The Bucket List

Chapter twenty

-Aaron

The music played in the silence, ignorant to the sudden mood shift. Bless his heart, Toby's dad moved to stop it and silence fell over us. I couldn't see my mother until she shoved past Toby and stormed into the living room.

What had struck me was how much she had changed. Her limp dirty blonde hair that was usually pulled into a bun, was now platinum blonde and bounced in soft curls around her face. Despite it being freezing and winter her skin was a spray tanned to a golden burn. The mother I knew who never wore make up now looked as if she had walked straight out of a magazine.

She looked around like a deadly snake before her cold eyes found mine. I felt incredibly insecure as her eyes takes over me in disapproval. She curled her lip before she started to talk long angry steps toward me. I was too distracted by the deadly sound of her heels to see her slap me. But even f I had been paying attention, could I even have stopped her?

I held my cheek and stared at her wide eyed. She took a step closer and I moved back, falling off the couch in the process. "Why couldn't you just leave it alone?!" She hissed. She moved around the couch to grab my hair and yanked my face up to look into hers. "You had to be a little bitch and go find your faggot of a father, huh? Do you know what it's like to have a lawyer tracking you down? He wanted to actually talk about who got guardianship over you!" She let out a sharp cold laugh before bringing her hand down across my already red cheek again. "I told him I'd sign whatever the fuck he wanted as long as you were both out of my life! Oh! But he wouldn't have it! Nope! He threatened to turn me over to the police for hold abuse and abandonment! The second one yes, and I guess the first one is right now."

I felt powerless to stop her. Where had my gentle mother who never cursed gone? Who was this screaming at me? I couldn't bring it in myself to stop her if it meant hurting her. I could never hurt my mother. Tears prickled my eyes and I went to speak but she shoved me to the ground. "And with your tears! You were always a crybaby! You got whatever you wanted with those eyes!" She stepped back and glared at me, her cold eyes willed with hatred. "I loved you. You were so beautiful and perfect. But then you got cancer. You fell apart! You were dying! My perfect life shattered! I lost everything! Relationships! Money! Freedom! You took it all from me! When I found I was pregnant again, I was so trilled! God is giving me a second chance! You were never meant to be born! Your cancer was gods way of trying to rid the world of another disgrace! You're a faggot! And a healthy one now! Even worse! But I won't kill you, no, I want you to suffer with the knowledge that your own mother hates you."

"That's enough!" A voice thundered. I blinked and let my surroundings flood in. Toby was screaming by the door and a bald muscular man was holding him down. A shadow stood above me and my mother had backed away. Two hands slipped under my arms and gently pulled me up into a wobbly stance. Toby's father. He wrapped a arm around my shoulders and pulled me into the safety of his chest. This was different than Toby. Instead of love or adoration, I was being held with the pure intention of protection.

My mothers face changed from startled to anger. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Toby's father, and if you and your company don't leave, I'll make you regret being born."

I shivered and my mother took a step back at the deadliness in his voice. A million questions circled my mind, but I didn't get a chance to speak.

My mother puffed out her chest and tried to look fierce, but her shaking hands gave her away. "So you're the fags dad?" She scanned him over uneasily and I could feel why. He felt like pure muscle. I could feel his abs from where my hand gripped his shirt and I blushed. I'd never noticed he was so ripped. But I couldn't have noticed in the suit he always wore. "Just let us deal this out and you as and your lard of a son can live in peace."