Facing Existence (Short Story)

Here's the micro short story I turned in for my creative writing class! It's a concept I've read before and turned it into my own. Enjoy!

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The lady who took me in after I left home had her T.V. on, where the host was ready to welcome the guest speaker. She set the table for dinner, and I followed behind her, silverware in hand.

“Let’s welcome Dr. Jenny Augustine!” the host called. My eyes darted to the screen. The woman, her dark brown hair and narrowed eyebrows full of contempt, sat on the couch, her posture immaculate.

“Kayla, come help me with this. Derek isn’t back yet, so would you mind helping?” My landlady sweetly asked. I ignored her. The lady on screen was mentioning something important. And my landlady’s son, Derek, was the last of my concerns. Children were considered an important part of life, and this lady was defending that.

“Doc, you seem very certain about children being positive impacts. Is this because of your own experience as a mother?” the host questions. My eyes fix on the screen.

“Certainly not. I do not have a child.”

My landlady moves to grab the remote, but I gently stop her.

“Let me hear this,” I whisper. My landlady looks at me concerned.

“Do you know her, Kayla?”

A sad smile comes to my face. “Yes. She’s…my mother.”

My landlady said nothing. A despaired look was on her face.

I couldn’t listen to that lady talk anymore. Something welled in my stomach.

My feet moved my laden body; ignoring the worried yells of my landlady, I escaped the house and ran outside.

I collapsed on a bench miles from the house. My body felt like stone.

My mother and I never got along. In fact, she cursed my entire existence. Yet she was so loving towards every other child.

What did I do? What was wrong with me? Why didn’t you love me? What part of me did you hate so much?

My eyes are dazed, my body numb.

I’ve known she thought my existence bothersome and knew I was hated as a child. However, I had never prepared for my existence itself to be denied from the one person I wanted recognition from.

My hands shook. Didn’t somebody want me?

I lifted my dull eyes upwards, seeing someone in the distance. From there, I could make out Derek’s shape. He and I always bickered, but we also watched each other’s back, for his mother’s sake.

“No way,” I wobble, seeing the knowing look on his face. I got to my feet, the tears flooding forth, and I couldn’t see straight anymore.

A loud, excruciating scream left my throat, and I ran to Derek, holding my arms out and throwing myself into his body. My entire being trembled with my screams; my tears continued to pour.

He said nothing. I felt his arms wrap around my body and tightly enclose me. His head rested on mine as he held me to him. As I wailed at the loss of my existence, warmth grew in my heart.

Even though I was denied entirely…I was accepted lovingly.