Page 2 of Falling Too Late

“I’m so sorry about that. It scared me and I yelled. Once we are done cleaning up here, I will have her go down there and apologize to him.”??

Mr. Lloyd shook his head, looking at me. Mom bumped me with her hip to get me to look at him. “Apologize for the trouble you caused Mr. Lloyd.”?

“I–I’m s–so sorry.” I couldn’t stop crying now, taking the opportunity to bury my head in her dress and hug her legs. “I’m sorry, Momma.”??

For a moment, she was my mom again. She ran her hand over my back in soothing circles and hushed me.

Then there was a rough finger brushing down my cheek. “You know, they can put kids on medicine now to help with that behavioral shit. Maybe you should look at having her evaluated.” His voice was closer in my ear. “Pretty little thing,” he murmured. I buried my head farther in my mom’s side.??

“Oh, you are so right, Mr. Lloyd. I will have her checked out at her next doctor's appointment.”??

He pulled his hand away and called as he headed to the stairs, “Keep the noise down.”

As soon as the door shut, she locked it and pushed me to the side. I fell onto my butt.??

“Clean this mess up and then go make nice with the downstairs neighbors before you get us kicked out of here.”??

She left me there and slammed her bedroom door shut. I sat feeling sorry for myself for a second. I found the broom and pan, cleaned the mess up the best I could, only getting cut by a few glass shards. One in my hand and one in my foot. I vacuumed the glass shards that I couldn’t see up and took the bag out and threw it away.??

I didn’t like our downstairs neighbor. He smelled like cigarettes and alcohol; it always burned my nose when they were outside smoking. Mom would go outside and smoke with him when she wasn’t working.

I headed to the bathroom and was able to get the glass shards out with a pair of tweezers, only to realize I was going to be late for school. Quickly, I changed out of my pajamas, throwing on my cleanest shirt and looking for pants, when she walked in.

“What do you think you are doing?” my mom asked, standing in my bedroom door. I jumped, startled.??

“I’m . . . uhm, getting ready for school?”?I looked toward her over my shoulder, avoiding her eyes. Instead of looking directly at her, I found a divot on the wall to stare at. Looking directly at her made her mad.

“I told you to go downstairs and make nice with the neighbor. You know what? I’ll just go get the neighbor. You sit right there.” She pointed to the bed before she left.??

Quickly, I grabbed the closest pair to me and pulled them on before taking my seat on the bed.?My hands fidgeted in my lap as I waited for her to come back. I was so late now that I would probably get a detention slip. School was the calm part of my day, aside from sleep. My mom was like a hurricane. She would scream and yell day in and day out while I was home, and it would take everything to keep my head above water.

The door opened and closed again, and heavy footsteps grew louder. I kept my head down, eyes cast to the floor. Pointed brown boots came into my vision. They were old and had a tear in the side that showed a little bit of white sock poking through.??

“So this is the noisemaker, huh?” His voice was gruff, like he needed to clear his throat.??

“That’s her. I asked you up here so she could apologize.” I could see my mom’s painted pink toes standing next to the boots.

“Well, she can’t do much apologizing if she keeps looking down.” the man spoke.?

“Look up here, Wren,” Mom said.?

“Wren? That’s an ugly name,” the man said. My shoulders fell. My daddy always loved my name. He had called me hisbirdy.

“Oh yeah? You don’t like her name?” Mom huffed. “Her father named her.”?

“And where is dear old dad?”?

“Dead.”?

“What a shame.” The boots walked closer to me. “No one to raise you right. No one to protect you.”?Something felt wrong about him. I wanted to scoot back under my covers and hide from him, but I knew better.

As they talked back and forth, I still didn’t look up. A sinking feeling started in my stomach. A dirty hand appeared in my sight. He put one finger under my chin, forcing me to look up athim.??

I did.??

Staring down at me were ice-cold blue eyes in a withered face.??

“Pretty little thing.” His cigarette breath brushed my skin, making my nose crinkle.

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