Lina

Lina frowned. To say the strategy backfired in her face would be an understatement. Instead of discouraging Tom’s mother, now she was going to be staying in her very house. The situation had just become infinitely more complex.

Several interesting revelations emerged from the phone call, not the least of which was that Raphaella was unaware of her son’s condition. Lina knew Tess was inclined to transfer responsibility of Tom over to their mother, but had not of yet shared the nature of his circumstances with their mater. Why not? Was the girl vacillating on her decision to turn Tom over? Could she perhaps be persuaded to perpetuate the story of Janine and Tom running off together? Lina needed to know. Looking down at the time on her phone, she presumed Tess would more than likely be in class so she sent the simple text message, ‘Call me - URGENT.’

There was a crashing sound from downstairs as the front door of the house was slammed.

“I said I don’t want to talk to you anymore!” came the angered voice of Janine from downstairs.

“Stop trying to blame me then!” retorted Jessica’s voice.

“You are to blame!” snorted Janine’s voice.

“It was a stupid accident!”

“GAHHH!” Janine growled, storming away only to have Jessica fall in behind.

The frown lines on Lina’s face deepened. What the heck were the girls arguing about and why were they home so early from Cassidy’s place? She could hear the sounds of their heavy footfalls pounding up the stairs to the second floor hall. Rising from her bed, Lina walked over to the open door of her bedroom just as the door to Janine’s room was slammed shut with a calamitous bang. Jessica standing in the hall, staring at the door and shaking her head.

“What was that all about and why are you two home so early?” Lina asked, puzzled expression on her face.

Jessica looked at her mother and shook her head again, lips pulled down into a frown, “There was an accident at the nurse’s apartment involving Tom,” she said, voice assertive and loud enough for Janine to hear.

Placing hands on her hips, Lina angled her head inquisitively to the side, “An accident?” she inquired.

“He fell, well, he I was holding him, he bit me and I reflexively opened my hand and he fell,” Jessica explained. “It was an accident.”

Janine’s bedroom door flew inward, the tall blonde girl clutching the inside handle, “It wasn’t an accident! You did it! You! Tom might be dead right now because of you!” she yelled, pitch rising.

“HE BIT ME!” Jessica screeched. “I don’t know how many stupid times I have to say it.”

“Hold it right now,” Lina demanded, raising her hand to quiet her two squabbling children. “Somebody tell me what happened right now.”

Janine reacted first, “We went over to Cassidy’s and everything was fine. Tom agreed to meet with Jessica and we went in. Tom was being his usual self and Jessica turns into this cock juggling thunder cunt,” she spat, beautiful contorted by rage.

“There is no need for that kind of language,” Lina admonished.

“She snatched Tom off the table! I reminded her what you said to Cassidy about it being Tom’s decision and she said it didn’t matter because we all had him, you, me, Cassidy, and that it wasn’t fair

“It isn’t fair. I just wanted to hold him and then he bit me,” she said, holding up her hand and displaying the small pink mark on her skin.

Facing Janine, “What about Tom?” Lina inquired.

Lowering her head, the younger daughter shook her head, “I don’t know. It looked so bad, his head was pouring blood. He looked dead. Cassidy was trying to get him to breathe,” she soft, voice falling to little more than a whisper as the haunting image of him filled her mind, still trying to come to terms with why emotion seemed to be swallowing her.

Pursing her lips, Lina looked to Jessica, eyes narrows, brows furled.

Under the scrutiny of her mother’s silent gaze, “I said I was sorry, I never meant for it to happen. It was an accident,” she defended.

“I extended my personal assurances to Cassidy. I petitioned for you to be able to have an opportunity to get to see him,” Lina stated, voice dangerously low.

“Janine hit me!” Jessica blurted, touch a finger to her cheek.

Lina from one girl to the other, settling her eyes back on Jessica, “I think for now, you should go to your room,” she suggested, stifling the urge to grab the girl by the shoulders and shake her.

“But,” the elder girl protested, letting out a breath.

“Go,” Lina repeated calmly, employing restraint from saying anything negative regarding her feelings of disappointment at the girl’s behavior, instead, nodding her head in the direction of the room where Jessica was staying.

Once Jessica had gone, Lina put a light hand on Janine’s shoulder, “Are you okay?” she inquired, concern for Tom aside, her daughter did not seem herself. She could feel the girl trembling slightly.

Face still lowered, she shook her head again and shrugged her stooped shoulders.

Guiding the girl into her own room, Lina steered Janine toward the bed before closing the door. Turning back, she crossed her arms and looked at her child. Janine sat down on the bed, hands in her lap running her right thumbs over the polished nail of her left thumb. She had never seen Janine affected this way. It was unsettling. At first she wondered if perhaps it might not be just another act of false contrition for past deeds, a way of moving her own agenda forward while trying to appear weak? But it didn’t look fabricated. Her own maternal intuition suggested what the girl was experiencing was genuine.

Crossing the room, Lina sat down on the bed beside the girl, placing a comforting hand again on her shoulder. “Baby girl,” she whispered.

Turning toward her mother, Janine flung her arms out, draping them over Lina’s shoulder and began to weep uncontrollably.