Please Believe Me

Prologue

"Make me some food. I've got to head to work." My dad demands.

"I'll make it right now. Just let me finish making breakfast for the kids—"

"I said right now! You have to put me first, got it?! I'm the breadwinner of this household, not them!"

"I'll always put my kids first! And this isn't a fucking fast-food restaurant!" My mom claps back. "If you want things done quickly, go out and buy some damn food for once, or better yet, why don't you ask your lover?!"

 "Would you stop with the same shit! I don't have another woman, how many times do I have to tell you that!"

Pushing my bowl of cereal away, I watch my dad stomp away from the kitchen, no longer in the mood for breakfast.

It's always the same thing in this house. If breakfast or lunch isn't made, my dad flips a lid and if he doesn't get it on the spot he takes out his anger on us. Not violence or anything just...enough to scare us. 

"Don't listen to that man, hija." My mom says, noticing the uneaten cereal. "He's just a selfish prick, that's what."

"I know, Ma." I sigh. "It's just that...never mind."

"What is it?" my mom prods gently. "Tell me."

I'm so tired of the same thing. 

"When will it get better, Ma?" I whisper. "It feels like we can never move forward. Never."

I bite my lip to try and hold back my tears.

"Every time I think I've got the job it always ends up going to someone else," I look down in shame. "Am I not good enough, Ma?"

"You are hija, it's just not time yet."

"Then when Ma? Huh? Do you know how much it kills me when I tell my siblings I've landed a job interview, that we finally have the chance to get out of here, only to tell them I didn't get it?"

My mom stares at me in silence, sadness tugging at her features. 

I keep going. "It seems like every damn time we try to move forward we end up taking ten steps back. Like that little brown bear in the video. He tried climbing up the snow-covered mountain and kept on falling back down when he was near the top."

My mom gives me a small smile and says, "But what happened to that little brown bear in the end?"

"It reached the top," I answer, defeat weighing on my shoulders.

"Exactly, it took time but it made it. And you know why it made it?"

I look at her with tears in my eyes, knowing she doesn't expect an answer.

"Because it never gave up. No matter how steep that mountain was. No matter how many times it kept slipping, it never gave up, because its momma was waiting for him."

My mom comes around the kitchen counter and pulls me into her arms.

"Don't give up, hija. You never know what may be waiting for you at the top. Just give it time. Be patient."

A tear finally slips free at her words.