Kelly's eyelids fluttered open, greeted by the aroma of her favorite perfume. Blinking away the remnants of sleep, her gaze settled on a figure standing before her.
A woman with an array of facial piercings that glinted in the dim light, her pixie-cut brown hair framing piercing green eyes.
"Ahhh! Mum!! What the fuck?" Before Kelly could fully process the scene before her, a scream tore from her lips, echoing through the house with an intensity that even the grumpiest neighbor two streets over couldn't ignore.
Her mother's screams only fueled the chaos, their voices intertwining in frustration and confusion. Her eyes swept over Kelly's disheveled appearance—smudged makeup, tangled hair, and swollen eyes.
"Oh my god, Kelly, you look a mess!"
"Mum, How did you get in?" Kelly asked perplexed, the woman saw how disturbed Kelly was and tried to calm her down by touching her but Kelly shoved her hand.
"Through the front door, darling." She responded and Kelly's eyes widened with disbelief, confusion and anger.
"How the fuck did you get the key?" The woman looked at her with a displeasing gaze and pointed a thin finger at Kelly.
"Language sweetheart," With a disapproving furrow, Kelly's mother closed the distance between them, her expression a mixture of irritation and hurt. "Is this your idea of a warm welcome, sweetheart? No 'Hello mum, what a surprise, how have you been mum?'"
"MUM!!"
"Fine, I used the spare key, okay? I mean, is it a crime to visit my only daughter? Is there a law against it nowadays?" Her words dripped with a feigned indignation that Kelly found transparent. Yet, when she attempted to voice her retort, the words caught in her throat, swallowed by a sudden surge of disbelief.
"You were watching me sleep, mum. That's just... creepy!" Kelly yelled looking deep in her mother's eyes who was obviously avoiding eye contact.
"It's not creepy, sweetheart. You looked so peaceful, just like the first day you came out of me." Her voice softening in an attempt to invoke maternal sympathy.
"Gross, mum. STOP!"
A pregnant silence settled over the room, tension thickening the air like a suffocating blanket. Then, like a bolt of lightning, realization dawned on Kelly.
"Wait! Hold on a minute, I removed all the spare keys from the flower pot, didn't I?" Kelly climbed off the bed and raced outside just to make sure.
Meanwhile, her guilty mother hid the spare keys she always had just incase her daughter needed to be visited, in a pile of Kelly's clothes on her bed. Kelly came back with the flower pot showing there was no key there.
"Look, Kelly. Am I such a nuisance?" Her mother's voice trembled with a fragile vulnerability, "All I wanted to do was to visit my only daughter on her birthday, and... and you are not appreciating my efforts," she continued her words with a sad face and turned away from Kelly.
"You know what? I'll... I'll go, I'll leave, I'm sorry I came." In a dramatic gesture, she declared her intention to leave, her crocodile tears a feeble attempt to mask her guilt.
"Mum?" Kelly's voice, soft yet firm, called out as her mum walked away.
"Okay fine, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I really appreciate your coming all the way here," she said as she hugged her mother from behind.
"Oh I know, darling." Her mother said with a grin as she wiped her fake tears. Then she sang their family birthday song which made Kelly grin so much that it hurt.
YOU ARE READING
ALL BECAUSE OF YOU
ChickLitAll because of you, I transformed myself completely... All because of you, I strived to be the epitome of perfection... All because of you, I was reborn! Meet Kelly, a typical twenty-nine-year-old woman with an imbalanced life. Desperate to find lov...
