Troubles at Home - Chasing Normal, Arc 7

Scene 39: Work-Life Unbalance

Shiri had been furious to learn Travis had snuck out to go to work. She nearly had Travis convinced to come home midday, but Will reminded Travis that her mother couldn't do much with Travis out of the apartment.

The rest of the afternoon was miserable. She'd had to turn off her phone minutes after returning from lunch because her mother started messaging her persistently. By the time work was over, she wanted to go anywhere but home. But luck was on her side - Shiri had tired herself out with a temper tantrum, and Travis had the evening to herself.

The next morning, Shiri was nowhere to be seen.

"Your father said she woke up in the middle of the night, took some sleeping pills, and went back to bed."

First time in my life I haven't hated those pills. Travis smiled, "Guess I get to go to work like a normal girl today, then."

Lydia's co-conspiratorial smile buoyed Travis' spirits.

==

Luck wasn't entirely on her side. The pills wore off mid-morning, and by lunch Travis was considering dropping her phone into the bay. But by early afternoon, they stopped. Bet I know what she had for lunch.

When she sat back down at her workstation that afternoon, Brice wandered over. "You know I'm not your biggest fan around here, but I think your home life is getting to you."

"What?"

"I need you to re-do everything you did this morning."

Travis opened her agenda and groaned. Every single asset she'd worked on that morning, and a couple from the afternoon before, were listed. What doesn't make you wish you'd just listened to your crazy mother makes you stronger, right?

By the time she couldn't keep her eyes open any more, she had nearly finished the list and had to admit she liked the revised versions better than most of her work at the studio. She slumped in her chair and cautiously pulled out her phone. Her mother had texted for a bit, each one becoming a little more coherent, and then she'd left Travis voice mails. Travis had to hold the phone away from her ear to keep her ears from ringing. She silenced the phone and shoved it into her bag.

She opted to walk down the stairs to the lobby, looking to work off some of the nervous energy that started building the minute she heard her mother's voice. Maybe I'll go hide out at the arcade for a bit. She can't reach me there.

The arcade was busy with older intermediate students and younger apprentices, but Travis was able to slide into a pod away from most of them. She hummed to herself while she waited for the pod to log her in and access her settings and realized how much she'd missed the pods over the last few days. That's a bad sign. Can't tell Gloria or Noel.

Soon, her home workshop materialized around her. She looked down at her current garb, acquired by trading some handmade gear to a talented artisan in the nearby marketplace, and stretched. As she watched her avatar stretch, Travis regretted that the sensation didn't actually travel through to herself.

She reviewed her projects and quest lists, and decided to go out into the world. But it was quiet - mostly people who played to assuage their low self-esteem and new players who didn't know how to avoid those types yet. None of her friends were on. Even her favorite merchants weren't available to chat with, and Travis realized she was more interested in being around familiar, friendly faces than in actually accomplishing anything. She logged out of her pod and dragged her feet on her way home.

She wasn't two steps in the door when her mother's screech, familiar and unfriendly, filled her ears.

"Where have you been? Do you have any idea what time it is? I told you not to go out."

It was such a jumble that it took Travis a moment to sort it out. "I had to go to work, Mom. I'd have been so far behind if I didn't." Maybe I should tell her I got in trouble with my lead today because of her. As she watched her mother flap her arms and continue to screech at a pitch that should have shattered all the windows in the apartment, she realized she was probably much better off not saying a word.

"You realize by taking sides with them, it means you don't love me."

"What?" Travis was disappointed at just how close her unintended shriek came to sounding like her mother's screech. "How can you say that? You do realize I'm going to eventually take a job that will have me moving out of here. It's kind of what I'm expected to do."

Shiri's face turned an impressive shade of lavender before she stormed into her bedroom and slammed the door with enough force to cause Travis to jump involuntarily.

I have to get out of here.