Living a nightmare

Chapter 2

"Julie."

"Yeah", She answered her seven year old sister as they walked home from school.

"Do mummy hate dad?" Her sister asked looking up at her with those big innocent hazel eyes.

Julie stopped in her track and faced her sister looking at her sister.

"Why would you say that?" She asked as she bent down in front of the little girl to meet her face.

She saw her sister pout her little mouth and look away.

"Yesterday night, I heard mummy say she hates dad and that she will leave him soon." Her sister replied.

Julie looked at the frail looking girl in front of her knowing everything the little girl had said was true. She knew she hadn't the mind to say anything to hurt her sister. Even if it was the truth, she just couldn't do it. Her sister was just too pure and innocent to even be real. She could only wonder why such a little innocent girl was made to exist in such a cruel place and with much difficulties.

She took her sister's face in her palms and turned it to meet her eyes. She saw the little sadness that was in her sister's eyes which made her sad too. Because the only thing she ever wanted to keep on doing was to make her sister smile and never let the smile fade away.

She thought of what to say as she looked at her sister who in turn looked back at her anticipating her answer.

With a hundred and one thoughts running through her mind, only one was the best solution.

She beamed at her sister and pinched her left cheek.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?" Her sister asked sulking as she rubbed her cheek with her little palm.

"Ivy, are you having weird dreams again? You know that's not possible. Mum loves dad more than anything and she's not going to leave him. She loves you too and she can't leave you either okay?" She said trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince her sister.

Her sister beamed at her too.

" I knew it. I knew it. I was wrong." she said clapping her hands happily. And in an instant, the sadness was gone and she was back to her normal self.

Julie stood up and took her sister's hands and interlocked it with hers.

"Whatever happens, sisters stick together. You know that right? She asked as they continued walking again.

Her sister grinned at her. "Uh huh. They stick together for life."

But the only thing on Julie's mind was how long she was going to keep on lying to herself and to Ivy.

~~

It was late at night and had been long since Julie had come home from her night shift. Ivy was in bed already and her dad had remained in his room without coming out for the whole day.

Julie sat in the living room, waiting for her mum to be back from where she always went to most nights.

The house felt no different from how it had always been; Cold, empty,.....lifeless.

She stared at the clock which was hung directly in front of her which read 01:15am. She was tired already as she sighed and sank back into the chair sleepily.

Almost immediately, she heard keys in the door lock and the door opened gently, followed by shoes which came flying in different directions then someone came in after closing the door behind.

She saw her half drunk mum stagger in and headed towards the kitchen while she followed behind ready to catch her in case she fell.

Looking at her mum dressed half naked with heavy layers of makeup which were now smudged all over the sky blue net top she wore, her hair looking nothing near neatly arranged and her skirt covering almost nothing while revealing the lacy panties she wore, made her wonder exactly how much 'fun' her mum had had for that night.

Her mum settled down on one of the chairs there and dropped her purse on the table.

"Don't just stand there. Get me water." She ordered while holding her head. "My head hurts so much."

Julie poured her mum a glass. "Well if you didn't drink so much, it wouldn't hurt." She said as she passed her the glass of water.

"Oh shut up. What do you know." Her mum snapped as she shot her a glare then gulped the whole content from the glass down.

"I'm not going to argue with you today." Julie stated knowing if she pressed any further, her mum would turn it into an argument how she did most times.

So instead she made up her mind to just tell her exactly what she wanted to say which was the only thing that made her wait for her in the first place.

"Mum you should really be considerate of things you say around Ivy. I've told you before."

"I just said my head hurts few seconds ago didn't I? Now this?" Her mum hissed as she dropped the glass on the table and ran her fingers through her hair.

"She heard you say you didn't like dad again and you were going to leave us. She's just a child mum." Julie said, trying to suppress the anger that was creeping up.

Her mum let out a dry laugh then looked at her.

"Do you think I care about that? I'm done with all of you. That man Ray, you and Ivy, I'm seriously done with you all." She said wearing the most stone look Julie had ever seen her put on.

Now hearing her mum refer to her father as 'that man' made her know that maybe sooner or later, she was going to keep to her words. Because if there's one thing she knew about her mum, it was that her mum never said things she didn't mean.

"Mum you're not being fair to us." Julie said and her mum shot her a glare again. But she wasn't going to care anymore. Yeah she had seen her dad start most of the fights they had, but she just thought that maybe her mum would try to hold the family together instead of behaving this way.

Wasn't that what mums were supposed to do?

Now Julie felt heart broken remembering how the whole misunderstanding had started a year ago. She wouldn't say her family was quite loving and peaceful always but it had seemed to double up since then. It was always her coming back to shattered pieces of glassware all around the house, her parents arguing over every little thing and not being able to stand themselves and blaming each other for how things were. Why her on the other hand, would always try to keep Ivy from seeing all that and lying every now and then to her in order to make sure she remained happy.

And she had to admit things were starting to get out of hand.

Julie watched her mum rise from the chair and wave her hand sideways, motioning for her to get out of the way.

"You didn't even show up at the hospital three days ago when Ivy was admitted." she said getting irritated as her mum stumbled forward almost falling to the ground but holding herself back up again.

"I was busy." Her mum replied nonchalantly stretching.

"Busy with what exactly?" Julie asked and this time, her voice was starting to rise, echoing in the silence of the night as the anger she was trying to suppress was about to explode.

"Stuff." Replied her mum who now staggered past her.

Julie gave out a bitter laugh. "Stuff? Maybe if you stopped partying all night and sleeping in most of the day, Stopped being selfish and started caring about dad and ivy more, maybe things will change. But no! You care about just yourself. Those are the only words you know; you and yourself. Just you!" Julie Shouted furiously which made her mum stop and stagger back to where she was.

"You know what," Her mum started as she came back to stand in front of her staring at her eyeball to eyeball. "Go ahead. Blame me if it makes you feel better, but one thing know is this; if your father had concentrated on his work and not having mistresses, maybe we wouldn't be bankrupt now." Her mum spat out.

And with that, she left a confused and surprised Julie standing wide eyed, staring into the open space with different thoughts running through her mind.

* * *

Another chapter!

What do you think? Who's fault is it that the family is drifting apart? Julie's dad? Julie's mum? Let me know your opinions.

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We're all stars and we shine differently.

??

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Listen to *Family by chainsmokers and kygo*

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~a person, Mandy.