Twilight Rays

3. Sitting on the fence

I am trying to stretch my chapters as much as possible but I prefer shorter chapters after all cuz... I don't know, it's just hard for me to focus on one update, besides the suspense side would be totally ruined, I'd tell too much in one chapter! Anyways, enjoy this chapter, comment and/or click the orange star if you like it :)

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"Pop, we need to talk." was the first thing I said when I opened the front door.
Pop was washing the dishes - we did had a dishwasher, but he was cheap and ecologist as can be - in the kitchen. I rolled up my sleeves and joined him.
" What's wrong? " he asked me, a worried frown on his face.
" Mom's wrong, that's what's up. "
" Come on, you know I don't want to be the one sitting on the fence. That's betweeen you and Léa. "
" Yeah, I'm aware of that, it's just that even since I told her I wanted to move out, she's acting like I don't like you guys anymore! I don't know what to say to... "
" Wait, you're moving? When?"
" I dunno yet. Mom didn't tell you?"
" Well, she is pretty busy..."
" Pop, I told her in August. "
" Oh. "
My dad scratched the back of his head, probably thinking about what I just said.
" Where is Mom anyways?" I suddenluly wondered.
" Glocery shopping. "
" It's perfect! So, will you talk to her once she gets back?"
He clearly didn't want to, but hé let ou a long sigh and said:
" I guess I could talk to her..."
" Thank you, I love you so much, you're the best daddy in the whole world! "
" And now you're behaving like your 8 years old sister."
" But you like it, don't cha?"
He grinned, then got back to the dirty plates. I helped him finish then went upstairs, locking myself up in my room.

I started reading for an assignment due in two weeks, my phone's buzzer keeping me company. I eventually gave up on reading and focused myself on my phone.

49 pins and fifteen minutes of newsfeed later, my stomach let me know it was hungry in a very unladylike way: It growled so loudly I mentally blushed. It was a good thing I was alone.

" Hi Mom! What are we eating?"
I took place at the dining table, where my siblings were already serving themselves.
" Come on guys, you could've waited for me! "
The twins, my younger siblings, grinned at my misfortune, meanwhile my older sister put down her fork, trying to swallow the mashed potatoes without me noticing it. Oh well, a girl can try, I suppose.
" Mashed potatoes and rosbif." andswered a little too late my mom, since I was already praying on the food.
" Bon appétit!" I said while cutting the meat.

The twins, Jason and Jessica, were actually adopted too, but they were from the region. Their biological mom was a teen mom, so she wasn't able to take care of two babies. My older sibling Clara, was the only "true" child of our parents, on the other hand. As it is for me, I was from Haiti. I came in Canada when I was 8.

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Four years old. That's how much I was when my mom left me. I'm not even kidding: just like in Annie, she woke me up one morning, brought me to the big city, then knocked on a orphanage door. And out of my life she was.

I'm not sure if I cried. I was more scared than anything else. So many kids crying out there, so many kids suddenly wouldn't speak. Their parents were dead, in jail or just unable to take care of them. But my mom could take care of me. She just didn't like me.

I've never known my dad. My mom - I would call her in creole, manman - wouldn't tell me about him. Maybe she got raped, maybe he dumbed her, maybe she did. I don't know. Sometimes, when she was beating me up, she would say I look just like him, without mentioning his name.

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The dinner went on rather quietly. I had tried to eye-contact my dad, but he kept his gaze on his food. Same thing with my mom. She was low key ignoring me. Real mature, Léa, real mature. She finally looked at me and said:
" Twilla, would you mind stop staring at me like this? You're being creepy."
Jason laughed with his mouth full but Pop gave him a pretty intimating look and off the laugh went.
" I was leaving anyway." I answered back and got up without delay.

I'm going to leave anyway. You can't hold me back, Léa.