Life Of Bayla

|20|

The news came like an avalanche.

Aaron was in a car accident. He was rushed to the hospital by passersby and they had quickly contacted my parents.

Mom couldn't stop crying and no matter how much Ian tried to console her, she just couldn't stop. Dad drove all of us to the hospital. It was the same hospital I was in when I had to detoxify. The same foreign doctor attended to us too.

We were told that not much damage was done. That news seemed to calm mom down to an extent. We were also told that the only damage was done to his arm.

"Your son broke his arm", Doctor Charles informed us.

We waited in the reception till they called us to see Aaron. As expected, he was asleep and we planned on waiting for him to wake up till we left. But Aaron didn't wake up.

He didn't wake up for two weeks.

And those two weeks were hellish for the Lakes family. Mom didn't go to work, Ian cancelled all his photo shoots and dad went MIA.

Today was different though. Today dad did show up. Then all hell broke loose. Mom and Dad fought again. Hurtful words were exchanged and mom cried.

"It's all your fault, Rosio", he spat out. "If you were never such a careless mother, you'd have trained your kids better. Maybe your son wouldn't be out at night and wouldn't have had that accident in the first place and maybe your daughter wouldn't be having boys over at night".

That one hit different.

Everyone went quiet. Lolita who was busy serving up dishes excused herself as this had turned to a really personal matter.

Mom stood up from her chair and the next thing we all heard was the sound of palm meeting skin as it resonated in our quiet dinning room.

I had never seen my mother so angry in my life. "Bastardo! Tú eres el que se acuesta con mujeres y me llamas descuidado", she paused then looked down as tears streaked down her cheeks, "Te odio, Archibald".

Mom's voice was too quiet, "Has arruinado este matrimonio y esta familia".

And she left.

~~~~~

My eyes were glazed over as I looked at my room ceiling. At first I was counting the spaces till my vision blurred and till tears began to trickle down my face.

Life was miserable for me. Cullen's been calling but I haven't picked up any of his calls. He's also been messaging me too but I haven't read any of them.

I just feel so messed up and sad and lonely.

It's been two days since mom and dad fought in front of us. That scene keeps replaying itself in my head and also haunts my dreams, that's why I have to count the spaces in the ceiling before I can fall asleep.

Ian and I have become closer in the span of 48 hours. We're siblings now more than ever.

I turned in bed and looked out my window. I could see the pretty stars twinkling.

It was then I saw the shooting star.

When I was younger and my family was still, you know, a family, dad would tell me that shooting star wishes always came true. And I believed him. That particular night he told me, I wished I'd be taller than Aaron cause he always made fun of my height. It didn't work though but dad told me it's a process. He told me that one day, I'd be so much taller than Aaron that I'd be able to mess up his hair as he always did that to me.