Chapter 4

“Go before she loses her shit again.”

“Hey,” she called as I turned to leave. “If you change your mind, Kylie’s party is Friday. You could at least come for an hour. Maybe let him finally confess his giant crush.”

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help laughing a little. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Yeah, but you love me.” she yelled.

I waved goodbye and walked out to grab a taxi.

I stared out the window, trying hard not to cry as the cab pulled in the busy road.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how stuck I felt.

I was twenty-freaking-one, but my mom still acted like I was a kid she had to babysit every second.

She never let me have any freedom. No sleepovers, no parties, no dating. God, she even slapped me once because I was smiling at a delivery boy who couldn't have been older than seventeen.

And guess what? She made me go to a college that is fifteen minutes from our house just so she could keep tabs on me, that was the worse part, because I had plans, I was supposed to go to college in America. And she crushed that.

I think that was why my dad divorced her, he moved to California and got married to a Japanese woman, he even had two perfect little boys. He still calls sometimes to check on me but my mom always snatches the phone and hangs up. she would always say “He abandoned us, he will abandon you too.”

But I don't believe that, if he really abandoned me then he wouldn't still be calling right? And everytime she's yelling at me over absolutely nothing, I wish I could just pack a bag and go live with him.

I thought when I turned eighteen, it would all stop, if anything, she got worse.

My thoughts were interrupted when the cab driver cleared his throat loud enough to bring me back into reality.

“That’ll be twelve-fifty, miss.”

I blinked and looked out the window. Oh. We were already parked in front of our apartment building. I sighed reaching into my purse and handed him some crumpled bills with a small 'thank you"before grabbing my phone and climbing out.

The second I stepped into the building, I walked straight into the elevator after greeting the security, and when it dinged, I stepped out, went straight to our door, typed in the passcode of our apartment and walked inside.

I kicked off my sneakers by the door and wore the soft fuzzy slippers waiting on the mat. Mom had this whole rule about shoes in the house-"no outside dirt on my clean floors" so yeah, I played along. Easier than another lecture.

She was in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove and humming under her breath as if she didn’t just scream at me over the phone ten minutes ago. Her back was to me and I could already feel the tension in the air.

“Hey, Mom,” I said, walking past and head to my room.

“Stop right there!”

I froze mid-step and turned around, that is when she spun around from the stove, her face already twisted in anger. “You lied to me, you were probably out with some boy, weren’t you? Like a little slut!”

“What the hell Mom, no! I was just out with Liv shopping.”

“Don’t lie to me!” she shouted, marching over to me.

"What? Mom, are you serious right now?"

She started yanking the front of my top, inspecting me for evidence of something slutty.

“Were you out sleeping around? Is that what this is now?"

“What? wait a second, what if I was with someone? Is that a crime?”

“Yes, it is! while you’re still under my roof, you will behave like a lady!”

Wow, under her roof? Wasn't she the one that told- you know what I'm even tired of talking so I lost it.

“You know what? Maybe this is why Dad left you.Because you’re annoying as fuck! You don’t give people space to fucking breathe!”

Her eyes widened for half a second before her hand flew to my face before I saw it coming.

*SLAP.*

My cheek stung instantly. What???

I swear, if she wasn’t my mom…I wanted to scream at her, throw something, tell her she was insane, but I didn’t.

One thing about me is if I didn't walk away right now, I might actually fucking burst her head open. I'm not even kidding. It took everything in me not to swing back, I'm not the type to raise my hand to my mom, but there's so much a person can take.

I don't play with anger, when I feel it bubbling like this, I leave. Because I honestly don't trust myself.

So I did what I always do.

I stormed upstairs without another word

and slammed my bedroom door shut before locking it fast.

“Open this damn door!” she shouted seconds later, pounding hard as if she was about to bust through it.

WTF!!

“Tessa! How dare you walk away from me?! You ungrateful bitch! I’ll break this door down if I have to!”

I grabbed the side table near my bed and dragged it in front of the door just in case she really lost it and tried to come in.

Her pounding got louder. “You hear me?! Open this door right now! Are you insane??!"

The yelling kept going for a few more minutes. Then, silence.

Guess she finally gave up.

I moved to my bed and collapsed face-first into the pillow.

She wasn't just angry, she was bitter and miserable, throwing it all on me.

Like I was her punching bag for every bad day. I wasn’t the one who walked out.

She should get that in her empty brain, no her brain, Good Lord have mercy on me.

I decided to take a nap since it was just 2 p.m. and I had nothing else to do, and honestly I just needed to shut the world out for a while.

******

I opened my eyes and everything was dark except from my lamp beside my bed that gave me little light.

I grabbed my phone from beside my pillow, and checked the time -*7:02 p.m.**

“What??” Did I really just sleep for five damn hours?

My stomach growled so loud it echoed in the room.

Well, crap. I hadn’t eaten anything since that burger with Liv earlier. No wonder my stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself.

Calm down Tummy.