Sorry about the long wait on this one!
Philosophy of the Dark
Chapter 37
-Lost in Time and Space
All the lights in the house were on, it was the first time since her father
had left. Her mother was big on conserving energy as she was deathly
afraid of changing light bulbs.
Jamie stepped carefully into the house, peering her head around the corner
before stepping into the bright room.
Every light was lit. The one on the ceiling, all of the lamps, and even the TV
was playing. Despite the bright lighting, the room was empty.
“Mom,” Jamie called as she went into the next bright room. She walked
from empty room to empty room. Lights that hadn’t been lit in years were
suddenly on. Jamie felt a slight twinge of fear in her gut as she walked up
the stairs.
At the top of them, she heard a noise. It was faint at first, so quiet it’s
existence was questionable.
The noise got a little louder, Jamie followed it down the hall to her parents
room. Darkness leaked out from underneath the door, as did small noises.
They were like an animal whimpering, soft and sad.
Jamie opened the door slowly and peeked her head around it. Her mom
was sitting on the bed, grasping tissue with one hand, and her leg with the
other.
“Mom,” Jamie gasped. She let the door open all the way and light spilled
into the room. Her mothers eyes were red and puffy. Her face was pale,
and the blue of her veins tinted her green.
Jamie ran to the bed and sat down next to her. Mary’s eyes had not moved
from where they were fixated in an empty corner.
“Mom,” Jamie asked frantically, “What’s wrong?”
There was no answer. Her mom reached for another tissue as fresh tears
fell from her eyes.
“Mom, tell me!” Jamie put a hand over her mothers. As if she were
awakening from a trance, Mary turned an looked at her daughter.
“What?” She asked. It was like she finally realized that Jamie was there
with her.
“What’s wrong?” Jamie asked. Her voice was frantic and high, she knew
something was wrong. Very wrong.
“It’s…your father,” She said. “The doctors called. They said they don’t think
he has much time.”
Mary had stopped crying. Her eyes were back to the corner, reliving the
night with a lifeless stare.
“They think we should visit him…before it’s all over.” Calm had taken over
her voice.
“What? Why are we here then?” Jamie stood up, still holding onto Mary’s
hand, “We need to go see him.”
“No Jamie,” her mom pulled her hand back. Finally she looked up at Jamie,
meeting her eyes for the first time in what had seemed like forever. “I’ve
done enough to you. We need to find out what to do about you.”
“What about me?” Jamie kneeled down, both of her palms rested on Mary’s
knees.
“Ortega says that if Richard dies, we’re going to press charges.”
“You can’t do that.” Jamie gripped tighter on her mom’s legs. It was like
when she was little, and relatives would come over for holidays. Jamie
would sit below her mom, grasping her leg for protection.
“We’re going to have you charged as an adult,” Jamie’s mom continued as
if her daughter wasn’t grasping her leg. Crying for protection.
“And if we win the case, you’ll be sent to a state prison.”
“Mom, you can’t do that.” Jamie fought back the tears, holding onto anger
to help clear her mind. “Why would you do this to me? What did I ever do
to deserve this?”
Mary looked down. Her eyes filled with hate. Hate from everything that she
had ever gone through with Richard, and with her family. At that moment,
every fiber of her being was hate. She directed that feeling toward Jamie.
“You killed my husband.”
Jamie’s hands dropped as if she had been burned.
“I didn’t,” she said pathetically, “you know that I didn’t.”
Jamie stood up and backed up toward the hallway.
“Your own daughter, Mom. That’s me. You’re going to get me sent to
prison because I wanted something different for us. Something better. Is
that really worthy of this?”
The look in Mary’s eyes didn’t change, though for a second there was a
flash of uncertainty. The anger came back full force.
“What you did to Richard was worse than anything he ever did to either of
us.”
Jamie stumbled with the force of the words. It wasn’t just that her mom had
said them, it was that she’d believed them. Two very different things.
Fighting against the tears Jamie ran down the stairs and left the house.
She was beginning to wonder if she would ever be able to just walk out.
Never having to run away from something, never crying. Leaving because
she wanted to, not because others wanted her to. Just once she would like
to stay home for more than ten minutes.
She got into the car and drove away, trying to convince herself that she
never had to go back.
If only.
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I don't know. Something seemed iffy about this chapter. Maybe I just need to get back into the POD mode after not writing for such a long time.
Thanks for reading!
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NEXT: POD 38 -Code
