Mother, What Have You Done?

Chapter 3: Annoyed

“I don’t need makeup, Mother.” I said sternly. She gives me the side eye and turns back to Thomas. “So when do we leave on our next trip?” She asks Thomas. “We will know in a few days.” He replies.

I listen intently. Now that I know that these trips are actually for the cartel and are not actual business trips I need to pay more attention to what she does. I need to find out exactly what happened to my father. Also why my brother was killed. I knew something was wrong when my mother would not cry at my brother’s funeral. She lost her son, but stood there like it was supposed to happen. She ended up super drunk and angry that night and that’s when she told me it was my fault. There was also some people at the funeral that I didn’t know. She said they were her coworkers but now I am not so sure.

“Where will you be going this time Mother?” I ask her. Thomas chokes on his drink and gives Susan a glance. “Uhm I think Fresno.. so Gregory are you excited to be on the West Coast?.” She replies quickly and changes the subject. Gregory gives me a look and smiles. “I am now.”

“Well it looks like you two will be good friends.” said Thomas. Yeah if he stops trying to flirt with me. I really hated coming to these dinners with Mother, now I have another reason to hate them.

We finally finish eating and said our good-byes. I just want to crawl into bed and go through the remaining photos of Donald. Mother wouldn’t even acknowledge that it was his birthday. I quickly learned last year not to bring him up. I need to call Meredith. She’s the only one I can talk to him about. Ive known Meredith all my life. Her father was friends with mine. He doesn’t speak about him anymore, but he treats me as a bonus daughter.

Meredith and I could pass as twins. We both have brunette hair and green eyes. We also have button noses and freckles. The thing is Meredith is definitely a girly girl. She covers her freckles with makeup and wears tight clothing. She is also four inches taller. She also wears a double D and I can barely fit a B. I have always been jealous of that.

We get inside and Mother heads straight to her office. She usually heads there right after dinner. I know she hides her alcohol in her bookshelf cabinet.

As I walk upstairs, I notice my bedroom door is closed. I slowly open it and see the box of photos tossed onto the floor. My window is also cracked open. I go to the window and close it, while looking out. I see a dark figure pass by Ms Kline’s SUV and then disappears. I turn around and see that there is a photo stuck to the corner of the box. Grabbing it, I turn the photo over and realize it is not a picture of Donald, but a baby photo of me. I am about six months old and am sitting in the grass by a tree. I have never seen this photo before and wonder where it came from. I look to the window and glance at the photo again. This time I realize there is a man standing next to another tree in the corner. It is definitely not my father.