I crawl into a ball on my bed, huddling next to my older brother. We both scrunch our eyes and cover our ears, wincing at the sound one floor below us. Leaning against my brother, I snuggle into the heat of his lap, and he hugs me tightly. I catch some words, but most I do not understand.
“You are so arrogant!” my mom screams. “Putting your own needs before this family's!” Even though I'm not watching the scene unfold, I can feel my dad cringe.
“Are you saying that all the hard work I do for this family- this shelter, our food- is nothing to you?”
Mom sounds close to tears. “No! And I appreciate what you do! But you're always- you know what? I can't even look at you right now.” She storms out of the kitchen and stomps up the stairs to her bedroom. Streams of salty tears cascade down my cheeks, and I subconsciously feel my brother's hand combing through my wavy golden locks. Mom and Dad can't break up! I'll do whatever I can to prevent it!
Mom walks into our room, comforting us with her warm embrace. "It'll all be ok," she reassured us. Despite everything I've just experienced, I believed her wholeheartedly.
Over the next few weeks, I sent each of my parents little gifts to their glorious time together. My mom found a bouquet of roses with a handwritten love note (I used one that my dad wrote years ago). Yesterday, my dad found a photo album on his neat covers, depicting the cherished moments of his and mom’s relationship.I observed their progress, and was happy with the results. They weren’t fighting as often anymore and even exchanged the occasional ionate kiss (sadly in front of us kids).
It wasn’t until one weekend that my plan fell apart. My parents decided to take us to the movies as a treat for the hard work we were doing in class.
“What do you two want to see?” Mom asked us, purchasing a tub of popcorn and drizzling an excessive amount of butter into it. I gave it some thought and decided to watch Frozen, hoping it was airing. Before I could voice my opinion, my dad cut in.
“Let’s watch the Avengers!” Dad suggested, also holding an equally buttered, if not more, container of popcorn. Mom scowled.
“Today was supposed to be a treat for the kids, not for you!” Mom protested, putting her hands on her hips.
“Well, I am the one paying for this night out so I should at least get a say in the matter.”
“Whatever, I’m sure it’s not even airing right now.” To Mom’s displeasure, it was playing the Avengers at 8:30 tonight.
“Awesome!”
“The kids are too young to watch that junk, so let’s choose a different movie.” I could feel the tension between them, so I piped up,
“I want to watch Frozen!” My mom agreed as well as my brother, though reluctantly. Only Dad had an objection to my decision.
“You can take the kids to watch that, I’m going to see the Avengers.” He walked away without a glance back.
“Mommy, you and Dad aren’t splitting up, are you?” ] asked timidly, looking up at her.
“Well-” her voice cracked. “Your daddy and I aren’t really getting along anymore. And when two people don’t get along…” She trailed off.
“So you’re saying all my hard work was for nothing?”
“No, we’re still going to watch Frozen.”
“I meant the letters, the roses! I’ve been trying to make things right between you two!”
“That was you? Oh honey…” Mom bent down to give me a hug. “I’m sorry sweetie, but I don’t think it’s going to work out this time.”
“I’ll make it work! It’ll work out in the end, just trust me!”
Mom gave a sad laugh and nodded solemnly. “If you say so honey.”
The nail polish color that inspired this piece is Eternal Optimist.
Comments (2)
Oh man this is so good. I totally fell into the flow of this short story. So amazingly written, such nice words. Then the connection to the nail colour, I absolutely love it. Great work! :)
Thank you!