What is wrong with my mother?
Everything.
She doesn't ever act that nice. Ever.
I walk up the stairs and just as I am walking through the hallway to my room, I gasp. She knows. She has to know about the cameras. That's the only explanation for all of this.
I smirk. If she knows about a camera, she might not know about the other cameras and their positions.
I go into my room and close the door, and lay down on my bed. I stare at the ceiling and think of a plan. I get nothing so just stare at the ceiling as if it is a blanket of stars.
Then knocks sound on the door of my room. "Come in." I say.
In walks my mother, and I immediately feel fear. I have to lie.
She shuts the door and locks it, causing more fear to erupt through me. "Any cameras in here, Ruby?" She asks, her face containing a mischievous and also angry grin.
"Huh? What? No. Why would there be any cameras in here?" I ask her steadily, trying not to stutter or slip up.
"Don't lie to me Ruby. I saw through your tricks. You want me gone. Is that correct?" She asks, her evil grin growing wider by word.
"No?" I squeak, then mentally facepalm myself.
I back up until my back is touching the wall that my bed leans against. "You know what I have to do now, don't you Ruby?" She asks me, and her grin is crazy wide and it is starting to scare me slowly.
I subtly but noticeably nod as she crawls up onto the bed and starts making her way towards me. "Don't you dare scream for your father, you'll just make his part worse. Plus he went out for groceries." She says as she slowly and scarily makes her way towards me.
I then realize that there really isn't a camera in my room. My fear intensifies as she is almost in front of me while I cower on the corner of my twin sized bed. I look to my mirror and quickly back to my mother.
In the small amount of time I had to look at my mirror, I ended up seeing Eli sitting on his couch holding a video camera. He knows that he can't do anything about this, so I just have to let it happen.
My mother is still grinning as she grabs hold of my forearm and squeezes it so she has a good grip. She grabs my other shoulder and throws me towards the closet and my head hits it hard.
I scramble up from the floor and run out of my room, then sprint down the stairs and out of the front door. I'm sure she's behind me because of the slam close of the front door. I hear her combat boots pad down the porch stairs and follow me as I ran down the sidewalk.
I realize that she's gaining on me, and I blame my laziness.
I trip and she manages to grab hold of my neck, then tells me to get on my feet and she starts choking me. I try gasping for breath. Black starts filling my vision but before I could pass out, I hear a door open and a woman's voice. "What you doing to her?" And then my mother scampers off, leaving me to fall on my knees and start coughing.
My vision clears up a bit, but I fail to be able to stand up, considering I most likely have a concussion. I still sit there, gasping for the little air I'm getting, and hope to be better soon.
I start hearing sirens but I'm not sure if I'm hallucinating or not. My vision is fully cured now and I start feeling better as the minutes tick by.
I stand up slowly, and start to make my way back home. The police are officially after my mother and hopefully I don't have to deal with her anymore.
I make it home in a good 15-20 minutes. The front door was still unlocked, so I locked it when I got inside. My father still wasn't home yet.
It's getting a little dark out, which my head is liking right now. I go to the kitchen and get myself a glass of water. I drink it slowly, so it doesn't cause a larger headache than I already have. Then the doorbell rings.
I go to the door and open it to find two cops standing on the porch of my house. "What can I do for you two?" I ask politely but tiredly.
"Are you the daughter of Elana Mannhatten?" The one on the right asks me.
I start getting a little dizzy but shake it off. "Sadly, yes." I say.
"Do you have any idea where your mother has gone?" The one on the left asks.
"The last I heard -literally heard- was her feet heading down the sidewalk behind me after trying to -I think- kill me." I say.
Their eyes widen. "Are you alright?" The one on the right asks.
"Yes, I'm fine. I think I've got a concussion but I can sleep that away." I say.
"If you're sure." The one on the left says.
I nod and they walk away. I shut the door and go to my dad's office to grab a piece of paper and a pen. I write him a note saying that I would explain everything when I woke up, and that I was gonna go upstairs and sleep. I place it on the counter in the kitchen and go upstairs, planning on telling Eli what happened so he doesn't worry too much.
In my room, I shut and lock the door, considering I plan on falling asleep on the couch in the giant room through the mirror. "Eli---" I say, taking a long pause, "I'm here."
The mirror changes, and Eli sits there on that couch with a worried expression. I walk through it, and make my way dizzily over to him. I sit next to him lazily and lay back, closing my eyes. "I could've died." I say.
He sits me up and lays me down sideways on the couch and takes my shoes off. He then sits next to my head, lifts it up, and places it in his lap. And then I drift off into a deep sleep.
🌼🌼🌼
I wake up to bright sunlight spreading throughout the room and wince because of my ongoing headache. I make a soft groan and sit up slowly, one hand holding my forehead.
I look over to see Eli, who was watching something on the TV, look over at me. I look into his eyes and scoot over so I'm sitting right next to him. "I should probably explain what happened shouldn't I?" I ask him lazily. My head is killing me.
"Only if you feel like it." He says.
"I ran out of my room and outside and my mom chased me. Then I tripped and she started choking me on the sidewalk and I was about to pass out-" I take a pause to clear my dizziness, "When a woman came out of her house- and said 'what are you doing to her?' And my mother ran away and I came home and there- was cops that came to my house- looking for my mother and I told them what- happened and they left and my dad knows I went to sleep- and that my mother is probably going to prison once- the cops find her." I keep getting dizzy spikes, which caused so many pauses.
"At least she's probably going to prison. Which also means that you probably have to take this to court." He says.
"Yeah." I say, leaning my head on his shoulder. "What's your favorite song?" I ask him.
"Um, that's a hard one." He says, thinking about it, "I guess If We Have Each Other by Alec Benjamin."
I grin at this. "Be right back." I know that song by heart. Shaking off a dizzy spike, I walk through the mirror into my room. I open my closet and rummage through until I find what I need. I walk back through the mirror and sit beside him on the couch.
"I never knew you played guitar." He commented.
"Yeah, that's because no one knew. I was always very shy about it. I would only play when nobody was home. That was before the incident. I haven't played since then though. Thankfully, I can play If We Have Each Other by heart." I start strumming, staring at the chords as I listened to myself play the music. "She was 19, with a baby on the way, on the east-side of the city, she was working every day, cleaning dishes in the evening, she could barely stay awake, she was clinging to the feeling that her luck was gonna change." I sing along to my strumming as I close my eyes and keep singing. "She'd never be alone, have someone to hold, and, when nights were cold, she'd say, the world's not perfect but it's not that bad, if we have each other and that's all we have, I will be your mother and I'll hold your hand, you should know I'll be there for you," I keep singing and strumming softly into the silence around me into the chorus and the next verse.
"They were 90, and were living out their days, on the west-side of the city next to where they got engaged," he started singing too and we sang together, "They had pictures on the walls of all the memories that they made, and their life was never easy they were thankful that they stayed, with each other, and though some times were hard, even when she made him angry he would never break her heart, and they didn't have the money to afford a fancy car, but they never had to travel cause they'd never be apart."
We sing and the rest of the song is sang and strummed before I finish the final chord. I then here single claps coming from the mirror. I look to see my dad sitting on my bed smiling before walking through the mirror and saying, "You guys are really cute together, you know that right?" I blush.
"Thanks dad." I mumble. I obviously didn't know that, I don't really prefer complimenting myself.
I set down my guitar and Eli wraps his arms around my waist and I smile into it as butterflies erupt in my stomach. "I'll leave now. By the way Ruby, I didn't know you played guitar." He says and I give a small giggle. I feel too giddy and just decide to enjoy the amazing moment I'm having with my boyfriend.
🌼🌼🌼
"We have found a runaway abusive mother this afternoon in the back of her supposed boyfriend's apartment." I gasp. "She currently has a daughter of 17 years and a husband. She hasn't been divorced we are told at this moment and will be taken to court to be justified."
I jump up from the couch and start bouncing in one place. "We did it!!!" I exclaim and Eli wraps his arms around me to calm me down. "Yayyyyyyy!!!!!!!" I get really excited and hyper. "I'll be right back." I say quickly to him and run out of the mirror and down the stairs, surprisingly not dizzy. It's been a few days since my mother ran away from me on the sidewalk and I'm glad she was finally caught. But now I have to go to court.
"Dad! Dad! Dad! Did you see the news?!" I exclaim my question to him and he shakes his head with confusion. "The police found mom and she's going to court." I settle down a bit and prepare to tell him about the cheating part. "She apparently was hiding in her-- b- boyfriend's apartment." I say and he frowns.
Then he just shrugs. "Meh."
"You sure?" I ask him. He once loved that woman.
"Yes, I'm sure. She's gone now." He says.
"Well we have to figure out the court dates so I volunteer to go to the police station about that." I say.
"Ok. Why don't you run down now and see?" He asks.
"Sure. I just gotta tell Eli first." I say and run upstairs.
In my room I walk into the mirror and look at Eli staring at the TV, clearly out of his interest at the moment.
He turns and looks at me. "Hey." He says.
I smile. "Hey. So I gotta run out quick to get the court dates so I'll be back in say, 10-20 minutes?" I say.
"Yeah." He says. "See you soon." He gives me a hug.
"Alright so you later." I say, pulling back and walking to the mirror. I smile and walk through into my bedroom.
I head downstairs and look at my dad in the kitchen. "I'll be back soon. Just checking court dates like you said." I say.
He nods and I go to the front door and open it, walking out.
I walk down the sidewalk in my ragged sneakers, clutching my arms around my waist as the wind blows. It starts drizzling and I start sprinting down the sidewalk to the police station, my hood now up.
I finally make it and hide underneath the overhead roof thing before the doors. I finally let go of my waist and walk in to the front desk.
"Can I help you?" The receptionist says. "Oh, wait you're Ruby Mannhatten. Wondering about the court dates?" She says, weirdly recognizing me and my situation.
"Um, yeah." I say, pulling my hood off of my head because it isn't raining inside.
She writes things down on a piece of paper and hands it to me. "Give this to your father. It has the dates on it too if you want to know." She says.
I smile. "Thank you." I say and walk out the doors. The paper is now blowing wildly in my hand, and I fold it up and shove it into my sweatshirt pocket.
I start running back home on the sidewalk, my hood up again. It's now pouring. I make it home in the matter of minutes.
I walk through the front door- that I purposely didn't lock- and walk in. "Dad! I'm back!" I say loudly, unsure where he is.
"Ok. I'm in the kitchen." He says back.
I walk into the kitchen to see my dad sitting at the table writing stuff in his notebook.
I set the paper down between us on the table. "When are the dates?" He asks.
"I don't know let's look." I say and we look at the paper. There's two dates on it. Today is March 2nd. The first date is March 13th from 12:30pm to 4:45pm and the second date is---April 3rd from 8:30am to 5:30pm. "Dad." I say and he looks at me.
At the same time we say, "That's Eli's eighteenth birthday."