Obsessed [book: one] // Thiam

Chapter 12

My hand glides on the paper with each stroke. Each stroke which is more delicate than the last. I go along the outlines, sharpening up some edges and smoothening up the others. I take a look at the whole picture, smiling at what I've accomplished.

It still needs some working on, but I defiantly got more done than I expected and it's starting to really get there. It's also a lot better than I expected, so that's also a good thing.

I look out over the river, watching as the sun slowly starts to set. I slowly pack up all my stuff, listening to the music in the background as the light starts to fade from the sky. I get back into the drivers seat and watch as all light drains from the sky, getting darker as time goes on.

I start up the engine, changing my playlist to Harry Styles' new album. I begin to head home, taking my time as I jam out to his songs on repeat. I sing along to the last song as I pull into my driveway, sitting in the car as the song finishes.

I lock my car and walk to the door, smelling the roast chicken as I unlock it. I look into the kitchen, smiling as my Mum stands there, setting the table up for dinner. I walk over to her, helping her get set up.

"How was your day?" She asks me.

"Honestly, I've had worse." I tell her, not wanting to mention the whole situation with Hayden. "I'm going to quickly put this away and then I'll be back."

I run up the stairs, waving to my dad as I run pass him. I put my drawing on the desk, smiling as I look down at it. I flip the pages to another drawing, making sure no one sees the drawing of Theo. I run back downstairs and sit down, putting my food onto my plate.

"How's school?" My dad asks me, passing me the salad. "I heard you got a B+ in biology."

"Only because of Mason. I don't even know what I would do without him, school is literally a nightmare. The amount of work and the amount of time we get to complete it all... I won't be surprised if I get grey hairs by the end of the year." I shake my head, exhausted by all the work I've been doing.

Between trying to maintain my social life and school life, it's been near impossible. For someone like me, someone who isn't smart and needs to study for about 10 hours to actually understand what is going on, it's hard to keep up with everything. School work, social life, activities that you enjoy... it's impossible.

"Don't stress yourself out baby, just do what you can. That's all that matters," my mum tells me, smiling as she looks at me. "Good job on that B+ though."

I smile and begin to eat my dinner, thankful for all the people in my life. Especially my mum and Mason. The two people who have been there for me my whole life. The people who have helped me through everything and have never once judged me. Maybe Mason a couple times, but still.

No matter what I do, they're always there for me. I can't thank them enough for that.

I look over to my mum, watching her as she pushes her food around her plate, taking small bites at a time. I frown my eyebrows, waiting for her to speak up about something. I've noticed a pattern with my mum.

Whenever there's something she needs to tell me, she goes quiet and plays around with her food. Majority of the time it's because it's bad news. Like the night she told me about her and dad getting a divorce. She acted exactly like this, the same as when she also told me about her and Mark being together.

"Mum, what's wrong?" I ask her, the suspense getting too much.

"We didn't want to tell you this, but you deserve to know." She reaches over the table, grabbing both mine and my dads hand, squeezing it tightly. "Recently, we've been struggling with money and we've had just enough to get us through these past months."

She chokes up towards the end, her eyes filling up with tears. She takes a shaky breath in, shaking her head as she tried to continue speaking.

"Basically, Liam... we're tight on money at the moment and I'm sure you've noticed that lately your mother and I haven't been at home as much, and that's because of the extra shifts we've had to pick up." My dad tells me, finishing it off for my mum. "But we didn't tell you any of this until now, because we don't want you to stress out or anything."

I look down at my food, suddenly losing any appetite I once had. I look over to my mum, my throat tightening as I try to fight back my emotions. I close my eyes, going straight to my happy place. I take a deep breath in and open my eyes up, I force a smile as I look at over to my mum.

"I can get a job if you need me too and I can help with the bills," I let her know, trying to hide the stress and panic in my voice. "I can get a part time job and help you guys out."

"No, baby that's the opposite of what we want. We need you to focus on school and we don't want you stressing out about this. We have it under control... I mean, it's been working for three months now." She laughs, smiling to lighten up the mood.

I smile back, trying to push the thoughts out of my mind. I do have a way to help out my parents, but they don't know about it. Not yet anyways.

I pick at my food, trying to find my appetite again, but fail. I flick my food around, waiting for my parents to finish their dinner.

"Not hungry?" My dad asks me, watching as I play with my food.

"I had a late lunch," I lie, shrugging my shoulder.

"You can leave if you want to," my mum tells me, smiling as she continues with her dinner.

I smile and take my plate over to the sink, running up stairs and locking my bed room door. I grab my laptop from under my bed and logon, waiting for it to load.

I go into my cupboard and grab out some grey sweats and a shirt for bed. I quickly get changed into them and go back over to my desk, logging onto my emails. My chest tightens as I wait for it to load.

I check my most recent emails, trying to contain my screams as I read them. As soon as I noticed that my parents were taking extra shifts, I suspected something was up, and decided to sell my art work.

I had four possible buyers, and so far two of them have emailed me back. I quickly email them back prices and ask for their addresses, so I can mail them as soon as possible.

I let out a silent scream, dancing over to my bed, flopping down as I try and control my emotions. I look up at the ceiling, smiling as I close my eyes, waiting for the black abyss to take me.