Boyf Riends

Michael III

tw: child abuse

...

I parked my Cruiser in the garage before heading inside my house, "Sun Is Shining" was playing from the base of my neck. My poor speakers.

I couldn't help but wonder which was going to go first, my hearing or my headphones?

The garage door closed behind me, and I walked into the cool house. My smile fell when I saw her sitting at the kitchen table.

"Michael, nice to see that you actually came home to do the things I asked you to do. What were you out doing so late?" The she-demon rose from her woven seat and walked over. Her metallic pink cup scraped against the sink as she put it in there.

"My teacher wanted to talk to me after class, that's all. I swear."

My mother smiled with her shark like teeth. I could smell the coffee on her breath. She walked over to the cabinet and took out some of the plates.

Something started pounding in my chest with the force of a jackhammer. One by one, I watched her fingers let go of the plates until they dropped to the floor and shattered.

Dusty pieces of ceramic covered the grey tile floor, but she didn't stop there.

The she-demon reached under the sink and pulled out my bottle of cleaning supplies. She unscrewed the cap and started dumping the liquid out into the sink.

All I could do was stand there and watch. I couldn't move or show any emotion. That would just make it worse. I didn't want it to be like before. I wouldn't be able to handle it if it became like before.

The she-demon threw the empty bottle in the sink and grabbed another bottle. She continued until all that was left was ammonia.

I got sick every time I used ammonia, that's why Nadia bought all of the other cleaners for me.

My mother washed her hands off in the sink and dried them on my hoodie's sleeve. It took everything in me not to flinch while she was doing so.

"That's for lying. Don't do it next time." She sighed and walked back over to the kitchen table. Her sharp, pointed flats slapped the floor with intense anger. Everything she did was intense and angry. "I'll be going, Nadia thinks that I'm staying in New York for a week. I really just needed an excuse to stop seeing your lazy-ass. I did have to check if you would actually listen to me, but I guess that you can't be trusted. Maybe I'll just drive back down after school every day and find things for you to do. Liars need to penance."

Her voice dropped low as she put her hand on the metal doorknob. "I still don't understand how I got a freak like you after your father and I put so much effort into raising you. You still turned out all messed up."

She left, slamming the door closed behind her.

Don't move. Don't move. Don't move. Don't move.

I stayed standing completely still and emotionless in the middle of the kitchen for thirty minutes. The Bob Marley music stopped playing, leaving the only noise in the house to me the sound of my own uneven breathing.

I couldn't use the ammonia. It would have made me too sick to do anything fun with Jeremy. This was the first time we could actually hang out in a while, and I didn't want to waste it by spending all of my time in the bathroom.

As I controlled my breathing, I thought about the stuff I had downstairs in my bathroom. There was my shampoo, conditioner, hair stuff, my special box that I would have to use later, and some cleaning supplies that went with the box.

Cleaning supplies. She wouldn't have known about those.

I threw open the basement door and ran to my bed. Underneath the floorboard, I pulled out the shoebox and some of my cleaning stuff.