prove me wrong

• 14 •

"Oh god, Tyler!" My mother, who had previously sit on a chair in front of the kitchen table, jumped up and ran to me. At first she looked as if she wanted to hug me. And then she don't.
"What are you thinking?", she mocked angrily, and from the supposed embrace was a look that made me rather consider whether she would beat me. "Easy to disappear and stay away for so long?" she gasped, then pointed to the clock that hung above the table. It was already nine, I realized with surprise. I think I had not seen my mother so angry for a long time and she started to scare me. "Don't you have anything to say?" She hissed at me, and I flinched. "I'm sorry," I said. I'd have to tell her about Josh, or she might get the idea I was taking drugs, and the consequence would probably be that I had to stay home for a while. That would mean not seeing Josh, and I could not risk that. "I was traveling with a friend and forgot the time." My mother gasped in surprise, then looked at me suspiciously, as if she could not quite believe what she heard. Envious that it so surprised her when her son found a friend. "crazy, right?" I said ironically. "I'll find someone, admit it, you did not expect that." My mom blushed and I knew she was painfully aware of how she felt. "Who is it?" She asked, "Can I meet him or is it a girl?" I did not want her to meet Josh. She certainly would not understand him, the way he thought and expressed that, and eventually she might don't like him. And somehow I had the urge to keep Josh off the world as if he were a diamond that only I wanted to see. "Forget it," I said. "What's wrong with you?" She hissed angrily, "how are you talking to me?" I shrugged and said coldly, "You and Dad taught me so." My mother looked like I had punched her in the face. She stood there like an injured deer, and for a fraction of a second I felt guilty. My dad left about a year ago, and he had taken Maddy, Jay, and Zack with him. They did not want to go, but he had decided that it would be better for the three to grow up without anyone "mentally disturbed" as he called it. I would be lying if I said it did not hurt, because it did, very much. First, because of what my father said, and second, because after that, practically everything went down the drain. I really loved my siblings, and my mother was different when Dad and the three were still around. She had drunk less, and she had been calmer and gentler. I thought it was because of me, because she hated me because of my depression and could hardly stand it alone with me. The worst part was that I never got the chance to say goodbye to Maddy, Jay and Zack. It had been several days after taking the overdose, so I was still in the hospital. In the end, though, it was my fault, I knew that. I hated talking about my parents, and that was the only time my mother was sorry for me, but I knew there was no other way to get out of here. "What's his or her name?" She asked, much calmer than before.
"Josh."