I didn’t have time to fully process what was happening. I was aware that I was now stuck on my Mother’s lip right in the middle of a meal. I was aware that more food was coming in right about where I was. But any more than that was beyond me right now. All that was on my mind was survival, as futile as it felt. But how? I had no options. My phone was down by on the table. If I moved I’d probably fall off if not get crushed like a bug; and if I stayed still I’d be eaten if I wasn’t crushed anyway.

I was certain that next spoon would do something. Crush me, knock me into her mouth, brush me off, anything really. Mom’s lips opened to allow the spoonful of pasta to come in. Below me I glanced at the spoon and building-sized noodles just vanish inside, grinded into mush between her teeth. The spoon pulled itself away, now totally pristine and clean. That was when I had my idea, my incredibly stupid idea.

The plan, if you could call it that, was to wait until Mom would pull her spoon from her mouth. I would then hop onto it, ride my way down to the bowl, and work things out from there. It was suicidal. It was desperate. It was my best bet.

But I hesitated. I mean, wouldn’t you? From Mom’s upper lip to the spoon was easily a ten foot drop, and that was if it went perfectly and didn’t, you know, kill me. I had to build my courage up first. After three more mouthfuls of food I was ready. Then life decided to throw me another curveball. What came next wasn’t the spoon; it was her glass of water.

It legitimately looked like some kind of cylindrical tower filled with water. Like some sort of man-made lake building. The tip of that building poked against Mom’s bottom lip and the water came gushing in like a tsunami. That should’ve been fine. It was focused on the bottom lip. I was on the top one. Her lower lip could get as soaked as she wanted and I’d be fine. Things should’ve been A-okay. They weren’t.

See, the thing about water…it splashes, a lot, and when a drop of water is as big as you just imagine how easily one of those drops could knock you into the gushing river below. That’s exactly what happened. Next thing I knew I was smacked against the head and totally drenched in water, only vaguely aware I was falling. Then I realized I was underwater.

Now this is it. I’m dead right? I’m boned. No way out. I should be inside Mom’s mouth about to be gulped in a river down her throat. But that’s not what happened. Lucky for me, Mom seemed satisfied enough with her drink to set it down at just the right time so that I didn’t slide into her mouth but rather the glass. So in a way I guess I did get down from her lip then huh? Now there was the new problem of trying to escape from the glass of water. That wasn’t going to happen. Once I swam up to the surface and tried to stay afloat that was about all I could do. On all sides I was surrounded by perfectly smooth glass that went on for twenty feet straight up. There was no way to even attempt to escape. I was stuck there, treading water until Mom took another sip and finished me off.

I was stuck like that for…I wanna say fifteen minutes. Mom finished up her meal, not once touching her glass again, then went back to watching TV. The whole time it was a battle to stay afloat. I couldn’t even think about how futile my struggles were. After all, I was literally just trying to stay alive so I could die a different way. Not sure why I bothered but I’m glad I did. Because my big break finally came.

“I wonder how Robby’s doing…” Mom wondered aloud. Her words grabbed my attention. She reached a hand out towards her phone. “Oh, it’s off.” Mom frowned after picking it up. “Forgot I did that.” I heard the sounds of her phone reactivating.

Mom’s casual expression immediately changed once her phone was back on, no doubt reacting to all my messages I sent. It was too soon for her to have read them but after seeing twenty-plus messages from me she just straight up called me. Of course I didn’t answer on account of being separated from my phone. Mom stayed on the line, fidgeting more with each passing second. On its own that would be totally fine. How Mom fidgeted though, gave me one last headache to deal with.

She started off just tapping her foot. Then her finger. Then came some annoyed grunts as she redialed me. Then she grabbed the glass I was in and here things got interesting. Her finger traced along the inside of it, moving just for the little relief it brought here. Little did she know that was making my life a living hell.

Her finger was just far enough into the glass to touch the water. When it began to run itself along the edges it didn’t take long the water to start churning into a small whirlpool of sorts. I suddenly found myself being swallowed by the increasingly strong tides, helpless against them. All the time I spent staying afloat had totally drained me, leaving me unable to do anything as my Mother tried to call me only to fail time and time again.

After the third call she placed the phone down, face pale as a ghost. She started reading my texts and saw the messages I sent that told her I was on the table so her eyes immediately started scanning it. Her hands both returned to her lap where they could do no damage, probably saving me from drowning since her finger wasn’t churning the water anymore. Though I was weak. At this point barely even conscious. I was on the verge of passing out. If I wasn’t found soon this would really be it.

As fate would have it Mom finally found me. My dark clothes clashed against the water just enough to make me stand out, though I couldn’t tell you what she was saying. I’d begun to finally succumb to the water when she noticed me. Desperate, she poured the glass onto the table, dumping me onto the table. It probably hurt a lot but by this point I didn’t even feel it. I just wanted to lie there.

This was the second time someone near and dear to me almost ended my life. First my girlfriend. Now my Mother. I really wanted to trust people like Jaz said but it was seriously hard when this was the kind of stuff I seemed to keep running into. Once I had more strength I could begin to rationalize and work things out. But for the time being I wanted nothing more than for every single giant person to stay the hell away from me.

At my Mother’s incredibly loud pleas to answer her, I weakly showed her I was alive and asked her to give me a moment to myself. She seemed to understand. She got up and got some towels to dry the table off, saying nothing to me. This whole ordeal probably bothered her as much as it did me. After all, she almost killed her son. Not getting into the scars she still carried when she accidentally crushed Maria. I knew that. I understood it logically. I just didn’t care. I was too tired for this.

 “Honey…” Mom’s voice snapped me out of it. As a guess I figured I had probably been sitting there for about twenty minutes while she ran around doing whatever she was doing. She placed her phone near me, signaling that she wanted to talk.

“Yes?” I was a little better but still in no mood for chit chat.

“I…can never apologize enough Robby. I almost…I was so careless I could’ve…”

“Almost. Didn’t.” I spoke as little as I could, clearly showing her that I was upset; though in my own way I was still trying to comfort her.

“I’m glad you’re okay but…I…Even so I…I can’t risk endangering you like that again. I-I won’t risk my child’s life for anything. So…” A tear slid down her cheek. “So…I’m having you move out.”

My eyes widened. Never in a million years did I expect to hear those words. “You’re…kicking me out?!”

She shook her head. “Don’t think of it like that. This is for your own good Robby. I called someone who’ll take care of you.”

“Who did you call?”

“They’ll make sure you never get hurt. Unlike me…”

“Who did you call?!” I repeated, louder.

She ignored me. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now. We worked it out a while ago but I thought you’d be safe here…I was wrong.” Mom sniffled, a tear shedding down her face. “I’m so sorry Robby. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Can you at least answer me before you ju-“

Loud knocks came from the door. Immediately Mom rushed to answer it. When she let the guest in I couldn’t believe it.

It was Kari.