I Love You To Death

Finally Home

I fell to the floor. My father. Rebecca stared at me sadly, my childhood was crumbling to pieces. It was silent, I was trying to stop myself from crying. I needed to be a man. I felt a weight on my shoulders as Rebecca dropped onto her knees and hugged me, keeping me together. We stayed that way for a while, I was hunched over and Rebecca was sobbing into my back.

A harsh cackle shattered the silence. My mother was laughing herself off the chair.

"He's dead! Oh finally. Drunk himself into an early grave he did. I warned him I did, but did he listen? Bimbo kept him young he said, but here he is. Dead at 50!" She held her hands to her side, struggling for breath.

I tensed, ready to jump up but Rebecca beat me to it.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" She flew at my mother, hands grasping her neck. Rebecca never attacked like this, she was out for blood. I shook myself out of my shock and ran to the scrapping women.

"STOP! You're both fucking women! Get control of yourselves, we're a family and families stick together. 'Specially in times like this. We need each other."

I managed to pry Rebecca's hands away from my mothers neck and watched as my mothers blue face turned back to her normal tomato red. Rebecca looked at me in embarrassment and sat gingerly on the sofa, picking at her nails. My mother returned to her red, beaten up armchair; covered in stains and holes with the seat flattened by age and her weight. She kept shooting looks of disdain and pure hatred at Becca. After sitting in complete silence for 10 minutes I shook my head and stood up.

"This is absolutely pathetic. Grown women."

I stormed upstairs to my room and turned on my laptop. Ally was online. I needed someone to talk to but the idea of messaging her, of telling her this devastating news through text on a screen repelled me. I needed to hear her voice, to see her eyes, to feel her hugs and have a shoulder to cry on.

I might be male but I was not stone. Everyone needs someone.

I retrieved my mobile from the depths of my bag and called her. It beeped a few times and I suddenly panicked that I had to wait until tomorrow. Suddenly her chirpy voice filled my ear and a weight was lifted off my shoulders, a wave of relief washed over me.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" I snapped back into reality.

"Ally." I couldn't say any more, my voice broke and my throat thickened, chocked up with tears and pain.

"I'm coming over, don't worry." That was reassuring to hear. I started to wonder how she knew where I lived but I remembered how she knew my last name when we first met and my number today.

There was an abrupt knock on the front door. I raced downstairs before the girls could open it.

And there she was, beaming at me though her eyes were full of pity. Her fringe was adorably tucked behind one ear and she was wearing the same lace dress as she was when we met up. Wait? Was that today? It's so weird how a day could change that quickly.

"Taylor? Are you okay?" Her eyebrows were pulled together in concern.

I couldn't even speak. I tried to but the words wouldn't come out. I had to shake my head, I could still do that. She opened her arms and I fell into them. Her arms wrapped around me and I was embraced by soft lace and sweet perfume.

I was home.