Rift

Chapter 34: When to Walk Away

Warning: This chapter contains themes of abuse.
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He heard their voices. They were muffled, not only by the safety of his bedroom walls, but by the pillow he kept over his head to try to block out the sound. But no matter how he tried, he could still hear.

"Edith, where do you think you're going? I'm talking to you!" his father shouted.

Edith sighed. "Abram, you're drunk. I've already gotten enough of a headache from work. Maybe if you sober up for once, I'll be more inclined to actually listen."

"Oh, you have a headache from work? As if every fucking day isn't a headache for me!"

"That's called a hangover, dear," she deadpanned. "You keep complaining about working at that bar but get all pissy whenever I tell you to find a better job. Nothing's ever good enough for you."

Abram drunkenly scoffed. "Not good enough? Well maybe if you actually gave me the time of day instead of constantly working and spending time with Oscar, then maybe I wouldn't have to stay working at the bar just to get with the regular whores!"

There was silence for a long moment. Oscar didn't even fully understand what anything that they were saying meant, but he could tell just from the way they were yelling that it wasn't anything good. He only hoped they would get along for his birthday next month.

"...I should have fucking known," Edith snapped. "You know what, fine. I don't fucking care anymore. Just know that after Assemblage Day is over with, I'll be gone. I'll finally get the divorce papers in order and I'll be taking Oscar with me. I hope you're fucking happy."

Oscar covered his ears tighter and started rocking himself back and forth once he heard his mother yelp from the other room. It was always a rare thing to hear, but he never liked the feeling he had when it happened.

After a while of waiting to be sure the fighting was done, he lowered the pillow from his head but stayed buried beneath the covers of his bed as he waited a few minutes, when his bedroom door opened and softly closed.

He heard her footsteps get closer until they stop at his bedside and Edith sat down next to him to start gently rubbing his shoulder. He shifted to roll over and look up at her, seeing a small bruise on her cheek that the shadows of his room failed to hide.

"...Mama? Are you okay?" Oscar asked in a whisper, despite knowing what her answer would be.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. You have nothing to worry about," she whispered back in a somewhat shaky voice before she pulled him into her arms, hugging him tight like she was afraid of letting go. He wanted to believe her, but there was still this small part of him that had doubt. She always told him he had nothing to worry about whenever he felt himself worrying. Whenever things didn't seem 'fine.'

"I'll always protect you, baby."

Still, he doubts.

The Envoy stands in one of the Bastion's numerous labs with his hands crossed behind his back as he stares up at his mother where she's suspended against the wall, hooked up in some elaborate machine that he personally doesn't know much about. Something about monitoring the development of the baby in relation to her state of being a Bio SRL.

He doesn't know when he blinked and went from cowering beneath his pillow to standing before his mother – or at least a machine that looks and acts like her – as she is now nothing more than another experiment run by The Director.