Send ✔️

10 ~ Words On Paper

Ten days.

It had been ten days since Annie's reaction to mom, and Annie is staying in the psych ward at the hospital.

It's not because of what she said to mom or anything, it's to make sure that when she gets home, she doesn't regress, or at least as quickly. 

Mom started making me go back to school. My friends keep asking what happened, but I have said nothing. 

Dad took me back to the hospital after school was over. When we arrived, Annie was in therapy, so I sat down in the chair by her bed and started my work. About an hour later, she got back.

"Hi Annie!" I smiled.

She gave me a weak smile back. "Hey, Hayley."

She got in her bed and turned on the TV. She watched it for a while. When I finished my homework, I studied her. I felt that something wasn't quite right.

Soon, we had to go home. When I walked into the house, I put my stuff away, changed into my pajamas because they were more comfortable than the jeans I had been wearing, and I watched some Friends while dad made dinner. Mom wasn't home. I figured she might have been at a store or something.

Dad called me down for dinner. Our bowls with pasta were the only two on the table.

"Where's mom?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," Dad winked. The last time this happened, mom was out getting ice cream for us.

We ate dinner in silence, then I washed my dish. Dad called mom, since she should have been home by now. Dad sent me upstairs.

I laid down on Annie's bed with my laptop, continuing the episode I was last watching. A while later, mom still had not returned and it was getting late. I turned off my computer and started getting ready for bed. I texted mom good night before brushing my teeth. Right before I got in bed, I checked my phone. She had left me on read.

+++

When I woke up the next morning for school, mom was not home. My dad was downstairs making pancakes for breakfast.

"Why isn't mom here?" I asked.

He sighed. "I think she left."

I paused. "Like, she abandoned us?!"

I saw his eyes start to tear up. "Yes. I found two letters on my dresser this morning. I didn't see them last night."

He sent me upstairs, telling me that the letter with my name on it was still in his room. I dashed up the stairs and picked up the envelope, worried about what I might read.

Dear Hayley,

For the betterment of this family, I have left. I messed everything up. I'm sorry. You can still live with Paige if you want. She'll be a better role model than your stressed-out dad.

From Mom

I crumpled the letter into a ball and shoved it in the trash. That's a load of crap. I went back downstairs.

"Mom wants me to live with Paige instead of you. I'd rather stay here." I sat on the kitchen counter.

"I think it's what's best for you. You need a stable environment, and your mom is gone, and I'm gonna get caught soon."

I blinked. "What?"

"I've been evading taxes for years because we're broke. I've been committing credit card fraud, tax fraud, you name it. My debt is thrice what I owe in taxes too."

Oh my god. My life is falling apart.

"We will be going to court soon to have you and your sister's legal guardian become Paige soon, then I'm turning myself in. The longer I keep running from it, the longer I'll be in prison." Dad put my pancakes on a plate, then went upstairs.

I sobbed while eating my breakfast. Nope. I'm not going to school today.

Once I was finished, I went upstairs and put on leggings and a sweater. I think dad could tell that I didn't want to go to school today, so he drove me right to the hospital to be with Annie. Mom didn't write her a letter.

I went to Annie's room. She was sleeping. I sat in the chair next to her and mindlessly scrolled through instagram. I eventually shut off my phone and stared at the wall. Annie woke up after a while.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" She asked.

"Mom abandoned us and dad's going to jail," I said bluntly.

"What?" Annie turned her body to face mine.

"Mom wrote me a letter. She's leaving. And dad told me we have to go to court soon so Paige will get custody of us so we won't get placed in a foster home when he turns himself in for tax evasion." 

Annie paused. "Why the heck is our family falling apart?!"

"I have no idea."

Annie was silent. A few minutes later, she started crying. She moved the bed so she was sitting up, staring at the blanket on her bed. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I looked up at her. She turned her head to look at me.

Her eyes went back. I began to panic. I tried to get her pulse, and when I couldn't, that's when all hell broke loose.