Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Suspense/Mystery

She lies in bed,staring blankly at the T.V...it is on mute because her mother in-law is asleep in the bedroom.She sleeps in the living room.Her better looking half is curled up on his worn but comfortable couch,his gaze going from the laptop screen to his phone screen.Occasionally to her.It is almost one a.m.She knows she has to sleep soon ..otherwise her mother in-law will get suspicious.He stays up as late as he pleases...he stays under suspicion.
Tomorrow will be the same as the day before.She is trapped in the house unable to bear the heat outdoors.She has health problems that only worsen but she blocks them out .They lie dormant under the skin ..sated when she keeps cool.For months she has been indoors,able to go out maybe a handful of times when weather allowed it.Tomorrow won't be permitting,she'll wake up before noon,first wakening at daybreak by the various sounds her mother in-law will impolitely make when she rises...the slamming of cabinets,clanging of coffee mugs or the crowd-pleaser...the bathroom door being shut wham! It can be quietly closed ,she knows this when she gets up to use the bathroom ,during the early morning hours,and will spend an extra three minutes carefully closing said door .
Something festers inside her mind..creeping closer to surface as she stuffs it back down again..it wants to break free.Compiled of all the stress and conflict ,all the pointless arguments,every hurtful thing said..every time her tongue is bitten.It grows strong and it wants out.
She gets up usually later than everyone.Secretly she hopes the apartment will be empty.Often her mother in-law will run errands early morning,unable to tolerate the heat either.Today however just as she sits up and stretches her mother in law walks in the door (we'll just call her Lon from now on ).First thing out of her mouth is a complaint...ohh it's so horrible outside ,the air is bad ...blah blah .Good morning would've sufficed.He wakes up and trudges to the bathroom...the tension in the air is thick already and its not even noon yet.Lon was up half the night /early morning coughing ,she has COPD and its at the end stage.The past week had the house on edge ,not knowing when at any time...she'll need to go to the ER.Lon can't breathe.She finds that a very scary notion....she huffs and puffs just going to the bathroom..to try and imagine what Lon must go through scares the Crap out of her.
Its almost six pm and he's arguing with Lon again.She s going to go to the ER and they are arguing about which one to take her to.She sits on the couch ,purse packed with anything she felt they'd need.Bottles of water for Lon.Heart pounding, her chest actually moving visibly ..she listens to them and she struggles to keep the building stress deep down She's the calm rational one.Must stay that way.
His coping strategy is to leave,go smoke a cigarette or go to the store...just go anywhere but where his dying mother and stressed out girlfriend are...she feels like she's imprisoned,her and Lon..
Another fun filled morning,Lon just got out of ER ,she's in a fragile state...and he's screaming at her over any little thing ...Jen escapes to the parking lot to chain smoke as many cigarettes she can ...which isn't many,the whole cig he tosses at her before storming out and the two butts she finds on patio.she dosnt want to live anymore.
By the evening He's been "officially" kicked out of Lons home at least 3 times,threatened to hang himself twice and even managed to cause his dad to have to drop everything and rush over there to "disarm the bomb"so to speak.Only dad can do this ...if he were a super hero that would be his super power.What caused this unnecessary drama in the first place?two or three simple little words had been said to him by his mother ,in her normal nagging tone,she'd basically told him where he wasn't allowed to go with her car ...this conversation happened every day: "mom can I use the van " "for what,where are u going,for how long" "I just need to go to __to do___it won't take that long- ill put gas in it" "just right there and right back !I don't want you over in____hanging out with___with MY van....." Same every day ,but this time she said this to him much nicer than normal ,end result being complete and utter misery for all and to all a bad night..Jens migraine headaches are with her so often she's starting to think of them like one would a lifelong friend.
Things are calmed down now,he's allowed back home .Lon has simmered down her rant-ravery to just a light grumble here and there..and Jen is completely out of vodka.She has also run out of her one other vice...but hope is not lost completely because he pulled more of what she needed out of his ass (not literally).AND surprisingly Lon has agreed to not only let her son use the van -but also stay out all night with it. She reluctantly decides to go with him against her better judgement ,taking advantage of the fact that it was night time ,not hot out ,and a rare chance for her to escape from home for a bit.
She's in the van, sitting head tilted towards the cool breeze blowing in through the open car window..her thoughts kept replaying the recent unpleasant events over ,maybe in an effort to find something that made sense in his behavior.She found nothing but confusion.Why does he snap and get so dramatically overly upset over the smallest most insignificant,irrelevant things?why does he say such mentally devastating things to those who love him and not seem to care about how much hurt he causes them. Jen can't find logic in this...and that really bothers her.She finds herself often daydreaming in memory about their beginning ,like watching a movie in a movie theater. she recalls all the moments that transpired from her first meeting him to her first time having sex with him..and the bliss that she lived in for those eight or nine months that followed...how completely different everything was then.
The beginning..she thought she could put to words how it all began...and the happy times but she can't,it's too painful...its now the beginning of November and things are crumbling around her slowly like rocks when hit repeatedly by ocean waves.She can hardly conversate with him anymore without the result being an argument or debate .Lons health seems to get worse with every cigarette she inhales...its hard to watch.Her own mom has health probs of her own now too and is in denial..everything swirls with negativity.she turns to her laptop for escape,immersing herself in the world of "Fallout 4"

Fast forward to the first of December and ironically this is her second time writing this ,this app needed an update so decided NOT to save the page or so she just typed when able to keep the tears in ....now she's having to write it all over again-once again trying to keep the tears in....alot has happened since she last wrote ("her"name is Syn btw -too stressed to keep up with the mysterious angle right now )
A week ago Syns life was slightly stressful,now she's seriously considering having herself commited.
It's been two and a half days since Lon received the letter from the apt manager stating that  she has three days to get rid of her "unauthorized guests" (12 complaints about her son's emotional outbursts caused the manager to have to act after sweeping it under rug for 2yrs) otherwise she loses her lease-also this had to be reported to housing (,and with their 3 strike rule she very well may lose her housing anyway).Syn would be sleeping indoors for the last time tonight.crazy how she could go from home to homeless in less than a week.
She was in a state of emotional shock...
What was she going to do now?
Her mom paid Lon her rent and groceries for the month of December already,unaware of the situation.(Syn kept from telling her mom for fear that she then would not give Lon any money resulting in syn not getting any money from Lon to survive on.
But when her mom finds this out there's gonna be hell to pay and whatever support her mom would be provided her would be null and void.syn had no idea what to do.she lay on her couch ,resentment building towards the man sitting a few feet away playing his dumb call of duty game for what he isn't fully aware yet of -will be his last time.
See initially lon had said well they can still be there during daytime hours..but today syn hears from Lon that it's best if they steer clear for a few weeks till things "die down".And her son dosnt know that yet.
No home cooked meals
No computer that he pays for weekly(why keep it and pay it if it can't be used)
No showers
No warm bed
How convienant that lon gets paid all this money ,tells her son she's gonna give syn $100 of it.thats it???if syn isn't living there Can't even be there for weekd she'd better damn well fork over all of that money (minus maybe 50 bucks syn owed ) the whole thing is fucked.happy fucking holidays right?