Broken Ties

prologue

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The Beginning

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"My mom never liked her mother and my siblings and I barely had a conversation with her and now she's dead. It's hard you know?" Starts Alex.

"Yeah, my mother is so annoying. She tells me to do one thing then I go to my father and says the exact opposite. I'm much closer to my father and he's so nice. He might be tough on me when it comes to swimming, but he's always there to cheer me up. My mother, on the other hand, is too controlling and is always worried about me. She calls 24/7 and always criticises the little things I do. And we always fight about it." Meghan says.

"Oh, your mom's like that. Mine is nice. We might be 7 children, but we are close and it's strange, but we never fight. Maybe except my younger sister and I, but yeah."

Can you shut up?!



I put my pillow over my head, but no use.

I hear Meghan shift on her bed, "I can't even walk in public with her. We always argue and people stare."

Out of blue, a new voice chimes in, "Well, at least you have your mom. I don't know why you are so ungrateful to have one." Penny's mother passed away after her younger sister was born due to a brain tumor. The day she told the dorm, I didn't feel sorry for her.

I just looked at her and said, "Oh, I was  wondering why I never saw her before."

Looking back at it, I was probably being very insensitive.

"Don't even start with that, Penny," warned Meghan as her voice grew louder than it was before.

I need sleep!! And it's 11:45pm! I've told to keep quiet 11 times, in counting, and they're still talking!

"I'm sorry but–"

"But shut up!" I yell, sitting up so that I'm facing the whole dorm. "When will you guys ever go to sleep? I'm so tired, and it's like this every night. I'm always tired during the day because of you all talking loudly at night. Did you know that when you guys speak, your voices echo throughout the entire room? It's fine if you guys whisper, but fuck no! Your whispers sounds like you're speaking normally and you normal voice sounds like a parade! You guys don't have respect for Annalo and I! Now shut up and go to sleep!"

By the end of my 'lecture', I'm exhausted and angry. I've been listening to them talk about their parents, money, gossip, insecurities, friends and whole damn life ever since the second week of hostel.

We're in the 6th week now.

The room falls silent and I lay back down, huffing and puffing quietly. All I hear is shifting and awkward coughing.

After a minute or two, I'm still awake due to them keeping me awake, but now they're asleep.

Suddenly a voice broke through the silence, "Thank you. I was ready to throw them out the window."

I instantly recognize the voice as Annalo's.

Since it's pitch black by now, I have to rely on my other senses to try and locate more or less where her face was.

"You're welcome."

After 10 minutes, I was still awake and Annalo had fallen asleep with the rest of the dorm.

That's when my mind started replaying what I heard. I think of the dorm talking disrespectfully behind their teacher's, friend's and parent's back. Annalo is most likely the only one in this dorm of 5, that hasn't spoken badly about her parents.