The Bad Boy ✔

Chapter Fifteen-It was a simple kiss

(an unhappychapter for the most half)

Chapter Fifteen

Everyone had a fear; just some people hid it better than most.

It happened when I was twelve-well you could say thirteen-just before my birthday. Mum and I had planned a huge party, we were going to invite everyone we knew and have this big cake and she was going to finally get me a cat. Mum didn’t like cats, she had always been allergic to them, but she told me that I was really responsible and mature and she trusted that I would be able to keep the cat clean at all times.

I didn’t think much about it, I was too excited to even bother to say thank you.

On the Friday evening, we realised that we didn’t have enough party decorations and in a mother-daughter moment, we decided to pop in at the corner store while Dad sorted out the speakers for the music the next day. Mum had always loved nature and the outdoors. When she was little, she used to say, she would make tents in the yard and at night her father would tell her it wasn’t safe for her to sleep alone outside and he’d drag her back indoors.

That was one of the few memories Mum had shared with me.

Her father died when she was just eight and shortly after, her mother died from cancer. Mum never really liked talking about her family, except on the few occasions when she mentioned the happy times she spent with them. After her parents’ death, she moved in with her aunt and then went to college where she met Dad. They fell instantly in love and soon were married and then had me.

I always used to love Mum telling me how she and Dad had met.

They were both lovers of music and one day; they went to an outdoor concert. The concert was really bad and it ended up raining halfway through and in the confusion of running away to seek shelter from the cold droplets, Mum slipped and fell. Dad had been nearby and helped her onto her feet again, except Mum had twisted her ankle. Dad being the valiant rescuer he was took Mum to the hospital and they just bonded.

It was the classic, love at first sight romance that every girl dreamt about and Mum had been lucky to have gotten that.

I always remembered Mum singing to me when I was scared at night, while Dad played the piano to follow Mum’s soothing voice. It was the one thing we did as a family. We had this enormous karaoke night and would invite friends over. I usually threw a tantrum at the end because Mum made me go to bed, even if it was way past my bedtime.

Singing had been Mum’s passion but she gave it up as soon as she married Dad. Instead she turned her life towards art and painting. She had a gift, that’s what everyone would say, and then they’d smile at me like I was the luckiest girl alive to have such a beautiful and talented mother. I felt like a princess living with a gracious queen.

But singing was also the one thing that now caused an ache in my chest if I thought about it too long.

Mum had opted to drive past Chesterville Lake on the ride back from the corner store. The sun was setting and Mum loved the way how it glistened across the ripples in the water. Mum had turned up the radio and had dragged me into singing along with her as she drove through the empty streets. It was in that moment that I realised just how lucky I was to have a mother so understanding and kind.

And then the moment was shattered.

We were driving along a bend and suddenly a car came out of nowhere. It raced down the road before it skidded off the lane it was in. I remember screaming as my mother tried to swerve away from the oncoming car but it was useless. We were too late. The plunge into the lake haunts me every time I think about it.