Chapter 89: MISTAKE THAT BREAKS

LAURA

The BMW M8 pulled up to the bungalow on east end street.

“Thank you, José,” I said as I got out and closed the door.

“I’ll be waiting right here, ma’am,” he responded with a small salute and drove the car a little further up, before parking.

Then I turned around and stared at the house, which was very unfamiliar and made discomfort sit like cold lasagna in my stomach.

Even though I had paid for this house, I had never set foot here for one day.

But that ended today. I was here to set some things straight.

So I drew in deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. It was really not a big deal. I just had to go in there and talk, demand why they keep tormenting me…harassing my person.

After convincing myself for the umpteenth time that I could do this, I walked up to the maroon red wooden door and rang the doorbell.

I stood there for a long time. Maybe three minutes. Maybe five. And I didn’t ring the bell. I just focused on driving away the urge of turning my back and never coming back.

A car door slammed shut behind me, and I turned to see that José had gotten out of the car, looking all intimidating as he stood with his arms crossed in front of him, legs apart.

I turned back around with a smile of reassurance, and rang the doorbell again.

After what seemed like another three-minute wait, the door flew open. “Who the hell is it?!”

My mother stood there, looking haggard and hella angry, even though it was only 9am.

Her eyes took on a light of cynicism when she saw it was me standing there. “Well, look who decided to come home.” She craned her neck and looked behind me. “Who’s that behind you? Your new catch? Where’s my grandson?”

I glared at her, wanting to remind her with all the anger bubbling inside me, that Eli was my son. Mine!

But I reminded myself instead to be civilized and not stoop to her level. I knew without any doubt, it was what she wanted. For me to be a vile, groveling bitch, just like her..

“Hello, mother.”

Samantha Hayes had the kind of face that would have been extremely beautiful in its younger years. But pain and suffering and spite had taken that beauty away very harshly, maybe karma too.

I berated myself for the last thought.

Because there was nothing really karmic about this world we lived in. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. Good things happen to good people. Bad things happen to bad people.

Round and round it went.

So if people hurt you, you don’t expect their world to turn upside down just because karma has decided to avenge you.

It was just the way it was.

“Do you want to come in?” My mother’s voice drifted into my thoughts, and I looked up to see she’d opened the door wider.

Ironic, because the last time I was ever in their home, she shut the door hard on my face after pushing me out into a cold, rainy night.

“Sure.” I managed a tight smile and breezed past her into the house.

It was a wide and airy space that should be homey. But it wasn’t. Not quite. There were clothes strewn everywhere on the sofas and floors.

The twins were running about the living room in a game of tag, shrieking the roof down, not even sparing me a glance.

My ten-year old siblings who did not give two shits about me. Why? They hardly even knew I was their elder sister.

One weird family, I know.

“Edward, Ellie, stop it now!” My mother shrieked at the top of her voice. And they finally stopped running about like chickens and noticed me for the first time.

“Is she the sis?” Edward asked his twin in a voice that was not so discreet.

I rolled my eyes and wandered off to the windows, while Samantha yelled at them to get out of her sight.

In a way, I couldn’t blame my last siblings. My parents were fully to blame. Four kids, and they never figured out how to proportion the little love they had to each and every one, equally or unequally.

I had a brother who I hadn’t seen in almost a decade, and I hardly even thought about him. He had wandered off after Samantha had starved him and I for a week straight, as ‘punishment’ for God-knows-what.

Apparently, poor Langley could not take it again.

I missed him…just on very few days. And I sometimes wondered what he could be up to. If he’d ever return home.

This was how bad my parents had been at doing their first important job in our world. Parenting.

When I had Eli, I made a strong promise to myself to give him all the love I never got from my mother. It was my own way of healing.

I hoped Langley Hayes had found his own way as well.

It took a while for me to realize that the house had grown quiet. I turned around and the twins were no longer anywhere to be found. My mother was carrying two mugs—of stale coffee, I assume—into the living room.

“Come, sit.”

As I gravitated towards the sofa, I wondered why she was being so nice all of a sudden. Last I checked, she kept trespassing my privacy, even up to my workplace.

She slid one mug over to me and just stood there, watching me. “So, this is a good surprise.”

As I held her gaze, one question popped into my mind. Why did she never bother to get me together with my siblings?

Anyway, that was far from the reason I was sitting in this house right now.

“You don’t look very happy.” She squinted her eyes, observing me carefully. “Everything okay?”

“Everything okay?” I scoffed in disbelief. “Mom, you came to my house and caused yet another scene while I was away on a work trip. And you ask if everything is okay?”

She blinked innocently. “When did it become a crime to visit my daughter?”

“Its never been a thing, mom! Remember? You threw me out!”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Let’s leave mistakes in the past, Laura.”

“Mistake?” A cynical laugh danced past my lips. “Mother, your mistakes broke my heart in an unforgettable way.”

She winced. “Well, forgive me.” There. That was it. Not even an atom of remorse.

She was putting on a mask for a reason. Obviously. She couldn’t even hide it anymore.

“What the hell do you want?”

Her eyes flashed as she leaned towards me, a vein throbbing in her forehead. “Careful now, sweetheart. I’m still your mother.”