Empathy (TMF FANFIC)

The Sterling-Edwards Family (Third Person)

Time: 5 days after Jake's suicide.

Maxwell had just came home from doing business with a mortician.  As soon as he stepped inside, he heard Delilah crying, and Thomas and Haebaragi yelling at each other from the living room.
He shut the front door and rushed into the room only to see it in its usual condition, but the family members in it were in complete disarray.  Thomas and Haebaragi stopped yelling and looked in Max's direction when he had bursted into the room, Delilah was indeed crying and she had Mason's noise cancelling headset on, and Mason looked like a distressed trainwreck, but was seemingly trying to keep his composure.  Getting a closer look, Maxwell noticed a jar of weed on the end table and saw that the rims of Haebaragi's eyes were bloodshot.

"Don't fucking tell me this is what I think it is."  Maxwell growled, his blood boiling.
"If you're thinking that your mother relapsed, you'd be correct.  She apparently relapsed three days ago due to Jake's death."  Thomas explained, glaring at Haebaragi.
Ever since Jake's suicide, his feelings had been everywhere, more so than usual.  At that point, he could practically feel his cup of emotions overflowing now that he had his mother relapsing added onto his plate as a side dish.  He bit the inside of his cheek and giggled wetly as tears emitted from the corners of his eyes.

"Heh...Just when I thought you could finally pull your junky head out of your ass and finally get sober...!"
"M-Max...!  I-I'm sorry, it's just- with Jake and everything-!"
"NO!  SHUT THE FUCK UP!!  Don't you fucking DARE use Jake as an excuse!!  He's been used as a fucking excuse by other people his whole fucking life, and I refuse to let SCUM like you use him as an excuse when he's gone!"  Maxwell snapped, the angry tears falling free from his eyes despite his best efforts to keep them at bay.
"Don't talk to me like that!  I am your MOTHER-!!"
"OH, FUCK OFF!!  Did you just call yourself a fucking MOTHER?!"  Max laughed angrily, "That's fucking RICH coming from a NEGLIGENT, WEED ADDICTED BITCH LIKE YOU!!"  He snapped.

Max bent down and pinned Haebaragi's shoulders to the couch, making her tremble slightly from the intimidation, and from memories of her late husband resurfacing in the form of vivid flashes of fog-covered images.  "You were never a mother.  You never raised us, you were always too fucking high and dry for that shit. I was fucking NINE!  NINE, and taking care of YOU, Jake, Mason, AND Delilah!
"Back when that bastard was still alive, I took beatings from dad that were meant for YOU as a TODDLER!  I used to fucking PROTECT you from that daft cunt, because I thought that maybe- JUST MAYBE if I saved YOU, then maybe YOU would fucking save ME and MY SIBLINGS in return! BUT NO!! The "reward" I got in return for saving your ass was cleaning your fucking blunts full of BURNT DEVIL'S LETTUCE EVERYDAY AFTER SCHOOL!
"Before Thom-shit moved in, I did all the parenting and chores for you and dad!  I dragged dad's ass home from nearby bars when he got too fucking drunk to drive and I even dragged YOU home from fucking RAVE PARTIES in the neighborhood next to ours at FOUR IN THE FUCKING MORNING, because I USED to care!"  He ranted in rage.

The thought of stopping Maxwell only briefly crossed Thomas's mind, but as the college student continued to rant, Thomas started to see what Max had kept to himself his whole life, and could finally see why Max was constantly irritable.  He could see...Maxwell Sterling. And he knew that if he stopped him from talking, then Maxwell might never open up again and his emotions would start to pile up more than it already had.

Tears started to steadily flow down Haebaragi's cheeks as the weight of her actions pressed painfully onto her heart, making Maxwell roll his eyes. "Your crocodile tears don't mean shit to me, I hope you know that."
"I-I'm s-sorry, Max...! I-I tried, I-I swear I tr-!"
"Shut it, bitch. You, me, and everybody else in this house knows you didn't try jack shit.
"Now tell me, why we should let you stay here? You never raised the children in this house, you sat on your high, lazy ass and LET dad abuse me, Jake, AND Mason while practically fucking LEECHING off of our miserable lives, you and dad are- and ALWAYS WILL BE- the source of this family's dysfunction, you almost never supported us financially- especially after Thom-shit moved in, you never supported our dreams, you wasted our fucking lives AND childhoods away, and lastly, you've proved to this family time and time again that you're nothing, but a lost cause."
"H-How can you s-say such things?! H-How did y-you come t-to be s-so disrespectful-?!"
"Disrespectful?! Hah, don't make me laugh! It's actually calling you out on your fucking bullshit, because everyone in this damned house has had ENOUGH of YOU!! Do you think you deserve respect?! No. No, you don't. You never had respect for dad, me, my siblings, or Thom-shit, hell- not even YOURSELF. You ABUSED US with your negligence, and you ABUSED YOURSELF with your marijuana. You TAUGHT me and my siblings not to respect you from a young age, because YOU never had the self-discipline or the decency to respect YOURSELF!"
Those words seemed to hit a nerve within Haebaragi, as the tears flowed faster, and she couldn't even utter a word to save her skin, because she knew her eldest was spot on. Then and there, Haebaragi finally realized how much she truly failed her family, especially her kids. She finally saw how much pain she caused them because of her weed addiction.
By then, everyone in the room could see what Maxwell had always hid behind a tough and fatherly exterior. It hid a man who was breaking for years, much longer than Jake had. It locked away a saddened little boy who grew into a man much too fast. It concealed his pain like it was a costume that fit just right.

"I can't wait to start a life away from you one day." Max said, finally taking his hands off of her shoulders. As he was about to leave the living room, Thomas grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug. The usual Maxwell would have pushed him away, but at that point, he'd just had enough and wrapped his trembling arms around Thomas tightly. He finally let the decades worth of restrained emotions loose. He screamed and cried.
Oreo came in and licked at his cheeks as the tears came streaming down relentlessly. Mason and Delilah got up from the couch and held him close like he always would when they were sad. But Haebaragi stayed where she was. In her mind, she didn't deserve to hold him in her arms, if she ever even possessed that right in the first place, so she only watched with empathy as her family emotionally broke at the seams.