Fighting

"I am home," I yelled, while shutting the front door behind me with a loud bang. But I got no reply whatsoever. My mom would now be face to face with me, scolding about how I need to stop slamming the door. "Mom?" I tried again, but I still heard nothing. "Charlie? Anyone?" Even my little brother didn't respond to me. Maybe he is still at school? It is just two o'clock anyways. That means I have to pick him up soon. I put my jacket on the coat hanger while kicking of my All Stars. "What is that horrible smell?" I muttered to myself. The smell is a mix of old macaroni with a pinch of burned cheese. I quickly walked towards the kitchen and saw that the supposed mac and cheese was on the stove being cooked. My mom was just sitting with her head buried in her hands. "Mom! Do you realise that this dish could be on fire and you wouldn't even notice. Pay attention next time mom," the stove was now turned off and the dish was ruined. It was two days old anyways. I grabbed the panhandle and threw the content in the trashcan. "And why didn't you answered me when I came home. You didn't even scold at me when I slammed the door this time," I joked, but my mom didn't replied. She was still in the same position when I came running into the kitchen. "Mom?" she sighed and rubbed her face. "What's wrong?" I asked quietly. I saw the tears in her eyes already. They could escape any second now. My mom just shook her head and glided a piece of paper that was in front of her in my direction. I took it and started to read. A tear escaped my eye. I just hugged my mom to comfort her. "We can't afford that Jamie. It's too much money," she sobbed. I rubbed her back reassuringly. "But mom, it's Charlie's health. We are going to pay that bill," she looked into my eyes. "And how are we going to do that? We barley have enough money to pay the electricity bill, let alone this hospital bill. It crushes me that we can't afford it, Jamie."

"No! If you don't accept, where would we be in a couple of years? Charlie wouldn't make it out of his bed without this operation. I just could find another job and work some extra shifts at the r...-"

"Please, don't talk like that. Just don't. It would take years to get 22.000 dollars, honey. And the worst part is that we are not insured. If I only didn't got us in that stupid ac...-" I interrupted her before she could finish that sentence. "Don't talk like that mom. You and I both know that you can't do nothing about the fact that Charlie is in a wheelchair. You are here for us and Carlie and I both love you. I am going to promise that my little brother is going to do that operation," my mom tried to smile, but it didn't reached her eyes. The tears were making her eyes shine because of the light shining on them. "I appreciate your will to go on and your positivity Jamie, but don't make empty promises. You and I both know that 22.000 dollar is just a number that we can dream of. Could you now pick up Charlie from school? I am going to my room," I only nodded and watched her stroll her self out the kitchen. It crushes me to see her this way. She has never been so sad in her life before since that accident. I brushed away my tears, trying to hide the fact I've been crying. For the second time this day I putted on my jacket and All Stars. I made sure that the front door was locked when I exited the house. You never know in this neighbourhood and definitely when my mom is in her depressive state.

Twenty-two grand. How more I repeat that number, how more I also doubt if my mother and I could ever pay for it. I would do anything for my little brother. But I have no idea how to get the money. I already have three jobs. I am a waitress in a local restaurant, I work as a cashier in a supermarket and I babysit a lot. The money I make goes to my mother. She pays the bills with that money. My mom also has two jobs to take care of us. We both need to work for our little Charlie. He is just a ten year old boy in a wheelchair. He doesn't deserve that. He has the right to use those legs of him. I want him to have him that right. He is my everything and it just hurts me to see him like this. Every ten year old child don't deserves to be in a wheelchair. No child deserves that. They need to play and roll around in the mud. They need to be children. I want him to give him that privilege back. I want Charlie to be a like every ten year old, a kid.

I leaned against the fence of his school. Other moms and dads were also waiting for their child to come out of the school, just like me. The bell rang and the children ran out of the school in their mothers and fathers arms. I smiled when I saw Charlie coming out of his school. His teacher, Mrs. Applebaum, escorted him out like she always does. She pushed him slowly down the flat surface, next to the stairs. The school made that just for Charlie. My mom and I were really happy that they did that for him. We could now roll his wheelchair up and down easily. We don't have to carry him on the stairs anymore. Mrs. Applebaum smiled when she saw me, waived and pushed Charlie in my direction. "Hey Jamie!" Charlie said happily and opened his arms for me to hug him. I lowered myself to his hight and gave him a tight squeeze. "Hey there little one. What do you have in your hands?" Charlie let go of me and showed me his drawing. It was a regular drawing what every ten year old would draw. The sun at the corner of the paper with some stick figures on the foreground that are supposed to be people. "It's beautiful as always. Are you ready to go home?" Charlie nodded and said goodbye to his teacher. "Bye Mrs. Applebaum. Have a nice day."

"You too kids," I again smiled nicely at Charlie's teacher and left the school ground with my little brother besides me. It was silent at the beginning. Non of us talked. The only sound we heard was a car who sometimes passes by. "Did you cried?" Carlie asked, breaking the silence. "What?"

"Did you cried?"

"When?"

"Earlier today," I held my breath for a second. How did he knew? I know that Charlie is a bright kid, but how did he saw? "It's nothing Charlie. You don't have to worry about it, understood?"

"But...-"

"Understood," I repeated again. Charlie sighed but nodded. He is a ten year old kid in a wheelchair. He doesn't need to know that we can't pay the surgery for him. Thank God that mom didn't told Charlie much about it. He is still clueless about those hospital visits. We told him that he needs to be checked out now and then. And he bought that little lie. It was for his own good.

"How about some ice cream? The ice cream shop isn't far away from here," a huge smile was plastered on his face. "Can I get the choclet and strawberry ice cream? Wait! I also want the vanilla one. Can I get all three of them?"

"Three is the limit. So don't whine when you want a fourth scoop of ice cream, because you won't be getting any," Charlie is really exited about the ice cream. He is already ten feet ahead of me. Of course I made sure that Charlie is always in my eyesight. I stopped at Mike's Gym. Why, I don't know. Maybe because I see tons of half naked men, punching punching bags trough the window. All those delicious six pacs. I only recognised one face in that gym. It's Connor O'Brian . A tall and tan guy, who has a shorter, raven black version of Zayn Malik's haircut. His green eyes were focused on one spot on the punching bag. Every time he punches his biceps and triceps flexes while his six pack tightens. It's such a shame that he is a huge dick. Because he is labeled as the 'badass' of our school, he immediately thinks that he needs to be an ass.

"Jamie! Come on, I want ice cream,"

I smiled and nodded. "Coming," I ran the short distance between us and pushed Charlie the rest of the way.