Olympus | j.jk

6. Broken Normal

Heesung and I had gotten home late after going to pick up some groceries.

I had all the grocery bags on my arms while Heesung held our backpacks.

However, we opened the door to an unfortunate sight.

Our mom was passed out on the floor surrounded by beer bottles and lots of broken glass.

"Oh," Heesung's voice was small.

If there was one thing I hated more than anything, it was Heesung seeing the ugly sides of our mom. He didn't deserve to grow up seeing our mom like this, but no matter how hard I tried to take the brunt of the horror, I couldn't always push him away.

"Heesung, why don't you take our bags and go up to our room?" I said.

"But noona-"

"Heesung, go," I ordered seriously.

He reluctantly took our stuff and went away from the depressing scene.

Once he was gone, I let out a frustrated sigh.

"God mom, I know your life is hard because of me, but doing this to Heesung is so wrong. He's not like me. He's sensitive and seeing this tortures him," I said.

I scooped up her frail body, avoiding the burning smell of alcohol coming from her.

I gently brought her to her room and laid her down, pulling the covers over her and making sure she was comfortable.

"You know...it's been hard for me too. I wish you could see that I was struggling too. And I wish you'd just tell me about him instead of hiding that aspect of my life. It's like I'm missing my identity. But, I'm sorry that I can't make it easier on you. I wish I was normal so that you wouldn't have to suffer like this. I really do," I smiled bitterly.

I picked up the dustpan and the broom from her room before softly closing the door behind me.

I went back down and was careful to avoid cutting myself on the glass. I bent down and dejectedly swept it up. Each clank of the shattered glass against each other was a painful reminder that my mother's suffering was my fault.

I had to make quite a few trips between the garbage and the broken glass because of how much there was and once I was sure I had gotten it all, I had to put the garbage bag in a few other bags to make sure it didn't poke through.

Once I had taken care of that, I put all the groceries in the fridge and began whipping up a hangover soup that my mom could eat tomorrow.

I was exhausted but I still had to do all the normal teenager tasks too and feed my brother.

That's when I noticed a sealed envelope resting on the table.

I picked it up, my eyes widening in horror when I saw what it was.

A bill stating that our electricity and water would be turned off if we didn't pay the bills in a weeks time.

"What the actual hell?! Why can't she do anything for us, this is such bullshit!" I shouted.

Along with my mom's alcohol addiction, she had also gotten addicted to gambling. Whenever she was in between jobs which was quite often, she always gambled away money. I was curious as to where she got the money from and why she wouldn't use that to raise her children but an addiction could make someone lose reason.

I reluctantly took the letter to my room and sat down at my desk. Heesung looked at me but remained quiet, knowing I was in a bad mood.

I opened my laptop and went to my bank account. I had made a savings account so I could save up for that college I was talking to with the finance adviser. If I couldn't get a scholarship I needed to pay for it somehow, so I worked odd jobs when I could to raise money. I had a bit of money saved up, but with great reluctance I decided to pay the bill of with my savings.