Airplanes | Spruceworth 6.1 | Wattys2019

Chapter 1: Mom or Dad

Chapter 1: Mom or Dad

       Not a single word came out of my mouth as I followed Dad out of the police station, heading to his car afterwards. I was just waiting to get an earful from him but so far, he hadn't said a single word either.

       Maybe I was lucky. Maybe he wasn't going to yell at me or anything.

       Even when we got into his car, he didn't say anything. He hadn't even made eye contact with me since he collected me from the police station. The only expression that had been on his face the whole time was a neutral one.

       As much as I didn't want to get yelled at, I was also feeling a bit awkward just sitting in the car as Dad drove me back home so eventually, I asked the one question that was on my mind since Dad showed up to the station. 

       "How come you picked me up instead of Mom?" I asked. "I thought she would have gotten the call."

       "She did," Dad said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I was at the house when she got the call."

       "Why were you at the house?" I asked. Dad has always refused to go anywhere near Mom's house ever since the divorce. If he wanted to spend time with me, it had to be somewhere else.

       I didn't blame him. They could rarely be in the same room without arguing with each other.

       "I have my reasons," Dad said, and that was the end of our conversation. There was still no yelling from him at all so there was a high possibility that I really got away with this.

       That was until I got home.

       As soon as Dad and I stepped through the door, the yelling from my mom began. "I can't believe you, Ollie Asher! How the hell can you get arrested for a second time?! Especially after what happened the first time!"

       I just stared at Mom for a bit before heading towards my bedroom but Mom grabbed my arm to stop me.

       "Don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Mom said. "You can't keep doing this, Ollie! You can't keep acting like this for no reason!"

       "I don't think now is the time to be yelling at him," Dad said.

       Mom scoffed and changed her focus to Dad. "Are you being serious? So what, you think he shouldn't be punished for getting arrested yet again?"

       "No, that isn't what I meant," Dad said. "Of course he should be punished but yelling at him isn't going to change what happened."

       "Unbelievable," Mom said. "You see, this is exactly why my answer is and will always be no."

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "Answer for what?"

       "Nothing, Ollie," Mom said. "It doesn't have to do with you. Just... Just go to your room. We'll talk about your punishment later."

       "Clearly it does have to do with me if Dad not wanting to yell at me is the reason why you're saying no to whatever question he asked," I said.

       "I'm serious, Ollie," Mom said. "Go to your room."

       I sighed and was about to head to my room but this time, Dad stopped me. "No, hold on. I think he should be part of this discussion."

       I turned to face Mom and Dad again, feeling even more confused. They were actually having a discussion about something? Because they always refused to say anything to each other. It got very annoying at times. Or all the time.