Sweet Children

Why did Emilie and I have to be stupid idiotic children and race home?

You see, I had this idea, and well, I thought it was a great one at the time. It involved a left over piece of apple pie that my mom made the night before, and a race. Whoever reached my front door first got dibs on the last piece. And well, Emilie won.

"Ha!" Emilie cried out as she tapped my front door with her pinkie. "I win!"

I just smiled and stuck out my tongue playfully at her. "That's only because I let you win."

"Phsst! Yeah, uh-huh! Right!"

"It's true!" I defended.

She smirked at me before saying. "Just admit it. You just got out ran by a girl!"

I shook my head. "Nope."

She just smiled. "OK, then! I'm just going to take the last piece of pie and I'm going to eat it all in one bite. and it'll be oh so heavenly!"

I just rolled my eyes. "OK, you do that then."

"Oh, I will!" She said smiling as she opened my door quickly and barged in to grab the piece of pie before I did.

Now, there were two things wrong with what we found on the other side of my door. The first one, my mom was home when she was supposed to be doing a graveyard shift at work, and secondly, Emilie's mother, Lillian, was there and she was crying as my mother tried comforting her. They both looked at us as we barged inside and Emilie and I froze in place.

"..Mom?" Emilie questioned as she slowly walked up to her. "What's wrong?"

"Your father...he...he's going to be in jail for...fifteen years..."

I looked over at Emilie and noticed that her expression quickly changed from sympathy to pure anger.

"Wait...and you're upset about that?" Emilie questioned.

Emilie's mother gave her a confused look. "Well...why aren't you upset about this?"

"Mom! He abused Natalie and he abused me! Why aren't you upset about that?"

"Well..I am...but this is your father, Emilie! You love your father, don't you?"

Emilie didn't reply.

I was contemplating whether or not I should make a quick getaway to the safety of my bedroom. Just listening and seeing Emilie fighting with her mom was something that made me cringe and it was just so awkward standing the the middle of it all. I immediately began thinking of the lines from The Clash's song "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and got it stuck in my head. Damn.

Emilie's mother stood up slowly and walked over to her. She placed both hands on Emilie's shoulder gently. "Emile," she repeated. "Do you love your father?"

"I love what he used to be..." Emilie answered.

"...What does that mean?" Her mother asked frantically. "Your father is in jail." She repeated as if Emilie hadn't understood her the first time.

"I know, mom. And, I'm glad. For all those times he hurt Natalie and I. All the abuse that he caused us all; that he caused you as well. He deserves this! How can you love someone that has hurt your own children!?"

"...Let's just...go home. We can talk about this more later, OK?" Her mother asked, seeming oblivious to Emilie's previous question.

"...No, mom. I'm staying here, with Billie." Emilie answered quietly.

"But...Natalie. She misses you, sweetie. She wants to see you."

I was assuming that all that her mother was doing, was bribing her to go home. Emilie has only been here one night, so why would her little sister already be missing her? Emilie has stayed the night with me many times before. Natalie never seemed to miss her then. So why now?

Emilie just shook her head and said, "Well...it looks like she's going to have to miss me a bit longer. I'm staying here."

Emilie's mother looked down and let go of Emilie's shoulders. "OK...do you...have everything you need here? Clothes? Toothbrush? Deodorant?"

"Yeah, I do." Emilie said, no emotion behind her words.

Her mother sighed. "OK. I guess..I should be going. Bye sweetie." She then quickly gave Emilie a kiss on the forehead and walked out the door.

The way that her mother seemed oblivious to the whole fight was stunning. She made it seem like just an ordinary night, that Emilie was just staying the night. No big deal. It made me sick to my stomach just to watch her mother in such denial about her own daughter's feelings. It made me so angry. I then noticed that my hands were curled up tightly into a fist. They were beating red and my skin felt clammy.

My mother just sat there in complete shock. Lillian has been her best friend since elementary school and to see her like that, to see her behave in such a way towards Emilie, must of made her both angry and sad at the same time.

Emilie whimpered slightly as tears began to flow down her face.

"...I'm sorry, Ollie." She whispered.

"What are you sorry for, Emilie?" My mother asked. "You did nothing wrong."

"I know...It's just...this caused you to miss work...and the fight--I'm just, sorry..." Emilie then quickly walked into my bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Just as I was about to follow her, someone barged through the front door.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! I'm here!" Mike shouted as he tossed all of his suitcases and bags onto the floor in front of me. "How's it goin'?" Mike asked with a childlike grin on his face.

I just sighed. Oh god...I completely forgot about Mike moving in. Ah, shit...

Mike gave me a puzzled look. "Why the long face, Bill?"

I just looked at him.

"...Is this a bad time to ask?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"...OK, then. I guess I'll just...go unpack." Mike replied as he picked all of his stuff up and walked into the garage where his new room was waiting for him.

I just sighed again and walked slowly into my bedroom where Emilie now was, leaving the last piece of apple pie untouched.