Cinders

~31~ Anger

Dad is standing by the door, looking awkward, while mom and I are reconciling.

He's upset.

He really liked this girl, so he's bummed they just broke up. Mom notices the same thing I do, and smiles slightly at him.

"Sorry, Alex," she says, with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Dad only shrugs.

"Can I stay here, tonight?" I ask dad.

I'm upset with him, and I don't wanna be around while he's moping all night.

Dad looks at me, suddenly irritated.

"No, Liam. When you're mad at one of us, you're not gonna keep asking to run to the other. It's still my night with you."

Mom is completely shocked; She's never heard him talk to me like this before. She still doesn't know how much Kara has changed him.

I chuckle. "Now that you're single again, you finally want me around, huh?" I ask, turning towards the kitchen and grabbing a soda from the fridge.

"What are you talking about?"

Whoop! He's really starting to get mad.

"Nothing—Let's just go."

"Nope," dad says, putting out his hand to stop me. "You've got a problem? Let's hear it!"

He's now crossing his arms and towering over me.

"She was awful!!! How could you not see that?!?"

"You never said anything!!!! How was I supposed to know that she wasn't treating you well?" He asks, starting to raise his voice.

"You wouldn't, I guess," I say as I try to shove past him again.

He grabs my arm again, pulling me back to face him. "I'm getting pretty sick and tired of you trying to leave right now—What did you just mean by that?"

"Mom came in and saw me for 5 seconds before she realized that something else was up. You had been sitting there for ten minutes, completely pissed. You literally looked like you were gonna hit me. You took Kara's side—Immediately. YOU HAD NO INTENTIONS OF HEARING ME OUT!!!"

Mom and Taylor are silent, watching the exchange. Mom has pain in her eyes—She can see how hurt I've been. She also has pain in her eyes for dad too, I think. He never loses his temper, and she sees him about to lose it now. She can see how hard he's trying to keep himself under control—It hurts her to see him suffering.

"THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME, ONCE AGAIN, HOW BETTER OF A PARENT YOUR MOM IS," he screams, acting like he wants to shove me. He puts his hands down, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.

"You know what? I've changed my mind," he says as he looks at mom and raises his hands up in a mock surrender. "You can have him tonight."

He turns around and leaves, slamming the door and knocking a picture frame off of the wall.

That wasn't dad—It was like something just came over his body, and replaced my dad with something else—An abuser or something. He really looked like he wanted to hurt me.

"Woah," Taylor says quietly.

"Yeah," mom says, equally as quiet as she heads for the door.

She looks at me with a serious expression. "Stay here. Do you hear me?"

I simply nod. I have never, EVER seen him so mad at me before—I thought for a small second he was gonna hit me, and that was a sick feeling.

Mom leaves quickly, trying to find dad. My guess is to try and calm him down. No way she's gonna be able to with the state he's in.

I look out the window in the living room after a minute, and I can see that she caught up to him in the parking lot. Taylor and I watch for a couple minutes as mom talks to him, rubbing his arm gently. He finally gives her a hug, and they stay like that for a few minutes, before he gets in his car to leave.

When she comes back to the apartment, she looks at me and smiles gently. "He'll be ok—He's gonna calm down, and then he's going to come back for dinner."

"Has it always been like that?" Taylor asks, quietly.

Mom nods. "Yeah. I can usually get him to snap out of it, though."

"Has he ever not been able to snap out of it?"

"Just once," mom says, rolling her eyes. "He found out that my brother Jake and I had gotten into a big fight—You haven't met Jake yet—Anyways, he found out we got in a fight, and it got a little heated," she says pausing for a minute since I'm around.

Taylor and I exchange a secret glance. We know exactly what happened—Jake had hit her.

"Alex went off. He was still on duty, so he went to Jake's house and arrested him. Jake ended up staying in jail a couple of days for it."

"He went to jail because you two argued?" Taylor asks, trying to get mom to admit what really happened.

"Alex was mad. He used his pull at the jail to get them to keep him there for a few days. My brother and I have barely talked since."

"Hmm," Taylor says, obviously not appreciating how easily she told the truth while lying at the same time.

"Dad will be back at 5," she says, changing the subject .

I do homework until dad gets back. Once he gets here, he looks much better—More normal. He says nothing as he comes over to me and wraps me up in a huge hug.

"You're right; I really liked her. I ignored all the warning signs I had, because I didn't wanna admit to myself that she wasn't good. I'm so sorry, Liam. This will never happen again," he says, stroking my hair and giving me a kiss.

I just nod. I'm still hurt, but I'll get over it.

"I'll always choose you. You do know that, right? I was an idiot, but there was never a moment that I would have chosen her over you. I hope you know that."

I just nod, again, not knowing what to say. I DON'T know that he would have chosen me—I thought I did before Kara came along.

Dad sighs, quietly. "Guess I'll have to work on earning your trust back, huh?"

I look at the ground, feeling awkward.

Dad takes his finger and places it under my chin, gently pulling my chin up until I'm looking at him. "I WILL earn your trust back champ. I love you."

"Love you too," I say, hugging him again.

The rest of the evening is fine—We had dinner, and dad, Taylor, and I all played video games the rest of the night.

Dad and I went home, and that night I went to bed feeling lighter than I have in over month.