Chapter one: Messy Family

Lila’s POV

It was a regular day at work as usual; attended to patients when needed, avoid familiarity with my colleagues, talked when I was required to, and avoided unnecessary drama. That’s how I live, so you could say my life was an ordinary one. But deep down in my ordinary life lies traumas, hidden from the world—pains buried deep within my soul. 

I opened the door to my house, hoping my mother would be in a calm state as she was always in a different mood each day, due to her manic depression. I didn’t see her in the living room, so I went straight to my room first so I could change and take a shower first. At least I won’t have to deal with seeing her face after all the work I did today. 

I noticed the drawer in the right corner of my room was slightly open. I’ve been living with OCD for almost half of my life, so I’d never leave my drawer open like that. I walked closer to it and took a peek inside, only to discover that my piggy box was gone. My heart started racing, and I could feel my blood boiling. 

Without contemplating, I rushed out of the room and headed straight to my mom’s. I knocked but didn’t wait for her response before I walked in. 

“Hey Lila, you are back.” She said, lying down on her bed almost naked. 

“Did you go to my room and touch my money?” I asked, but deep down I already knew the answer. 

“The one in your piggy box? Yeah, I needed an emergency fund so I had to borrow it.” She said, and I could tell she was drunk from the way she sounded.

“What could be more urgent than the fact that any seconds from now, you and your husband’s creditor would come knocking and you took the money I’ve been preparing to give to them?” I screeched, forcing back the tears coming to the surface.

She sat upright, “Come on! Is it such a big deal I took your money?” she barked.

I rubbed my hand in my hair, my whole body trembling in anger. “You don’t even have a job, how do you plan to pay back?” 

“What if I don’t pay back? I’m your fucking mother! I might not have given birth to you, but when your god-forsaken mother left you in the gutter to die, I picked you up and raised you.” Now, she’s guilt-tripping me.

“How did you raise me? By making me feel I’m not worthy of love, while you move from one husband to another? Or was it when you finally found love and I thought I’ve gotten a dad, only to discover he’s a scammer? And look at where that has brought us today.” I shot back at her, cleaning back the tears that have fallen.

“You are just an ungrateful bitch. You know how depressive I get at times, so I only wanted to have fun and relieve my stress by going to the club and getting a few drinks.” She said, walking up to me. 

“You spent a whole 4k dollars drinking and clubbing?” I asked, surprised at her audacity.

“I did a little shopping too, I even got you a bag.” She pointed to the bag on the floor.

“You forgot to bring a man home as you always do.” As if I just touched her weak point, she slapped me hard across the face. She retrieved her hand immediately as if she regretted it, but that was until she turned back and went to sit in her bed, her back facing me.

“I’ve met a lot of people, both men and women—but you are still the one I wish I never met.” She said, her voice clear and void of emotions.

Without saying a word, I rushed out into the woods. Our house is on the outskirts of the town so we are surrounded by woods. Anytime I found the house too suffocating, I went into the woods, to cry and relieve my pain.

But this time for an unknown reason, I walked past my usual spot and kept going deeper into the woods, tears streaming down my face. 

I’ve tried so much not to be a burden to her, ever since I turned 11, I took care of myself. I had to take out a student loan to go through school without asking her for a dime. I took care of her when she was sick—even when she had to go from one drug to another due to her mental state, I paid for them. 

And if I were to mention the abuse I went through at the hands of her husbands, she owed me more than I owed her. Yet, I’m the biggest stain in her life; the stain she couldn’t seem to wash off no matter how hard she tried. 

I noticed a big tree and went straight to sit under it. I cried until my face felt numb, and I wished I never existed. I wished I was never born. 

The sun was setting, so I decided to go back home, even though I knew I’d be getting the silent treatment from her, and it’d probably last for a while. 

After walking and coming back to the same spot three times, I knew I had lost my way since I wasn’t good with directions. 

I went back, sat under the tree, and started crying again. 

My crying was interrupted when I heard a snap behind the tree before me. I rushed to my feet, dusted my pants, and waited to see if something would come out.

It was a man; dressed in black, not too dirty, not too clean. 

“Hey, are you lost too?” I moved closer to him, wondering if we were in the same predicament.

“No, I just found food.” He said with a smirk, licking his lips afterward.

I looked around me, not sure of what he meant, “Food?” I asked, as my instincts told me to move backward, which I did.

He shook his head slowly, smiling mischievously, like one of those beings from the ‘From’ series. 

But before I could react to his reaction, he bore his teeth out and I could swear I saw them look like a vampire’s teeth—I fell to the ground as he launched at me.