, they could've saved her, done something to help her live just a little bit longer than she did. After we lost her, my mom and dad completely shut down, then, a year later, we got a call from the military Sargent, dad had been killed while at war. I had to sit by and watch my mother suffer, she lost everything, her husband, her baby. She always told me, "Don't worry about me, I'm okay." But, I knew she wasn't okay, that she would never be okay. I think losing Kristen just piled on top of everything because here lately she's been keeping a close eye on me, keeping all the knives put up where I can't find them, removing all of the pill bottles from the medicine cabinet when she left for work, she even threatened to turn off the internet. I reassured her and told her that I'm not going to do anything, that I'm going to make sure Kristen's story gets heard, that I'm going to try to put an end to bullying so no one has to go through the pain that I go through everyday, knowing that I could've done something for her, I could've saved her.

I let out a quiet sigh and walks to my room, I close and lock the door before I sit on my bed. I pull out a box that I keep hidden under the bed, I take the lid off and pull out a bottle with a brownish liquid filling it. I unscrew the cap and take a long gulp of the liquid.

Ah, my whiskey lullaby. I thought to myself.