Ride or Die {Book 1} ✔️

Chapter 25: My Big Stupid Mouth

There she sat, her skin had clumps of purple and blue bruising with a small layer of dirt, but mostly she was striking pale color. Her blonde hair was filled with a muddy substance, causing it to be almost a dark brown. When she made eye contact with me she dropped to the floor and begun to cry. I stood there, my feet planted on the ground unable to move.

She hadn't called. She hadn't been a mother to me barely since my birth. And yet here she was crying when she laid eyes on me. Why? I had told her I hated her, we never got along since that day with Carl. And now, standing here, I just couldn't force myself to move. Memories flashed before my eyes, zipping past so fast I couldn't seem to concentrate on one thing.

My emotions shifted from one to another, frustration, grief, anger, sadness, and a tiny bit of happiness in seeing her alive. Because, at the end of it all, this woman was my mother, whether I liked the way to live or didn't. She was there when my father wasn't, she was my support when she hadn't became drunk and lift her whole body. And no matter how much I tried to deny the facts they were always true.

I missed her.

And I certainly loved her.

But yet, I still didn't move, I stood frozen, staring as she struggled to her feet.

"Katherine! Baby. He told me you were dead." She said through choked tears. "I'm so glad... so glad."

Her voice was breathless and scratchy, like she hadn't had water in ages. I stared at her, not knowing what to say, what to do. I couldn't react, I never expected my mother to be held captive like this, I never knew she wasn't living a happy life with her sweetheart, Carl. All the things about my mother I had thought. I believed she didn't care about me anymore, that she didn't love me. Right before my eyes though, she cried with happiness for me.

Something trickled into my mouth, a salty taste busted within my taste-buds. My hand reached up to my face and I found my cheeks were wet. Crying. Why?

Because she was alive, because she was still among the living. My mother.

"What happened?" She leaned towards me, her eyes wide with a frightened fear. She gripped my hot cheeks and turned my head from side to side, patting down my body to find any injured parts.

I smiled weakly, my head was dizzy and my vision was blurred. But her face, it was clear and sharp through it all. "Nothing."

She stubbornly shook her head, her lips tight with worry as she cupped my chin and titled my head back so I was looking her directly in the eyes.

"No, it couldn't have been. They called me up for a reason."

My voice was breathless. "I fainted. In class."

"Jesus Christ, Katherine! Why didn't you tell me you was sick? I could have had you at home where you need your proper rest." My mother exclaimed loudly, obviously she was relieved that I was seriously hurt. 

Shaking my head, my voice came out as a whisper. "Today is the band concert. I didn't want to miss it."

"Well look at you! Your in the nurse's room when you should be practicing." She said sharply, causing me to flinch from the harshness of her tone. "Pumpkin, you just sit here and I'll have you as good as new for this concert of yours. Promise."

I smiled. "Thanks Mom."

That was the last time she was actually a mother to me. The last day I could say she was the woman I knew and loved. That night, she went out to a club and came back with her first boyfriend. And from that point on things hadn't been the same. But one thing was for sure, she did care, I just hadn't bothered to look back on the evidence that was with me all along.