Page 54 of Lost in the Current of You

I knew Mum wouldn’t be able to stay civil. She could never let anything go without her almighty input.

Dad started to open his mouth to argue back, but I interrupted. As I stood, my chair screeched against the floorboards.

“You know what, Mum? I am so sick of you thinking you know what’s best for me when you don’t even know me. You don’t know what makes me happy. You don’t even know half of what I’ve done throughout high school, only my grades. That’s all you cared about. Actually no, you just never cared at all. All you cared about was your little corporate world and how perfect you looked to complete strangers. So stop acting like you do care. You know what, maybe just pretend I don’t exist because god knows I do with you. My life would be so much better if you weren’t my mother.”

After my outburst, silence fell over my family. I don’t know when I started to cry, but I was just so frustrated and fed up. I angrily wiped them away as I stepped away from the table.

I laughed bitterly. “Just a usual Christmas day for us, huh?”

I stormed my way upstairs to my room with the echoes of my Dad and Nate calling for me.

I let the tears fall with the click of my door shutting. I wanted to scream in frustration. To throw something at the wall.

I was so tired of my Mum telling me how I should be and what I should be doing. How I needed stability and that there was no time for dreams. I was so sick of being treated like I needed to grow up faster than I needed to. It wasn’t fair.

I sat on my bed and soon the muffled yelling started downstairs and I wished it didn’t have to be like this. That what Dad promised had come true and we were able to have a nice and normal dinner for once.

My phone vibrated from its place on my nightstand.

Dad had us put away our phones for the evening so we were present and didn’t have any distractions. My phone had been sitting there for almost three hours untouched and to be honest, it was oddly peaceful. Until obviously, the dinner.

When I picked up my phone, I saw Reece’s recent text and my heart almost slipped over itself.

I hadn’t heard from Reece all week. I texted him a few times to see if he was okay but there was no response. Even Nate said he hadn’t been online to play video games that week when I asked before receiving a very odd look from him.

I was worried about him. Especially with how I had last seen him being yelled at by his Dad.

Merry Christmas, Kody. Hope all your wishes come true.

I didn’t give it a second thought. I pressed the call button and nervously fiddled with the button of my blouse as I listened to the phone ring. It rang three times before he picked up.

“Hello?” His graveled voice dragged through the receiver.

“Hey, Reece.”

There was shuffling before he spoke again. “Hey, Kody. What’s up?”

And suddenly I wasn’t sure why I even called. I didn’t have a reason. I just wanted to hear his voice. The realisation punched me in the gut and I wanted to hang up just as quickly as I had rung.

I swallowed down the rock in my throat to answer. “Nothing, I, uh,” I paused. “Merry Christmas.”

He chuckled. “Merry Christmas, Kody.”

I smiled and grabbed my pillow to sit on my lap, needing something to do with my hands. “Are you doing okay? I mean, like, after what happened last Sunday.”

He was quiet for a while and I thought he had hung up, but then I heard his deep inhale followed by an empty chuckle. “I’m fine. Just the usual, you know.”

“I’m sorry.”

He sighed. “Please don’t be sorry. You’ve got nothing to apologise for.”

“I know, but I’m still sorry you have to deal with that.”

“Yeah, well—” A loud slam of our front door interrupted him before I heard Mum's car start. “What was that?” Reece inquired.

I sighed. “My mum. She came over for Christmas, and well, as usual, it didn’t turn out quite well.”

“Are you okay?” Reece asked, and I melted in the genuine concern I heard in his voice.

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