The Trio

Chapter 5

Mothers

Me and Yari both started to run together and played rock, paper, scissors along the way home.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors!" We chanted together
"Awe man!"
"Dude! Why do you always have to pick paper?" Yari asked
"It's because I'm still getting used to how to play!" I explained.
"Yah right! It's not like you haven't played it with your dad to get some desert!"
That sentence brought all of those horrible memories of dad leaving us, mother crying at night, yelling on the phone, holding me tight in her arms as my back would feel slightly wet from her tears. I slowed down and came to a complete stop from running...I didn't know what else to do, I wanted dad home to help mom to cheer her up...
I guess Yari felt sorry for me cause, he slowed down as well.
"Hey man, I'm sorry..."
"It's ok, you didn't know..."
"Know what?" Yari asked
"That I didn't grow up with a dad". Yari had a surprised look on his face, like he could relate...He walked over to my side and put his arm around my shoulder and started walking with me, "You're not alone...my dad is still here but I wish he was gone...the things that he does...they're horrible..." even though I couldn't meet his eyes or see his face, I could hear the pain in his voice.
"Why don't you call the cops?" I asked, whipping away my tears.
"My dad isn't really the type who would let you call the cops on him..."
"What great fathers we have right?" I said jokingly
"Hehe...yah" Yari wiped away his tears and we ran together and hopped over the fence and said our goodbyes.

When I got home, mother was in a panic, she thought father had come back unexpectedly and took me to our old house. "I'm home" I said a little scared that she'll explode when she finds out that I was fine. "TORI!" She hung up the phone and practically ran me over with a huge hug. "You're ok right?! Nothing's broken?" She asked as she moved me around looking for anything that might be out of place. "No, I'm fine" I said a little relieved that she wasn't angry at me. "No you're not, you're all wet and muddy!" She said looking at her now damp shirt. "Yah, about that..." I looked over in her direction but immediately changed my mind because if I did, I don't think I'd live to see the next day! "I kinda maybe sorta, left school with another friend to study but then a girl showed up and Yari fell into the creek or river and pulled me in and then we played and went home" I said in one breath, "I'M SORRY MOM!" And gave her a hug trying to not make her mad. Surprisingly, she hugged me back and said, "I love you... please just call me on the school phone and let me know next time, ok? You had me worried sick..."
"Ok mom"

"Ok, it's way past your bedtime, come on, let's go to bed..." she said, taking my hand to guide me to my room. "I'm going out again tomorrow mom" I said to her. "Ok, thank you for letting me know, now get to bed, alright?" "Yes mom thank you" I responded, giving her a hug.

The next morning when I woke up, I decided to leave for school early. In fact, I decided to walk to school. When I did, I saw Yari step out of his house with his lunch in hand. I was going to shout hi to him but when his mother came out, I stopped. "Don't you ever talk back to your father like that! Do you understand me mister?!" She said to him as he left. I could see what he meant by what his dad does, the amount of purple dots on her arms and the swollen face. I was scared...when Yari started to walk to school and his mother was no longer standing by the doorway, that's when I knew it was clear to finally talk to him. "YARI!" I shouted but I guess he didn't hear me cause he didn't turn around. As I walked closer to him I saw a few bruises on his arms, I went to go ask him if he was ok but that was an obvious no. "Hey man" I said when I was by his side, "wanna talk about it?" I asked. "Talk about what? I'm fine!" He said through a smile... "dude, you can talk to me, ok?" I said while putting an arm around him. "Can we just drop the topic right now? I don't want you to get hurt either... "sure man, just let me know when you want to talk about it, ok?"
"Sure thing...maybe later at the river? That sound ok?"
"Sure...race ya to school?" Before I could finish he started running towards school, "Last one there is a rotten egg!" He said laughing
"HEY! No fair!" I said while chasing after him.