The whole way home his hands shook like a vibrating cell, fingers numb from the cold and repeated attempts at calling both home and Evelyn's phone, but neither answered. Heavy steps carried him home, as his eyes shifted back and forth between front and back, so much so he felt like he was developing the ability to see three-hundred and sixty degrees.
Chris came home expecting Liah to be there, but she wasn’t, no one was home; he soon remembered she was going to the fair with Anna that night. It was the quietest house had ever been, it would have been a dream come true if not for the circumstance. The only thing he heard was a faint but constant whistling of wind coming from Liah's room. What he saw upon entering left him appalled, but not surprised. How does she sleep in this? It was absolute disarray, clothes littered the floor, and nothing was where it should be; not to mention she had at least three dirty cups and a plate just sitting on her desk which was at least two days old.
Rattling in the wind was a loose window latch. Given his recent run in at the store, he took it upon himself to close it. Having secured the window tightly in its place, he proceeded to each room to check on the windows, starting at Evelyn’s room, moving into the bathroom, and then his own room. Each one was already locked, a good sign, but as he turned around from checking his windows, he noticed the absence of his jacket.
In retrospect, he’d come to realize how awful it was to let his feelings for a memento overtake his concerns, but that is rarely how human emotions work out. He had leaped towards the closet, thoroughly looked inside, but it was gone. Hockey gear, books and other boxes flew out of the closet as he tore it inside out, but still there was no sign of his jacket. Leaving the closet, his eyes were then drawn to a recently washed sweater on the ground. What had stood out about this sweater is that he left in the dryer the night prior. He knew he hadn't taken it out of the hamper, so there was no reason for it to be on the floor. That's when something began to click into place. This had better not……
On his way back to Liah’s room, he noticed an avalanche of board games and decorations spilling out of the hall closet. A line of sewing thread ran from the pile into the kitchen, where on the table sat his jacket laying beside a mess of sewing equipment.
Sticking out like a sore thumb was a tear in the shoulder seem, and though he couldn’t say with certainty what happened, he knew who caused it. The same girl who caused him to trip in the bathroom earlier, the one who hit him with a key-chain a weak ago, the person who lived like a complete slob, always had to press his bottoms and who never seemed to learn from their fuck ups. On his way towards the jacket, a sharp pain shot up into his foot, causing him to almost fall forward and, barely catch himself fall by gripping the table. It was a sewing needle he had stepped on. You gotta be fucking kidding me right now!
Chris heard a clicking of the door lock being turned. Head swelling with anger, he was at a boiling point and ready to erupt at the sight of Liah. However, it was Evelyn, looking completely drained of energy and ready to crash, though that was of little concern to his at that moment.
Evelyn slumped into the kitchen to the sight of Chris, with nostril flared up like an angry bull and a face as red as a bullfighters cape, he stood surrounded by a mess of sewing equipment and holding the ripped jacket. An exhausted sigh left her lips before she tried to inquire what happened, which led into a furious rant from Chris asserting with certainty that this was Liah’s doing; though he was unable to give any definitive proof. Though Evelyn made attempts to give her daughter the benefit of the doubt, even from her point of view this didn’t look good. The rant got more vile and venomous, as he described Liah as a pig, an inconsiderate mooch, a spoiled brat, even going as far as calling her a retard, something he repeated upon Evelyn’s protest at the use of it.
At some point, she thought it might be best to let his have his rant, figuring it might be best to let him vent his anger to blow off the steam. Then he crossed a line she could not sit with.
“I’d wish she just fucking die!!!” He said those words with then ferocity and carelessness of a cannon ball plowing through whatever’s in its wake.
Evelyn snapped back, made is clear to Chris that she didn’t care how furious he was, he was to never wish death on a loved one. But this only seem to enrage him more, causing him to direct his rage at her.
“You’re a shit mother who does nothing but enable her” He snapped back.
“Umm excuse me? Come again?” Evelyn asked in a surprised but disgusted tone.
“You are a lazy, weak willed, shitty parent!” Chris words were clear and concise “You let her get away with everything, you coddle her the second she gets even the slightest bit upset or runs into trouble, and she barely able to clean up after herself because you do everything for her instead of growing a back bone for once and teaching her some basic fucking discipline”
“Teaching her discipline? so what you want me to be some sort of drill Sargent towards her?"
“At this point yeah. Ground her, take away her TV, smack her if you must, lord knows she deserves it”
“And when has that ever been a solution? It’s not how I choose to raise you two”
“No, you've just chosen to not raise her at all.”
“Excuse me, try raising two kids alone while working at a job that overworks and under pays you and see how well you do, since you got it all figured out”
“I’d do a hell of a better job than you, that's for sure.”
“Yeah, how so?”
“I’d make her clean her damn room and ground her when she's disrespectful of other people’s shit. That’s how it was when dad raise me, and I didn’t turn out like a spoiled brat”
“You were eight when he died Chris, your memory of him isn’t as clear as you think. Trust me if he were here, he’d be as sick of your attitude as I am.”
“And if he was here, Liah wouldn’t be a complete self-centered bitch.”
“Liah is not a bitch, she is a 14-year kid, she's going to fuck up. You weren’t so easy yourself at that age, or even now for that matter.”
“Because as we established, you suck at parenting.”
“But you're not denying you had your fair share of problems at that age to? What happened to you were never brat like her?”
“I said I didn’t turn out to be one.”
“Say’s the kids with four years on her and blows his top instead of having a civil conversation. At least your sister know how to talk to share her feelings without it blowing her top at people. Wanna talk about being mature Chris, learn how to be open with people before you have a meltdown on them.”
There was no response, just a lump in both their throats as neither knew where to say next.
“Y’know what, fuck this shit.” Chris headed for the door, slamming it with a thud that shook the walls and knocked a few picture frames off the wall. Distraught with anger, he was no longer listening to as Evelyn calls to return to the home, or thinking about the hooded man; or the fact that he never got a chance to tell Liah or Evelyn about him.
If only he truly knew what was about to come.
