Becoming (INSECURE SEQUEL)

Five: Candles

CATALINA

I bounce Alex in my arms and he lays his head on my shoulder quietly. I try to stand in one spot in the dark while I hold him because I don't want to trip over anything. I'm trying to keep my cool because the more you worry, the realer the things you worry about become. The best way to describe this household because of the power outage right now would be hectic-- horrendous, actually.

"Thank you." I say to Ashton's mom as she fixes a bottle for Eric.

Mahlia is holding onto my leg for dear life, afraid of the dark as I aggressively rummage through the kitchen drawers looking for the headlights we have from camping. For a second, I sit Alex on the counter, and let him lean against the wall for support. I try not to feel like a horrible mother for sitting my baby on the counter while I fiddle with the headlights for Mahlia. I turn to her and kneel down..

"Here you go." I say as I strap the headlight around her head so that she can have light everywhere she goes.

I turn around to Eric as quickly as I can, but when I do Fallyn is already holding him in her hands and smiling.

"Are you a trained baby abductor." I sigh.

"I was just helping." She laughs. "and babies with careless mothers get abducted more than anything else."

"Careless mothers?" I scoff loudly as I reach to take him out her hands.

"Single mothers?" She raises an eyebrow and my jaw drops.

"Who?"

"I don't see anybody around.Imagine if we weren't here." She shrugs her shoulders. "You'd be here all alone in the dark with your three babies."

"You've got it all wrong." I tell her in a sharp tone, suggesting she take it as the warning it is.

"Busy is just another excuse for deadbeat."

She speaks in a way as if she's trying to be genuine and considerate so that if I get defensive I look like a crazy person. She's been doing stuff like this since she first came: subtly insulting me like she knows me. She doesn't know me though, because if she did she'd know that she'll be living in a hotel tomorrow. It's one thing to bitterly insult my parenting, but to insult my husband and be blatantly wrong evokes a different type of anger. . I don't even know where to start with the comment she just made, the only thing I want to do is grab her face and push it against the counter until her nose breaks

Before I can reach for a handful of her hair or say something, the front door opens. I know that it's Ashton because he told me that he was on the way as soon as he realized the power was out. Despite what she says or thinks, he'd never let me be or feel alone. I know so because I've never once felt alone and even with his busy schedule, it doesn't feel like anything comes before me or our family.

Mahlia runs to the door and I panic, thinking she'd fall, but she safely makes it in his arms without hitting the ground.

"You should pack your bags." I say to Fallyn, burying the urge to call her a jealous bitch even though I know that's what she is.

She looks shocked, her brown eyes widening like I had said something crazy and unprovoked. I knew she'd play the victim, but that's fine. It's my house and I make the rules. So even if I were putting her out for no reason, I can.

"What--"

"Play with toys, or yourself--I don't care-- just don't play with my husband." I speak calmly as I walk past her and into the front room, smiling like nothing happened.

AUGUST

I start to rush towards the staircase in search for Lily, but then I turn around to look at Melody as she grabs a candle.