Abercrombie & Bitch

Saturday, May 3, 10:01pm – home

It was something I had to do.

Everything in my mind was numb, like someone had suddenly decided to inject me with anesthetic, but not enough to knock me out. Just enough so that everything blurred together around me, and yet I was somehow aware of everything that was going on.

Somehow, I ended up at the place that I'd been away from for too long – home.

I shakily lifted my hand and rang the doorbell. My mom should be home from her shift by now, but I assumed that only Meg and Olivia would be asleep yet. So that meant that either Ashley or Harper would be up, too.

The door opened about thirty seconds later to reveal a disheveled-looking, white-faced mother of mine. It took her a couple of seconds to realize who I was, her eyes blinking rapidly against the bright light of the porch.

“Mom...” I choked out in surprise.

Her eyes widened. “Miranda?”

I nodded, unsure of what her reaction would be. God, I'm so stupid. Of course she's still mad at me. I mean, she has every right to be –

“My God, Miranda!” The next thing I knew, she had lunged for me and wrapped her arms around my torso. I stumbled back a step, surprised, and awkwardly put my arms around her. “I missed you so much, my Miri! I'm so sorry!”

I really, really wish that I could believe her. I've never pulled something as stupid as running away from home before, but things have happened like this in the past. She'll be all sorry at first – and who knows, maybe she means it – but the next day it'll be back to the way things were. I didn't want to deal with this anymore. I didn't want to deal with any of this anymore.

She pulled back a little bit, and I could see tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “I missed you so much, Miranda. Megan hasn't stopped crying since you left, and Harper's threatened to run away if you didn't come back...”

I didn't say anything. I wasn't buying a word she was saying about missing me. I believe that Meg was crying; I was pretty much like a mother to her. Harper and I were always pretty close, too – but I never thought she'd disobey Mom because of me. Leave it to my mom to put me on a guilt trip not even five seconds since I get home.

“It's been terrible without you here. Your father was so angry...”

Wait. “Dad called? When? Why?” I demanded, dropping my arms from my mother.

She shrank back a little bit and pushed me into the house, shutting the door behind me. “Well, I called him.” I looked at her in shock. “Miranda, I didn't know where you went! I thought maybe he knew!”

“I went to Rob's,” I spat, shaking out my hair as I followed my mother into the kitchen, where she was already getting out the ingredients for hot chocolate.

“You went to a boy's house?” she asked incredulously, twirling around to face me with a mug in both hands.

I exhaled angrily. “No, Mom, I went to Rob. My boss. You've met him.” She still looked at me with a blank expression. “You know, Rob. Brown hair, blue eyes, about yay high?” I held up my hand to show his height. Still confused. I sighed. “The artist?”

Realization dawned on her. “Oh. Miranda, how could you be so stupid! You could've been raped or murdered or-”

I gaped at her. “This is Rob we're talking about. He isn't even capable of putting a dog to sleep, much less murdering a person!”

“He's an adult! He's capable of doing anything he wants to!”

“He's twenty! He can't even dress himself!”

“You dressed him?!”

“That's not the point!” I growled, yanking off all of Donelle's jewelry. “The point is, he took me in when I needed him, okay? And so did Donelle.” I narrowed my eyes. “I can handle living without you.”

She looked furious. “You're seventeen. You don't know anything.”

I scoffed. “I don't know anything?! You have no idea who I am! All you care about is yourself!” I scowled at her. “And, for your information, I'm eighteen!”

“I've heard about enough of you, Miranda Jane Gregory! Another word and you're up to your room!” Her words were supposed to be threatening, but her eyes told me something else. Something that clearly said that she didn't like where this was going.

When I spoke next, my voice was low. “I have a better idea, Mother.” Her eyes widened. “I'm going to Dad's.”

She was silent for a few moments. “You don't mean that.”

I scoffed again. “I don't mean it?! Like hell I don't mean it!” I shook my head in disbelief. “If you had any idea about all the crap I've been through tonight, this week, this year, then maybe you'd understand what I'm going through. Nothing personal, Mommy, but I'm done with this shit.”

“I will not tolerate that language from you!”

“Mom? Mandy?” a small voice came from the stairs.

Both my mom and I turned toward the sound. There stood all of my sisters – even Andrea – staring at us in shock. Meg, who'd spoken, looked the worst out of all of them. Her hair was greasy and dirty, along with the rest of her body, and she looked like she was all skin and bones. Her big brown eyes were wide and full of tears. Lindsey and Harper looked about ready to kill someone – I didn't know if it was me or my mother. Andrea was looking at my mother with a disappointed face. Olivia looked scared.

I think we all felt that way.

“Megan, go up to your room,” Mom snapped, “This doesn't concern you girls.”

I never expected Lindsey, of all my sisters, to speak up in favor of me. I guess we were pretty close, but she never disobeyed my mother. Ever. “I think it does, Mom,” she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. “If it concerns Miranda, it concerns us.”

My mom's jaw dropped. “Lindsey Gregory, I-”

“You'll what, Mom?” she asked, taking a step into the kitchen. “What could you possibly do to us that you haven't already done? We've had to starve this last week because you can't cook, we can't take showers because you didn't pay the bill, and when we try to talk to you like our mother you hit us!” Tears were streaming down Lindsey's face now, and her voice was choked. “Who do you think we'll choose? You?”

If I wasn't completely pissed with my mother before, I sure was then.

“Look. I'm calling Dad tonight, and I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm taking Meg with me. You can do whatever you want to me, Mom, but you don't hurt my sisters.”

She looked taken aback. “You can't take Meg! I- She's my daughter!”

“So am I,” I shot back, “but that doesn't seem to matter to you, does it?”

No one said anything. Andrea had finally set Meg on the ground, and five seconds later I was scooping her up into my arms. I swear my heart almost broke when I felt tears seeping onto my bare shoulder. I hated to see Meg cry.

As I cradled Meg to my chest, something in me seemed to click into place. Some almost maternal instinct deep inside. I knew I had to at least take Meg out of this situation. Even if that meant what I think it meant.

“Let me adopt her,” I said quietly, almost in a whisper.

My mom stared at me in shock. “Miranda, you're eighteen. You can't take care of a child.”

“I can take care of her better than you've ever taken care of any of us! I take care of her practically by myself! How could you possibly not think I can take care of her?!”

My mom opened her mouth to say something else, but Andrea spoke up. “You know she's right, Mom.” Everyone turned to look at her, except for Meg, who was still clinging to my shoulder. “Legally, she's old enough to be a guardian.”

My mom shook her head again. “I – I'm not letting Megan go.” She turned to me. “Miranda... Just... Look, do whatever you want. Call your father. You can finish up school at his house. Just...” She looked at me with pleading eyes. “Just don't take my baby from me.”

I gritted my teeth together. This was fighting a losing battle, and we all knew it. I was eighteen; I couldn't even get into college. What made me think that I could support Meg? I just... I wish things were different. Maybe in a few years. But now...

“Mom,” Andrea said threateningly, taking a few steps into the kitchen and standing next to me, “I can take you to court for child neglect. Because, quite frankly, if I hadn't gotten here two days ago, Meg would've died from dehydration.” My mom gaped at her again. “If Miranda can't take care of her, then I will.”

“Andrea-”

“Mom, I'm twenty-two. I'm old enough to handle a child.”

We were all silent after that. I was silently thanking God for giving me a sister like Andrea. When we were growing up, we didn't get along very well because she was older and thought she knew everything. And of course I, being stubborn, wouldn't admit it. But we were always there for each other when it really counted. Like now. I couldn't ask for a better sibling.

Finally, my mom sighed. “We'll talk about this later.”

That was all she said before dragging herself up to her bedroom and slamming the door.

The rest of us sat down wordlessly at the booth. Andrea told Olivia to take Meg and go to bed, and they obliged without protest. The four of us sat together in silence for a few moments, trying to absorb everything.

“Miranda, are you alright?” Andrea finally asked, eying my soaked hair and ruined dress. I'm sure I looked like a disaster by then.

“No,” I muttered, before recounting the entire night to them. They all listened in what looked like horror, and yet they couldn't stop listening.

When I finished, Lindsey was the first person to speak up. “That bitch! Ugh! When I get to school on Monday-”

I glanced at her from under my bangs. “You're going to act like normal.” They all looked at me like I was an alien. “Look, this is just what Ashley wants. To get to me. Well, she got to me. But we're not going to give her the satisfaction in knowing that she got to all of us.” I shook my head. “I really, really appreciate what you guys have done for me. You didn't have to do that.”

Lindsey reached over and put her hand on top of mine, which was resting on the table. “We didn't have to,” she said quietly, “But we wanted to.”

Andrea and Harper nodded in agreement.

My heart swelled. “Thanks, you guys.”

We all stood up and hugged each other, like we used to. Before we knew it, we were all crying and sobbing and telling each other we loved them. It made me think about how much I was going to miss them if I did go to Dad's. But... I think I had to do it.

As Lindsey and Harper headed up to bed, Andrea hung back.

“Miranda, I...” She sighed and took something out of her pocket. “I want you to have this.”

And with that, she tossed a wad of money onto the table. I stared at her, wide-eyed, as I picked it up. “Drea... What-”

“It's not much,” she explained, running her hands through her hair, “But it'll be enough for you to get on your feet once school's out. Maybe you can spend it on textbooks.” She chuckled at the thought.

I looked through the bundle. From what I'd quickly counted, there was about three thousand dollars. “I... I can't accept this.” I handed it out to her. “I can do this on my own.”

She smiled sadly. “That's a nice thought, Miri. But, the truth is, you'll need this eventually.” She stood up and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “You can thank me by not being stupid about this. I know things all look fine and simple now, but they're going to get complicated in a hurry. Just... Just be smart. Okay?”

Slowly, I nodded. “Okay.” I glanced at the money in my hand uncertainly. “How did you make this much, anyway?”

She smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. “Working extra shifts at Starbuck's, and putting in more hours at the office. I've been saving up to start renting an apartment in New York.” She walked over to the other side of the room, and I watched her in disbelief. “I can wait a little longer.”

“Andrea, no! This is your money, I-”

She turned to me. “You'll need it.” She walked back to me with something in her hand. “Trust me. I want you to have it.”

So I just nodded and hugged her again. “Thank you... So much. For everything.”

I felt her smile against my shoulder. “You're welcome.” She pulled back and handed me what had been in her hand. “Good night, Miranda.”

As she headed upstairs, I glanced at the objects. First, she'd handed me the phone. Second, she handed me a piece of paper with the word 'Dad – home' on it, followed by a phone number. I took a big breath and dialed the number, crossing my fingers unconsciously.

“Hello?” my Dad's voice spoke after a few seconds.

I bit my lip. “Dad? It's Miranda.”

“Miri! Hello! Wha- Wait. Are you crying? What's wrong?”

I sniffled. “Dad? Can I stay with you for a while?”