Chapter Three

My wrists are clasps together tightly inside two metal rings. So are Ian's. As the police officer walks us out the front door, I see my mom standing in the center of the yard, her cardigan pulled all the way around her waist.
"Mom-" I whisper.
"No need to go the station, sheriff, the fine will be owed by tomorrow morning. No later than 9 AM. And for Ian..." My mom looks him up and down.
"I'll be covering for him too." She continues. I look at her with disbelief. The fine for breaking and entering definitely is worth more than our rent. How is she going to afford that. As the police take the cuffs off my wrists my mother screams at me to get in the car. I look at Ian, half smiling. I assume his mom will be here shortly.

My mom finishes talking to the sheriff and right as Ian's mom and dad gets there she comes to yank the car door open and slam it with the a strong force. A she starts the car, I hear her voice start to form something, she hesitates and stops. And doesn't say anything after that, for the whole car ride home. All the way to the edge of the town.
As we start pulling into the driveway,
"How do you expect to pay this fine with our income?" I ask.
"My income." My mother corrects me. "We will talk about this when we are inside." Her voice steady. I roll my eyes and stomp out of the car, I can't wait to hear this explanation. She throws her bag onto the floor, and she screams at me to sit down on our kitchen table chairs, as in chairs, I mean 3 falling apart wooden chairs.
"What the hell were you doing at our old house!" She starts off, her face red and I can see her holding back her tears.
"I was trying to-"
"No." She cuts me off. "I don't even care, whatever your warped scheme is, I don't want to hear it! I want you home from school. Every day and you aren't going out with anyone. For a long time."
"Especially not Ian!" She adds.
"What- Mom, why are you doing this to me?"
"Isn't it obvious, you've over thought this whole situation with your father, Bailey."
"No. Mom. I'm gonna stop you right there. You even admitted to me you know it wasn't him just running away from things, and if he was, what would he be hiding? Are you afraid I'm gonna find something out?" I ask. A smirk grows wide across my face.
"You asinine low life of a child." My mother says to me. She sits down and she doesn't even try to cover the fact she's been holding in tears this whole entire time, she just lets it out.
"You've always been such a simple-minded person, Bailey. I remember in first grade when your class were supposed to write short story's, everyone's story's was unique and descriptive and elaborate. Yours however, was more.. unpretentious. That's changed, has it?" Mom fiddles with her fingers. Tears rolling down her face, in a calm manner. She wipes them and continues.
"There's only one thing that hasn't changed though, your insubordinate, churlish behavior. That hasn't changed." She repeats. Her voice getting noticeably higher,
"You've always had trouble obeying higher authority." She looks up at me and slowly stands herself up, getting closer to me,
"You've always been disrespectful," she leans closer to my ear
"And you always will be." You can hear the shakiness in her voice, she's scared, but of what? She backs up and continues,
"Things are gonna change though. I am in power, I tell you something, you listen and do it. I don't want any questions asked. I expect you to tolerate these requests, and listen to them. If you don't there will be repercussions." She finishes and storms off. I hear the door slam.
I've never seen my mom this mad before. Maybe I am disrespectful and disobedient, what if that's just it. What if I can't accept change, I keep using the word "remember" because they're nothing here for me in the present. I'm living in the past, everything was so good before this happened. It feels like the universe is against me in every single way possible. Maybe my dad really did go missing, he was a quiet man, but there's cruel people in this world, who hurt the people who mean no harm. I was over thinking it, there's nothing else I or Ian can do. There isn't an investigation anymore. He's gone, and with that my happiness. I haven't felt genuinely happy in a long time, and I don't think I ever will. I notice myself staring at the floor, zoning out. I quickly get focused on my thoughts again. I sigh. I have to make up to mom. I can just imagine how hard this is on her.

I knock on my moms door. I hear her crying, and it hurts my soul to see tired she is, emotionally, physically, and mentally. It hurts seeing your mother so torn down, and so sad. It really does hurt, I don't show her how much I love her sometimes though.
"Can I come in?" I ask. I hear mom sniff and she says sure.
I walk in, cautiously. My left arm rubbing my right arm. My moms on the edge of her bed, she used up all her tears, and now she's just sitting there, with a blank expression asking herself what she did wrong. How she became the monster, when in reality, it was all of us who became our own monsters fighting for ourselves only. I sit next to her and comfort her.
"I'm sorry." I say, looking through the window into the never ending darkness that seems to be my life. She looks up at me.
"I'm sorry too. As a mother I failed to nurture you through difficult times, I let our family fall apart. Look at me." She says, her once straightened blonde hair is now frizzy, and darker. Her once soft smooth skin is now rough. Her once designer clothes replaced with the clothes that are donated by people to help the ones struggling financially. Most importantly her once full heart, now a half, and the remaining half of her heart is filled with cracks. One more hammer to the heart, it's crushed.
"No matter what, Mom, we will always get through anything life throws at us, but we can't rip each other apart, we can't pushed each other away."
"I didn't kill your father." My mom says directly after I finish my sentence. I smile and nod, her eyes fill with water, same as mine.
"I know." I say, my words stumble off my tongue. We both hug each other.

And that night
A bridge that was once broken
Started to repair itself.