Invitation to a Better Life (Fate's Cruel Jokes Part Four) (standard:drama, 2765 words) [4/8] show all parts
Author: Siobhan	Added: Sep 30 2002	Views/Reads: 2574/1900	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Jessica's mother begins to hallucinate and her illness worsens, causing Steven and her to bond a tiny little bit. But Jessica is not dealing well with what is happening to her mom.

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tenderness, as if he truly cared for her and her mother.  For a moment, 
Jessica almost felt like being nice to him but then she regained 
control of her emotions and felt her hatred for him  come back. 

“What do you want?” she snarled at him and pulled against the far side
of her bed.  She didn't want anything to do with him, he had brought 
her mother to this god forsaken place and now her mother was crazy, 
dying as they spoke, and it was all his fault.  He was an evil beast 
good for beating and eventually destroying, and she would allow him no 
other way of life. 

“I know you hate me but this about your mother so set aside the
hostility for a few minutes, are you done?” he asked and she obligingly 
nodded her head, though grudgingly, “The doctor was willing to see her 
tomorrow during school.  So, if we're not home until late, you know 
why.  Chances are, there are going to be many trips to the doctors 
cause I think there will be a lot of tests they will need to run.”  The 
idea of doctors and tests set off the death alarm in her head, it was 
like a death sentence for her mother, one that Jessica wished she had 
the power to revoke. 

“Do you think it's, it's...you know, it's fatal?” she barely breathed
out the question, as if even the mention was a confirmation of the 
death sentence.  Her mom used to be so vital and young, she didn't 
understand what was happening.  It shouldn't happen to her mother, 
whatever it was, it should only happen to bad people like Steven.  But 
at that thought, a flood of guilt washed over her, because Steven 
wasn't really that bad of a guy.  If only he hadn't dragged them out 
here or hadn't married her mother.  That would have been even better. 

“I don't know but I hope it isn't.  I really love her and I know you
don't believe me, but I can't imagine life without her by my side,” he 
choked back tears that threatened to spill over.  He was trying so hard 
to keep from appearing sensitive and caring, but his eyes so full of 
emotion, betrayed him.  She had the urge to reach out and hug him, tell 
him it was okay, but if she did so that would mean she cared somewhat 
for him and that was out of the question.  So she didn't touch him, 
just sat stiff as a board, her hurt filling her up, ready to overflow. 

“Me too,” she whispered and he quickly escaped out of her room, probably
to revel in a good cry.  Jessica felt empty and cold.  For a moment, 
she wondered if were she who were dead and this was her hell but she 
knew that couldn't be but she felt so black, for lack of a better word 
to describe how she felt. She loved her mother more than anything in 
the world and she could not even consider life without her but fate 
seemed as if it were slipping in that possibility.  She had to quit 
thinking about it for maybe it were only headaches and nothing more, 
and she was stressing unnecessarily.  But everything in her said that 
her mother was dancing with the angel of death and that hoping for 
otherwise was a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable. 

She fell into a deep sleep and when she awoke, it was time for school. 
She got dressed slowly than walked downstairs.  Steven was sitting at 
the table, his hair a mess and huge bags under his eyes.  She felt a 
little sad for the guy, he was pretty pathetic looking, but then she 
thought of the times he had slammed her for having morning hair, and 
all sympathy went flying out the window. 

“You look like sh*t,” she announced as she grabbed a bowl of cereal.  No
sense in pretending to be nice, he didn't deserve it.  She poured the 
milk into her fruity pebbles and reached for a spoon, waiting for his 
response. 

“Lay off Jessica, your mother kept telling me to leave, that she wanted
Richard,” he looked down at a cold cup of coffee in his hands and 
swallowed several times.  Jessica felt her body go numb and she thought 
of her mother bashing her father who was long gone.  She had kept it up 
all night?  Why hadn't she realized that Steven was the real deal and 
that Richard, her father was a fleeting ghost? 

“She still thinks dad is here?  She was doing it last night too but I
hoped that when she saw you, she would realize he was gone,” Jessica 
responded, and felt her face grow hot with the suppression of her 
tears.  She couldn't think, couldn't breathe and her bowl of cereal sat 
in one hand untouched and the spoon, unused, in the other.  She was 
lucky she didn't drop the bowl in her senseless condition, her mind was 
filled with memories of her mother, both good and bad. 

“Nope, all night long, she begged for Richard,” he sighed, and one of
his hands trailed a demented circle on the wood surface of the table.  
No wonder he looked so bad or that his mind seemed so occupied.  She 
wondered how they would make it, if for the rest of her mother's life, 
her mom was asking for her runaway father and telling Steven to get 
lost?  Would he eventually leave in exasperation, unable to handle the 
pressure?  Not that Jessica would mind or would he stick it out, 
determined to win back her mother's heart? 

“Good morning,” her mother sang out as she merrily strode into the
kitchen, “How are you all doing this morning?” Steven and Jessica sat 
flabbergasted by her sudden appearance which was so full of life.  She 
was so unlike the way either one of them expected, and for being up all 
night, she looked as fresh as a daisy, undaunted by the big world. 

“That good, huh?  Well, I am doing wonderful, no more head-ache this
morning,” she cheerily poured herself a cup of coffee and winced when 
she took a sip, “Oh Steven, this is terrible.  It tastes like mud, let 
me make you some good coffee.”  She immediately threw herself 
wholeheartedly into the operation, as if nothing had ever happened and 
everything was right with the world.  Jessica just didn't know what to 
think, she almost asked Steven if perhaps he were crazy.  And she would 
have believed he was too if she hadn't seen her mother complaining 
about her father last night. 

“Mom, is everything all right?” Jessica inquired, her eyes wide open
with shock.  She was unable to comprehend how her mother had made such 
a remarkable rebound back into the center of life.  She had seemed as 
if she were fading last night, how could she be so alive today? 

“Of course, why wouldn't it be?” she smiled as she grabbed ingredients
from the counter.  Her eyes sparkled with light and she seemed almost 
as if she thought Jessica and Steven were playing a joke on her.  She 
seemed to dance lightly across the floor, delicate and strong again, 
but Jessica wondered for how long would she be able to keep that up. 

“You don't remember last night?” Steven found his voice, a tinge of
resentment hung upon it.  The hurt was so clear on his face and his 
eyes were so exhausted and disbelieving.  She understood how he felt, 
she couldn't believe that her mother was really the same woman she had 
seen last night.  It just seemed so unreal. 

“Of course I do, we went dancing and had dinner, then we came home and
went to sleep,” she smiled yet again, “What is all this about?”  
Jessica balked at that response, finding it hard to accept that her 
mother really had no recollection of what had happened the night 
before.  She saw Steven's eyes widen in disbelief too, and his mouth 
dropped open slightly.  It was unbelievable, it truly was. 

“You have a doctor's appointment today,” Steven announced and she froze
in the middle of her actions.  She was absolutely terrified of doctors, 
she had been present when a doctor had gone to inject medicine into her 
mother.  He had made a mistake and accidentally shot an air bubble into 
her mother's air stream.  Her mom had died violently in front of her.  
She had also watched her dad die from cancer with the doctors unable to 
do anything.  Jessica could understand why she was afraid. 

“Nonsense, I don't need a doctor, they're just silly headaches,” she
casually laughed but something in her voice betrayed her fear.  It 
wasn't the fear of doctors, instead, it was something else.  Something 
that confirmed some of Jessica's worse fears. 

“Mom, it's not just silly headaches.  You were asking for dad all night
long and you kept telling Steven to leave you alone,” Jessica added to 
bring her mother to the real world, she needed her to understand the 
seriousness of the situation.  She dropped the bag of coffee grounds, 
sat at the table, and began to cry hysterically.  Jessica's heart went 
out to her mother, aware that this had to be tearing apart. 

“I'm so sorry,” she wailed.  Tears streamed down her cheeks and Jessica
was beginning to get a  headache.   She understood that her mother was 
going through a lot of pain, but she needed to grow up and go to the 
doctor instead of blubbering and doing no good.  She began to feel 
short patience creeping into her and she tried to fight it but when her 
mom raised her head, and strings of snot hung from her nose like a 
whiny three year old, she gave in. 

“Mom, knock it off now.  I need to know that I can go to school and
leave you with Steven without having to stress that you are having a 
mental breakdown.  You need to be strong and comply with the wishes of 
the doctor and Steven.  I have to go to school and when I get home, I 
expect to find a cheerful mother waiting for me,” Jessica ordered and 
promptly dumped her cereal in the sink, it was mushy and gross now 
anyway, “I'm leaving now so please be adult.”  Her mother and Steven 
were both too shocked to say anything and Jessica left for school. 

She was so sick of taking on the roll of mother, she was only seventeen,
and she should be enjoying life.  She shouldn't be worried that her mom 
might throw herself into fits or call the police cause a strange man 
was in her house.  It was wrong, and God should not be dumping this on 
her.  If he cared for her at all, he would have kept her dad and mom 
together and her mom would still be healthy.  Her sole worries would be 
how to deal with Brandon and Joey, but they weren't.  God had allowed 
so much to go wrong in her life and He wasn't interfering. 

She cursed aloud as a guy cut in front of her.  Feeling all her pent-up
emotion swell up, she flipped him off as she whipped up past him, cut 
in front of him and slammed on her breaks.  She heard the loud beep of 
his horn and sharp squeal of his tires on asphalt.  He swerved into the 
next lane and a passing car honked in irritation as it had to swerve 
into the middle lane.  They then flipped Jessica off and she yelled 
some obscene words out of her window at them.  The sequence of events 
sent adrenaline through her system and she felt somewhat better, even 
if the other poor suckers now had to go home and change pants. 


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