A Bird in Flight | ✔︎

Chapter twenty-six: His demons become mine

Ensley

I DON'T THINK I'VE ever really understood how much life is riddled with pain until I met Callan. To some he is a cloud of darkness, reckless and uncontrollable, destructive to anything he touches, but to me, he is extraordinary, he is brave. Because the truth is that within darkness, there is light.

Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I step out from my bedroom to see Rihanna chasing after my mother, yelling angrily.

"What sort of mother does that? Oh, right, you're not a mother! You're a vain, egotistical bitch!"

"Stop it right now!" my mom shouts. "I'm fucking done with you brats! I should dump you all an orphanage and see how much you like it!"

"Hey!" I say, rushing after the two to intervene in their fight. Normally I'm the one barking at my mother, not my sweet, innocent sisters. "What's going on? What happened?"

"I walked into Mom having sex with some hooker on my bed in my bedroom!" Rihanna tells me furiously. 

I close my eyes, rubbing my temples with my fingertips, repulsed. "That's disgusting, Mom. How can you blame that on your daughter?"

My eyes shoot open as she slaps me across the face, leaving a scarlet handprint across my right cheek. Her ring catches on the skin underneath my eye, tearing it open. I put my hand to the scratch, wincing. A bead of blood dribbles down my cheek and I wait for the apology I know I will never receive.

I feel slightly stunned that she just hit me, but I suppose it was bound to happen.

"That's it. I've had it with you two. I've worked my ass off to try and bring up you children and all you do is be ungrateful little shits!" she screams and I can't even believe those words are coming out from her mouth. "You are exactly like your father!"

"Well I'm glad I'm like him!" I roar. "Because he was an amazing man who put up with you for way too long! He raised me! He loved me!" I want to tell her about my problem with pills. I want to throw it in her face. But I can't with my sister standing beside me, looking ready to murder our mother. It would only add fuel to her fire and I fear it might blow her over the edge.

"Fuck you, Mom!" Rihanna shouts as she wraps and arm around my waist. I pull her close, wanting her to know that I'm here for her. "You're the worst mother ever! Why can't you just accept the truth that Dad was depressed but he loved us more than you could ever? Answer me!"

"The truth! Your filthy father cheated on me, that's what he did!" she howls, each word expelling from her lungs in sharp bursts.

That stops Rihanna and I's tirade.

"W-what?" I stammer, digging deep into her eyes, searching for any sign that she's lying. Pain and anger dilates her eyes and I come to no conclusions; she's always been closed off.

She grabs a vase off a shelf to her right and hurls it at us shrieking, "Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" Rihanna screams back.

I decide to take action and wrap my arms around her waist, dragging her outside to try and calm her down. She thrashes around in my arms, sobbing hysterically.