Marked With Deception (ereri)

Chapter One

~Eren's POV~

With the morning light blinding my eyes, my body sluggishly slid out of bed. Nearly every bone under my skin had been aching from babysitting yesterday—children can be devils. And get this, the only thing I had received was a five dollar bill, a half-assed motherly smile, and a 'thanks so much!'

At least half of my body had been itching for hours since I hadn't taken a shower in just about four days. All of my clothes had been piled up on the floor for well over two weeks waiting for the rare chance that they'd be washed. The single lamp placed in the corner of my room had been broken ever since we moved into this one-story house, which was probably before I was born. 

It was a quarter before noon on a Saturday; one of the two mornings I get to sleep in. I did have a part-time job at Burger King to occupy my weekends and some nights, but I was recently fired when I was caught giving a helpless child a single box of fries. Adults are so cheap nowadays. Monday through Friday are always tough days for everyone, including myself. Obviously, I go to high school in the United States, but I always have to rush home for my babysitting job. They don't even pay me much, but it's better than nothing.

Lifting my hands to rub my tired eyes, I lazily strolled out of my bedroom. The hallway was rather small and the rug was covered in a million mystery stains. But the fact that the carpet was dirty wasn't the main problem in my life. We—meaning my mother and I—actually have a lot of problems in this home and it's all caused by one thing; our lack of money.

My mom has had it rough for most of the years now ever since I entered freshman year. Currently, I'm in senior year in the beginning of October. My grades are average, my health mentally and physical are both decent, and I'm always—no matter what—trying to help my mother save as much money as I possibly can.

My eyesight was finally adjusting to the natural rays shining through the windows of the living room. There were several boxes scattered across the floor full of items my mother planned on selling this week. We've even gotten to the point were we're giving antique photos of our family away for cash. It's always been a mess since my father left when I was in middle school, but I've never thought it would be this bad.

Entering the living room, I noticed my mother, Carla, in the kitchen standing by the sink. Her gaze was fixated on the dead grass and growing weeds/dandelions that had sprouting in our backyard. A landline phone was shakily pressed up against her ear as she was seemingly listening to whoever was talking on the other line.

Sitting on the couch, I patiently waited for her to hang up. The busy woman hasn't even realized I was in the next room looking at her through the doorway. Given the fact she was facing away from me.

"Wait what?" My mother spoke with worry in her voice, "We...We have until the end of the month? The first day of November is in three weeks!"

There was a silence indicating that she was listening to whoever was talking to her.

"I can't lose this house! Please! I know I don't have the money to pay the bills yet, but give me more time, please!"

Her head leaned down as she covered her eyes with her free hand. My mind remained calm up until I noticed tears dripping from her chin. Never have I ever seen my mother...so broken.

"You're crazy! I...I...I can't make ten grand in under four weeks! That's humanly impossible! I just need more time!" She continued begging into the phone.

Bursting into tears, she dropped to her knees onto the cold tiles of the kitchen floor. I—as her only child and the only person she actually has left—had idea what to do. It was as if my heart shattered at the very sight of seeing her like that, crying on the floor.

Instantly getting up from the couch, I hurried back into the comfort of my room in silence. I hoped what I heard was a dream, a hallucination, just anything but the truth. Given by word occasion, if my mom doesn't pay ten grand before November...we'll be homeless. Fucking homeless.

With my back pressed against the door, my eyes were lifelessly locked on the one window in my room as I slid down to the creaky floor.

I've cried in the past, several times. Mostly because of the same life threatening situation we've been in for years. But at that moment—after hearing those words from my mourning mother—I was all cried out. It was as if I had run out of tears. We've hit rock bottom, even after all the work we did. Even after the jobs we've both been hired then fired from, after all the days I didn't buy food only to save cash for the house, and after Grisha, my dad, had left us. We still haven't gotten anything done.

We're hopeless.

My foggy status was interrupted when I heard a light knock on my door behind me. Momentarily getting up and rushing to my unwashed bed, I calmly spoke the words, "Come in!"

There Carla stood with her eyes and face red, but lacked tears. She's always tried to be strong around me and vice versa. But we both know behind closed doors, the truth of our reality.

"Hey Mom," I greeted as she sat down at the end of my tiny bed.

"Hey sweetie," she chipped as she ran her hand against my cheek in my friendly way, "How'd you sleep?"

Looking at her, I could tell she was trying to hide all the emotions boiling inside of her, but still trying to act oblivious to the situation, I answered, "Pretty good. You?"

"I...I slept well," I could hear in her voice shake as she was on the verge of crying, "Listen honey, I have some bad news. Really bad news."

With an avalanche of emotions ready to fall upon us both, she gripped my hands tightly before talking, "I know you've been trying your best for us...but this morning I got a call."

Even though I spoke very few words, my throat began to close up trying to hide the waterworks. She doesn't know that I already know, and that's stressing me.

"They said that if we don't pay up by November...we'll have to move out of the house," she removed one hand and covered her face like she did in the kitchen to hide her tears. Her grip on me tightened as she let out a heartbreaking sob.

"I'm so sorry!" She wailed.

"Hey Mom, it's okay," I pulled her into a hug as her sorrow seeped into my shirt, "It's okay to cry, just let it out."

Rubbing her back in comfort, I kept a dry face to ease her. We don't need two weeping and destroyed people in this problem. I need her to know that I'm still here and still fighting with her. I need to be strong for her too.

Pulling back from the hug, I wiped the water from her cheeks and gave a reassuring smile, "No matter what happens Mom, I'll always be by your side. No matter what, I'll never leave you."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Your mother is trying her best," she spoke while getting up on her feet, "I just felt it'd be wrong if I kept this from you."

I nodded in understandment as she blew me a friendly kiss. Closing the door behind her, she left me in my room.

All rationale left my brain as I began to think of ideas of what to do. Something that can help my mother and I in a short amount of time. I'm desperate at this point.

"I can steal from a bank or something," I murmured to myself as I threw the comforters over my shaking body, "But I have no experience with doing that. I'd totally get caught."

Opening the shades of the windows, I let even more light enter my room, "I could sell everything in my bedroom and sleep on the floor?!"

The options running through my head were ideas that could give me only around half a grand in total. Overall it was no use. We need more money, ten grand to be exact.

The tears my mother had left on my shirt had become cold making my abdomen chilly. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, I lifted it off my fragile body. By this time, I could consider myself anorexic from all the meals I had missed to save money.

I threw the clothing over to the number of clothes piled up on the ground.

For what I thought was the end of my brainstorm, a plan popped into my head as I stared at my reflection.

"I could sell my body."