If I was damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
mother o' mine, O mother o'mine.
~Rudyard Kipling
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
mother o' mine, O mother o'mine.
~Rudyard Kipling
~~~
A tornado of anger spun in my mind. I closed my eyes, remembering that I wouldn’t do anything stupid when I came into this household. Yet I still managed to fuck things up. Who did Liliah think she was, anyway? It had only been a week and already she danced around me like a little flowery sister. Did she think she could so easily crack me open? Grab a knife and dissect me for the answers, is what I wanted to tell her.
I wasn’t ready to share my burden. The lies that tickled my head silly, making me hold onto that string of hope. They were precious. Fragile like glass and that Mother of mine shattered them.
“I’ll be back.”
What bullshit.
I spent years picking up the pieces of my heart and taping them back together. After all my effort, I received a self absorbed teenage punk who thought grades measured up to brilliance. That maybe, being a smartass would bring her back. And if she did come back to me, I’d walk out on her because I didn’t need her. Nor did I want her damn love and affection. No, I could make it…by myself. Watch me, Mom…
“Is everything okay?” Dianne’s voice startled me. She walked into the kitchen, securing a robe around her waist, eyebrows tight with concern. Her gaze aimed at the stairs, then back at me. “Did you two fight?”
I didn’t say anything.
A breath broke loose as she walked up to me. Golden hair was tied into a bun and her emerald eyes reflected years worth of pain. It made me wonder what type of man Henry Everstone was to have made such a strong woman become this weak.
All of a sudden, she pulled me into an embrace. Without fighting back, I let her warm body melt me like the way chocolate melts in your mouth. Every bruise, every aching limb was silenced in her touch. Fingers brushed through my coarse hair, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. Inhaling the strawberry scent of her lotion, I closed my eyes and felt my heart suddenly thump in a rhythm.
Dianne’s cheek rested against my shoulder as she patted my back. “Don’t be mad at her, Luke,” she whispered. “Liliah just wants to lend a hand.” Fingers tightened around me and it seemed like she needed my hug more than I needed hers. “I understand she can be persistent, annoying at times, but give her a chance. You won’t regret it.”
Dianne couldn’t understand how difficult it was for me to give chances.
“We can be a family, Luke. I can be a Mother, too. All you need to do is give us the opportunity.”
Her motherly embrace and words had my stomach twisting. Still, my grip refused to loosen because I had forgotten what it felt like to be held. The protective feeling calmed my shaken nerves. Even if I was standing in the middle of a battle field, as long as I was in these hands, nothing could touch me.
After a brief moment, her hands slipped away and a fragile smile curved on her mouth. Lightheartedly, she attempted fixing my hair like a child.
“Let’s try to do better, okay?”
Slowly, I nodded.
“Good boy.” Her smile lifted higher.
When Dianne left, I went upstairs and stopped by Liliah’s room. Leaning my cheek against the door, the sound of her muffled cry made it into my ear. My stomach coiled again. I swore if this continued, my gut would become a twizzler. As my fingers touched the doorknob, I flinched back.
Not now…tomorrow. I’ll apologize tomorrow.
Going in at that time would only get me smacked. Pivoting around, my feet led me back to my room where I swung myself over the bed. Apologizing. The word was so foreign. Never in my life had I once apologized to anyone, yet Liliah was going to make me. I was experiencing all sorts of firsts because of her.
~~~
“What happened to Liliah?” Olivia asked me during Lunch. She was one of Liliah’s friends. This lady used to sit across the cafeteria but had migrated to my table after the first day of school. Apparently she couldn’t do without Liliah.
“Seriously, this is the third day she hasn’t come to lunch. She told me she had to do something to do in the Library but I mean, come on. We know she’s trying to avoid something and I think it’s you.”
Well, that took a genius figure out.
Her lips pressed together when I refused to respond. Nails tapped the table as she continued to glare. But I had nothing to say to Olivia. If Liliah hadn’t told her what had happened between us, I wasn’t going to spill the beans either.
The ear buzzing cafeteria had reached its highest octave. Grudgingly, my fork impaled the chicken in my tray. With all honesty, I wanted to apologize, but Liliah was making that quite difficult. At home, she left early so we couldn’t walk together. She locked herself in her room and refused to have dinner, claiming she munched on too many snacks. During school she ran from me, like a rabbit meeting a wolf. Even during Mr. Robert’s class, she overlooked me. I couldn’t help but feel as if we had switched places.
Was I this irritating when I ignored her?
Unable to find the right time to talk, the entire week had passed like the wind.
“Luke, come on! Tell me what’s going on,” Olivia exclaimed. Her body was leaning over the table with her face close to mine. The smell of cherry perfume made my nose wrinkle and sting.
Annoyed, I smirked, “Olivia, if she didn’t tell you then what makes you think I would? Just forget it. I’ll hand the situation, so stop pissing me off.”
She backed into her chair, surprised. “Wow, so you really do talk.” I couldn’t blame her; the entire school thought I was a mute. Then, a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Hot voice, at least. Nothing you had to hide.”
“I wasn’t hiding it,” I retorted. “I don’t waste my time talking to people who are a few peas short of a casserole.”
“What?”
“My point exactly,” I muttered. Retrieving my full tray from the table, I tossed it into the trash and walked out of the cafeteria.
~~~
By Friday, I had pretty much lost my mind. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Without realization, I had become accustomed to her talking, noise, rambling words and the racket she constantly made. The once familiar silence had suddenly become a knife piercing my mentality. I wasn’t sure when this had happened or why. Clearly, Liliah had impacted me in a way indescribable.
Waiting for Liliah to come home, my thumb vigorously tapped the remote, flipping through a hundred channels. I decided that today, I would formally apologize. There weren’t any more reasons for me to drag the situation any further. Once this was over, we could go back to the way things were before. As the screen flickered in the dimly lit living room, I found my eyes darting back and forth from the clock.
Liliah had taken up more hours at the Diner and her butler, Hunter, had been dropping her off and picking her up like a chauffeur. In fact, the two had been inseparable since our fight. It ticked me off seeing the two together with their stupid grins and giggles. Like two unintelligent hamsters who were oblivious to the world.
The sound of the front door clicking had my head whipping around. Hunter and Liliah stepped in, giggling and whispering like little school girls. Liliah, with her lips curved up, hung her jacket in the closet and kicked off her sandals. Hunter grinned as he stepped inside and wiped his heavy shoes on the rug.
Liliah knew I was watching her but refused to face me. Whispering something to Hunter, she left upstairs, leaving me with the punk.
“Hey Luke,” Hunter waved, moving in towards me. A happy camper smile lingered on his lips, making me narrow my eyes. “I heard you Liliah are having some sort of misunderstanding,” he said smugly.
Rolling my eyes, I let out a huff. So annoying…
The TV began making shooting sounds as Hunter sat on the coffee table in front of me, blocking my view. His lips twisted into another weird smile and he smelled like alcohol and chewing gum.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”
What?
“Since you’re her ‘brother’ and since we’re like, you know, friends.”
Hah. What gave him that impression?
“Mind being my wing man? I mean, you probably already know that I like Liliah and that I-”
Shock danced across my eyes. “Wow, you prove that evolution can go in reverse.”
At first, his eyes widened and he blinked at me. Probably confused, the bastard must have really thought I was a mute. Sorry to disappoint.
“Huh?” he replied after the initial shock phase.
“You’re asking me if I could help you seduce my sister.” My hand raised and I peered at my nails, and then lifted my gaze to him. His blond hair and repulsive face made me think what in the world girls thought when they saw this creep.
“I…I,” he stuttered. “You guys aren’t even real brother and sister,” he corrected. “I mean, man to man, you know?” Nervously, he licked his lips. “You’re really acting like her brother. Even fighting like siblings…” He said the last bit in a whisper.
My teeth ground together. “Forget it. If you’re a man, you can tell her yourself.”
Hunter’s nails dug into the wooden coffee table as humiliation passed his face.
Taunting him, I lifted a brow. “Something wrong with what I said? Don’t tell me you can’t accomplish that much. Are you scared of rejection?” I wasn’t sure why I was wasting so much breath on him. But I felt like a balloon on the verge of popping.
His answer was cut short by thudding footsteps. Liliah descended the stairs in her pajamas, which consisted of shorts and a loose blue T-shirt. I rolled my eyes. Hunter instantly stood up, giving me a death glance before siding with Liliah next to the door.
“Thanks for the lift,” she said.
“Yeah, no problem, call me anytime.” His hands slid into his pockets, concentrating before he opened his mouth. “Hey, Liliah, Chase is having a Homecoming party this weekend, so I was thinking whether or not you wanna go with me? I’ll be fun,” he added, as if the words could buy her out.
Hesitating, she brushed her fingers through her chocolate locks. “I guess that’s alright. I’ve never gone to any of Chase’s parties, maybe it’ll be fun,” she shrugged. Her attention tilted in my direction for the first time then jumped back towards Hunter. I was like acid in her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll go,” she repeated with assurance.
“Pick you up at seven then?”
“Sure.” They hugged, said their goodbyes, and then she closed the door.
I turned away from her and engrossed myself in the flashing TV screen. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was worried about her…Worried about the party, about her being there with Hunter, who had second motives and worried what kind of trouble she could get into, being the naïve idiot that she was…
______________________________________
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Awesome chapter!
)
Well, nonetheless, your writing is great and it would take a genius to pin out mistakes from your piece. 
