Second Chance

The Sad Truth

        The woman looks at me with complete and utter disgust. It is almost like the death stare, the exact opposite of motherly love. Tension thickens in the room as we all wait for the response to come from the pipe of bile. 

"Mom? Who are you, exactly?" 

"Madeline Olivia Meyer. Your daughter you bitch." 

"That's impossible." 

"Apparently not." Ray pipes up. 

"You look just like her." Thomas says. 

"Okay. Can someone please explain why the fuck my daughter is in my living room? I thought your friend over here told me that you were dead." 

"It's a long story. But, I'm sure you're waiting to get your hair and nails done so, we'll best be on our way." 

        I start heading out the door when Liam grabs my arm. If you want to hear the truth, I was already getting tired of my mom. It's not like me to be tired of someone so quick. 

"Maddie, if you want answers, we have to stay."

I nod in reply.  

"What do you mean 'if you want answers'?" The woman pipes up again. 

"Why are you so shocked that I'm here?" I spit back. 

"Answering a question with a question. Clever. Very clever. I'm shocked that you're here because I was convinced that you were dead. Now answer my question." 

"Okay. I'm going to give you the truth." So, I explained everything to her. I didn't care that Liam was getting upset about my actions. Although she was a bitch, she wasn't dumb enough to believe the sob story we made up. But she did believe what I told her. "We came here because we want answers about how I died." 

           Thomas and my mom exchanged worried glances. I'm not dumb enough to know that they're hiding something. My mom folds her arms and goes back to the death stare act. 

"I can't tell you that." 

 "Why not?" Liam retorted. 

"Because, I just can't." 

"I am sick and tired of your bullshit. Tell us, how I died, or I will call the police and have you arrested for murder in the first degree." I said. 

"You know nothing about me." 

"You don't know anything about me. And you know what? I have lived, through a thousand winters and I would give anything to live through just one summer. " I was beginning to choke up as all the flashbacks came to me about me cutting myself and everything else. "Here's the thing about being a real mother. If your child has a question, they give them the answer. Can you give me that one summer? Or will you just be a bitch instead?" 

"I'm going to be a bitch." 

"What do you want from me? I didn't do anything!" 

"Yes you did." 

"What was that exactly?" 

"You made the love of my life run away from me." 

"What?"

"When you were born, Thomas wanted nothing to do with you so he ran off. I should have just killed you off the day you were born." 

"So you did what you had to do." 

She smiled. "It was a good riddance as well." 

"How did you do it? How did you kill me?" 

"Your aunt came over to my house, said she wanted you to know me. You walked in, I knocked you out with the shovel behind the door and stabbed you over and over again. It was fun. Then your aunt came in and screamed. I had to knock her out so she wouldn't remember what she saw. And it worked."