The World Beyond Me

Chapter Two: What?!

I’m older now, and my social anxiety has improved quite a lot! I am even now able to get out of the house to run errands for my mom! I still stutter a lot though, but I’m still practicing! Right now I was singing along to my favorite singer, Axel Lexi! He is my idol, he used to have a stutter when he was younger but that didn’t stop him from reaching his dream to become a singer and it won’t stop me either! While singing I didn’t notice my mom until she was standing right over me. Suddenly opening my eyes, startled I jumped back falling off my bed, landing with a loud THUMP on the floor. 

“Owwwww,” I said, clutching my head.

“Oh my gosh, honey! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. B-but why were you standing there?”

“Sorry honey, I was just listening to your beautiful voice! You're so talented, honey!”

“Thanks, mom, but you hear me sing all the time. Did you need anything else?”

“Well I do but we can talk over dinner, okay? Dinner will be ready in five minutes.”

And with that she left, leaving me wondering what was so important that she wanted to talk about it over dinner? My stomach started to feel queasy, sensing whatever it was, I wasn't gonna like it. After a few moments of intense waiting I couldn’t take it anymore, quickly headed downstairs and sat down in front of the table. My mom spun around a bit surprised to see me but set my plate at the table anyways.

 “I was about to call you,” she said. 

“So what did you want to tell me?” I ask. 

“Aren't you going to eat dinner first?” she says while taking the seat right across from mine. I shove a mouthful of mashed potatoes in my mouth. I’m usually not a big fan of potatoes unless they turned into french fries, but today I was eager to know what mom wanted to tell me. 

My mom just stared at me in complete shock as I wolfed down my dinner. After finishing half of my dinner I couldn’t wait any longer and decided to ask again. 

“So what did you want to tell me about mom?’’ My mom suddenly grew nervous and said,

 “W-well honey I didn’t know how to tell you but…” She hesitated then decided to quickly rip off the bandaid and said, 

“Your uncle was bank robbed!” I just stared at her in disbelief as she kept speaking.

“I got a phone call this morning informing me that your uncle's company has had a devastating loss and he’s barely able to support his family, meaning he will no longer be able to send us money for our living”, I just stared at her in disbelief until I was finally able to choke out 

“W-what…?”,

 “I’m so sorry honey I’m going to have to go back to work or else we could get evicted from our home and… you’re going back to school tomorrow-” Now I just couldn’t believe my ears, my own mom was saying this. I decided to remind my mom of the main reason why I didn’t go to school for such a long time.

 “Uh, mom. What about m-my social a-anxiety?”,

 “Well honey, it’s been 5 years. You can’t avoid human contact for the rest of your life, and aren’t legally allowed to stay home alone for such a long period of time” *Sigh* “Honey, we can’t let our past stop us. It’s for the best and what your father would’ve wanted”. I suddenly felt as though my mother had stabbed a million knives in my back and started to feel as though my blood was boiling. “Honey, I know it’s gonna be hard and you're not comfortable with the situation-” Before she could finish talking, without thinking, I snapped at her! 

“H-how could you say that! How could you just tell me to forget about him! He’s my father, your husband! Did you even love him?! If you did you wouldn’t be saying this!” With that said I ran upstairs to my room and slammed the door. Not even bother looking back at my mom who looked as though she were in tears because I myself was in tears. She also said something else but I was too tired and outraged to listen.