Nearly an hour had passed of drunken rambling and lecturing. She spewed harsh words that he wondered if she even meant. Oren simply stared at the plate in front of him, ignoring the yelling. This was not the first dinner that his mother had ruined with half a bottle of wine and bitter words.
He had stopped listening when she began to go on about honor, duty, and what he owes this family; all of them were far too familiar topics. Yet, he allowed her to continue. Perhaps he had become accustomed to it, or maybe he knew that it let him get a glimpse of how she truly felt about him.
Scraping against the floor, her chair scooted back and she stood. His gaze drifted up from his food just as she began to pace while continuing on, only taking brief breaks to have another sip of wine.
‘She must be particularly pissed about something today,’ he thought, enjoying another bite of the meal in front of him. The cook had made a roast that evening, a favorite of his. He made note to thank her later for all the work that had gone into it.
The ranting and raving continued, but she finally let slip something that caught his attention. He was caught off guard as she so boldly declared, “Your father would be so immensely disappointed in you. If only he could see what ruination you have let fall upon this house, upon this city.” She slammed her hands down onto the dining table, knocking over her glass. It toppled over, shattering on the floor. A servant quickly placed another next to her and promptly filled it with wine. The broken glass was hastily swept away, and it was as though nothing ever happened.
Oren rose from his seat, fighting desperately to keep the anger boiling up inside of him locked away. His hands balled up into fists, grabbing the tablecloth in the process. A shaky breath escaped him, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the fabric tighter. Despite his reaction, his mother continued her tyrannical lecture.
The two young women sat further down the length of the table and looked down at their plates, their hands delicately resting in their laps. Their eyes looked so very tired, as though they were reliving the same family dispute for the hundredth time. And, as it turned out, they were. It struck him that this had been their routine as a family for years, and he had finally hit his breaking point with it. Calmly, he walked over to his sisters, kissing each on the top of her head.
“I’m so sorry, sisters. I’ve allowed this to go on for far too long,” Oren said softly.
He then approached his mother. It had been hard to see her as the woman who had raised him, likely because she was no longer that same person. She had once been so kind and cheery, and she never had a mean word to say about anybody. However, their father and eldest brother died one tragic night a few summers past, and she had never been the same since. There was a darkness that grew and consumed every happy memory in her, and this blabbering drunk was all that remained. She looked at him, bewildered and enraged. He gave her a faint smile and continued to walk by her.
Drunkenly, she stumbled over her words, unable to form a sentence. She yelled at him to come back; she was not done talking with him. She went on about how dare he walk away from her and how he needed to hear what she had to say, but he had heard enough. As he pulled on the door handle to leave the dining hall, a loud crash erupted immediately to his right. Searing pain shot across his face, and his eyes darted from the wall now covered in liquid to the glass shards on the floor. And finally, he looked back at the monster who had been his mother, who had thrown a whole glass of wine at his head.
One corner of her lips was curled up in a twisted grin, but tears flowed down her face. She tried to put on an attitude of smugness, as though to ask him “What did you expect?” Yet, her eyes gave away how she truly felt inside. They were heartbroken, as though to show that she knew she was in the wrong and regretted it greatly.
Oren turned back to the door, pulling it open. He knew what had to be done; he knew he had to leave them behind.
Comments (0)
See all