Cinders

~76~ Listen and Obey

I change into basketball shorts and just wait. This is so dumb. Ok, most of the other crap I've done in my life, I'll admit that I earned a spanking. But not cleaning my room? Really? This is a bit extreme.

Mom comes in about 5 minutes later, with the paddle in her hands. She must have stuffed it into the oversized bag she was carrying. What a joke.

"After work tonight, you are coming home and cleaning your room," she says, crossing her arms.

"I have to work until 10!"

I'm seriously getting SO pissed

Mom just stares at me.

"Why are you being like this? You've never been like this before. My room has been messier than this before, and you haven't been this insane!"

"This isn't about your room. This is about you not listening. It's like you think that now that you have a job, you can just come and go as you please without any responsibility!"

"I meant to come over this morning, I just didn't get home until late and I forgot to set my alarm."

Somehow this woman has got to see reason!

"Would you have made sure your alarm was set if you and dad were headed to another concert or something this morning?"

Touché

She knows she got me there so she just sighs. "Come on. I've got an appointment to get to."

I roll my eyes and shake my head in anger as I stand up.

"And loose that dang attitude! I've had about all I'm gonna take."

She points to my desk, so I go over and put my hands on the top, sticking my butt out.

"Ready?" She asks.

"Just do it" I snap.

Mom just sighs and lets the first whack fall. I haven't had the paddle in quite a long time and I'm surprised by the sting it leaves already. I shift my weight, because I'm apparently a rookie and hadn't properly steadied myself.

She lets the second whack fall, immediately sending fire into my butt. Working is going to be awful tonight. I swear if she even tries the thighs, I'm gonna go postal.

The third and fourth whack come down in quick succession. She hits in the same spot both times, causing a groan to escape my lips. By the sixth wack I have tears streaming down. I swear, 6 must be the lucky number with the paddle. That's when it always gets me. I actually do better with the belt.

Dang! I do better with the belt? What gives? I'll have to ponder this later when I'm not dying.

When the seventh one lands I put my head down and close my eyes, gripping the edge of my desk tighter.

I audibly yell in pain when the tenth one lands, and I grunt as I brace for the next one.

Suddenly, mom puts the paddle down.

She's done? After only ten? She hasn't given me only 10 since I was 10.

I wait for another second to make sure she wasn't just taking a break.

"You can get up now, kid," she says, with amusement in her voice.

"You're done?" I cry as I try to wipe away my tears.

"Yeah," she says simply.

"After only 10?" I ask like a fool.

Why do I do these things to myself?

Mom just smiles "Yeah Liam—I'm not punishing you as severely as I did the frog, or for cheating in school. Why would I do that?"

"I don't understand," I admit, wiping a stray tear that escaped.

Mom sighs quietly. "I didn't spank you for your room not being clean—I know you've been busy. But I also know that you deliberately disobeyed me, several times. You're the kid; I'm the parent. When I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen and obey—You haven't been. You think you can do whatever you feel like, and sir...You can't. This was just a small reminder of that."

I just nod as I process

"Ok, I'm going to be late to my doctor's appointment, I've gotta go. You don't need to come by tonight. When you get home on Monday, I do expect you to clean it though, hear me?"

"Yeah"

Mom nods and kisses my cheek. "Have a good weekend, bud. Love you."

"Love you too," I say, giving her a small smile.

Once she leaves and I go over to dad, he just chuckles.

"I haven't been around before when she spanks you—I used to always refuse...but she went easy on you, yeah?

"Very easy," I admit. I'm sore, but this is nothing

~*~

The weekend goes by quickly, and before I know it, I'm headed to mom's Monday after school.

I'm relieved that she's in a good mood when I get there. "Hey bud," she says, coming over and kissing my cheek.

"Hey!" I say, giving her a small smile as I head straight to my room to clean it. I ain't no dummy...

It literally takes me 10 minutes—My room wasn't bad at all. I should have just done it the other day and saved myself a headache. Or rather, a butt-ache.

"Did you have a good weekend?" She asks once I come out of my room.

"It wasn't bad. I've got another check for Taylor," I say, reaching in my bag to get it.

"Ok, well you will see him on Saturday. You can just give it to him then."

I nod and put it back in my bag.

"I picked up some boxes today. You need to start packing your room. I'll do most of it, because I know you're working a lot this week and you're going to dad's on Friday, but I want you to do some of it." She says with a funny look on her face.

"What's that look for?"

"Just...just make sure that you don't leave anything that you don't want me to see."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not going through your room, Liam—I'm not comfortable with that. The only reason I did last time was because I didn't have a choice. I had to get you packed quickly. Jake ended up packing some condoms and things and it made me really uncomfortable. So, please just pack that stuff up, ok?"

"Ok"

~*~

By Thursday night, I'm tired. This was such a crazy week. I had several tests I had to study for, I worked 15 hours, and I had track. I'm sitting on the couch, watching TV, when mom comes in the room.

She sits down and starts taping up a couple of boxes that are already filled.

"I got most of your room done, kid. There's just a few more things I need you to do for me tonight. Your stereo system looks confusing and I don't want to ruin it. Plus, there's a couple things that are heavy, and I don't want to lift them."

"Ok. I'll do them before bed." I say, giving her a smile.

"Thanks love. How did track go today?"

"Good. I shaved a minute off my mile."

"That's great, Liam! You've really been working hard lately."

Yes I have been. It's nice she noticed.

Mom goes to bed around 9 and I stay up another hour, and then I head to bed. It wasn't until I was drifting off to sleep that I realized that I never packed the stuff.

I'll have to do it Saturday when we get here to move, I guess.