𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄́ ─ 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

"MORNING, HOBBIT." Marissa was pouring cereal into two bowls when Alana came crawling out whatever hole she had dug herself into. She pushed a bowl her sister's way at the table and kept the other for herself.

The night before, she had barley gotten any sleep and ended up practicing her roundhouse with her stuffed elephant she got when she was five. A thought kept running rampant through her mind: how in earth did her mother get fired. Marissa knew she wasn't 'let go' because with a job like hers you only get fired and for very specific reasons.

Alana slumped over to the freezer and stuck her head into the cold abyss. "What are you doing?" Rachel wondered through a mouthful of Cheerios.

"It's so hot," her mother had responded.

"Yeah, to you, no wonder," Marissa let slip under her breath.

"I'm finished," Rachel announced. She pushed her bowl back toward Marissa and made no move to rinse it out or clean it. Marissa eyed her before pushing it back in her direction, "So clean it."

"You always wash the dishes," the youngest mused, ignoring her sister's direction and walking towards the television.

"That's because you act like you can't clean up after yourself. You make messes and then expect me to clean it up like you're a little baby." As the words left Marissa's mouth, she knew she was being harsh but it was the truth. Something this family doesn't know much about. "Be a big kid and do it yourself."

Rachel stared at her sister for a beat and then immediately clicked on the television, in an attempt to further anger her. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Marissa looked over to her mother for a little backup but found her bent over the sink cleaning the bowl she had been fussing about.

"Stop it, Mom." Marissa said. She moved to the sink and shut off the water. "She needs to learn to do things herself."

"Marissa, stop. It's just a bowl, I'll clean it."

"Why?" Marissa slammed her hand down on the counter harder than she had intended to. "She's sitting right there doing nothing. Why can't she clean her mess? She needs to grow up."

"Grow up?" Alana repeated in disbelief. "It's just a dirty bowl. Don't tell her to grow up. What is wrong with this morning?"

"Are you serious?" Marissa asked in an accusatory tone. She watched as recognition finally hit her mother's eyes. As if she had remembered all that Marissa had done the night before. "What's wrong with me?"

With everything in her, Marissa wanted to rip into her mother for not only losing her job as a home aid but for coming home and getting drunk but then she looked at Rachel and bit her tongue. She couldn't ruin whatever image she had inside her head about their mother. She was too young for that but, then again, Marissa was young once too.