choose | luke hemmings

chapter 8✿

The rest of the day was spent crying in bed and calling Ian a countless amount of times. After the first 30 tries, I stopped. It's now around eleven pm, I go downstairs to grab dinner. I haven't eaten since breakfast and I am starved. I tip toe around to make sure not to let Michael hear me. Just as I am getting a bowl out of the cupboard, the front door opens. I turn my head quickly to see my mother stumble inside the house.

"Mom? What's wrong with you?" I ask her. She looks quite intoxicated.

"What's wrong with me?" She slurs. "What's wrong with you? You look like you've been crying for days."

"Yeah I-" I begin before she cut me off.

"Look, I'd love to stay and hear your sob story about why you've been crying but quite frankly, I don't give a damn. Nighty night." She says before staggering upstairs.

What just happened? Why is my mother drunk? I leave my food in the kitchen and walk upstairs, knocking on Michael's door. He doesn't answer, so I let myself in. 

"Michael?" I ask. 

He doesn't even look over at me. I wave my arms in the air. He looks over at me and pulls the headphones from his ears. 

"Oh sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Everything okay?" He asks.

"Not really," I begin. He sits up on his bed and waits for me to continue. "Mum just walked in completely drunk."

He sighs. "I'm not surprised." He shakes his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, May. Just leave it alone." He says sternly.

"No! Damn it Michael, tell me what the hell is going on! Is that why Mum's always gone? She's out getting shit faced? I'm in the dark here, let me in." I cry, extremely frustrated.

He lets out a breath. "May, there's a lot you don't know." He pauses. "And I think it would be best if it stayed that way."

"That's it!" I scream. "I'm going home. I don't need this." I turn around and leave Michael's room.

He quickly follows me to my room and grabs my arm. "Alright, May. I'll tell you what's going on, but you need to stop threatening to leave every time something goes wrong."

I nod my head. "Alright, I'm sorry. Please just tell me what's going on."

He sits down on the edge of my bed and I quickly follow, sitting beside him. He lets out a sigh before starting what I had a feeling would be a very long explanation.

"Mum's been like this for a while now. She gets drunk a lot. Sometimes high too. It's ridiculous. She's a grown woman acting like a teenager. When it first started I didn't say anything because I hoped it would just be some kind of short depression phase after the divorce. But, it became a regular thing. Sometimes she wouldn't even come home for days. I never said anything to her though since she was my only family in Sydney, I couldn't risk losing her. But then one day she came home completely drunk out of her mind and started throwing things. I couldn't take it anymore so I finally told her she's ridiculous and needs to stop all this shit. She didn't take that too well and she uh- well, she- she hit me a couple times. After that I packed a bag and stayed at Luke's for a week. Her and I haven't talked much since. That's why I've been so excited for you to come, I needed to see real family." He says, out of breath.

I felt like the wind has been knocked out of me. When did my Mum become such a horrible person? Her and my Dad never hit Michael and I. That was something they never did. They would yell at us, but never physically lay a hand on us. I quickly wipe the tears that formed in my eyes and hug Michael.