B-Same Blue Sky #2

I dragged myself down the stairs and onto the kitchens lenolium
floor. Mom looked up from her crossword, and grinned.

"Hey sweetie. How are you feeling?"
"Better, I think." I had said that I wasn't feeling well last night. I
was really feeling fine, but didn't want mom to know the only reason I
looked like this was because I was depressed. Scaring mom was never a
good idea. She always over reacted, and usually made it worse. Mom
wanted the best for all of us, and couldn't stand knowing one of us was
sad. She had to keep us happy. She needed to keep us all happy, because
that was the only way she was happy. People talk about parents living
through their kids. Mom didn't just live through us, she survived on
us. Every aspect of her life was revolving around us, and sometimes I
wished it weren't that way.

Mom beamed at me and went back to her crossword. I took a seat
opposite of her on the old wooden chairs. They must have been ancient,
my baby pictures had them in it. They creaked and groaned under my
wieght. I must have been the first one up, because there were still
plates sitting on the table with food. I wondered how long it had been
sitting here, if they were cold or not. I took a bite anyway. It could
have been half way rotted and I would have eaten it.

"Kaaarrrrooolllll!" my little brother shouted as he latched his arms
around me. Dean was the youngest of the family, only six, and was
probably the only normal one left. Samantha, the oldest, had landed
herself in a juvinille detention center when she was 16, and then
pregnant by the next year. Samantha was 20 now, but we hadn't heard
from or seen her in over 2 years. At first, Mom tried everything to get
in touch with her. She would stay up night after night, pouring through
old phone books. But she had given up though. It was probably the only
time I had seen mom give up on one of her kids.

Then there was Nikki and Michelle. They were twins, both seventh
grade, and both spoiled rotten. They were always too cute for their own
good; mom and dad waited on them hand and foot. If Nikki got something,
so did Michelle. If Michelle bought something, Nikki did to. They
looked absolutely identical, but their personalities were as different
as night and day. Michelle was the social butterfly, with the best
friend bracelets and Valentine's day presents from her boyfriends. It
seemed like Michelle had a new boyfriend every two weeks. I hadn't seen
her go without one since the beggining of last year. Nikki, on the
other hand, didn't LIKE the guys, she was a guy. Not literally, of
course, but she did everything the guys did. She rollerbladed, lived in
the arcade, and boarded like a pro. Strangely enough, though, Michelle
and Nikki got along perfectly fine. Of course they got in an occasional
cat fight, but other than that, barely talked. That was probably why
they got along so well. They left each other alone.

"Karol, are you going to eat that?" I looked up from my bacon and
eggs, and saw Dad sitting across from me. I hadn't seen him come in,
but we rarely did. He was the kind of guy that could stand in the room
listening to your conversation and you wouldn't even realize he was
there. We only saw him in the mornings reading the newspaper. We were
lucky to get a word out of him.

"Oh yeah, I'm just, well..."I stopped, realizing dad wasn't listening
anyway.

Still going, please keep checking. If you do read this story, than
please email your comments and critiques. I appreciate any
feedback.