33. "My tummy hurts.."
Mala stood in the doorway, holding her stuffed fish close to her body as she watched her parents begin to fight.
"What do you MEAN I keep you trapped here?!" Lapis yelled at Jasper, anger burning in her blue eyes as she stared at the brute before her. Dark circles had formed on the normally tanned cheeks of the young girl's smaller mommy, not that Mala had an understand of what they meant, all she knew was that it made her look more tired than she already was.
Jasper was the larger of the two, and Mala had always marveled at her seemingly marble skin, the different patterns of dark brown and light skin had always made the young child marvel at her bigger mommy as she was lifted onto her shoulders. But now that skin was tense as the woman who worked out regularly resisted the urge to punch something.
"All you ever tell me is how useless I am without you, why would I want to stay?" Jasper growled, and the slimmer of the woman just rolled her eyes.
"I don't see you chained here, you can leave whenever you want! I don't want to see you anyways!" Lapis yelled, but Jasper just erupted in an angry fit.
"I'm not leaving you, you dense sea hag! What about Mala?" Jasper yelled.
"Mala would be better off without you too!" Lapis retaliated, which caused Jasper's eyes to grow wide with hurt. She loved Mala, more than anything in this world. It had been her idea to adopt, it had been her that had fallen in love with that precious girl instantly.
"Do you hate me that much?!" Jasper yelled, grabbing at her chest, her heart literally feeling like it was being torn.
"I wish I would have never met you, yeah!" Lapis yelled. Of course, she didn't hate Jasper, but her life would have been better without knowing her. Both of their lives would have been better. But neither one wanted to leave the other, only trying to provoke them until someone had enough. But neither of the women could leave, aside from the fact they would miss each other, they would miss Mala, both women having grown to love the water loving little girl.
But Mala could feel their hatred for each other, and sometimes it rubbed off on her, and she too would wish she hadn't been here, not because she didn't love her mommies, but because if she hadn't been adopted, they wouldn't have been forced to stay together. Something a young girl shouldn't have had to understand, but she knew all too well.
Mala stepped back into her sea green bedroom, hugging the fish close to her. She walked into the middle of the room and sat on the floor, curling up on herself.
She knew she was the reason her parents hated each other. They were stuck with her. Mala felt salty tears prick her eyes as she listened to her parents yelling growing louder. She begged them to stop in her mind, but they never heard her pleas.
Mala eventually cried herself to sleep, cuddling the fish tightly as she slept on the floor. After their fight, Jasper had came to the little girl's room to check on their daughter. She wasn't sure how she had ended up on the floor, since both Jasper and Lapis had put the girl in bed earlier. She sighed and walked into the room and lifted the girl into her large arms. Mala didn't wake up, but cuddled against her mom's chest. Jasper sighed.
"I love you." She whispered. Before carrying her back to the bed much too large for the little girl. She laid her under the Little Mermaid comforter and tucked her back in. The young girl's pale blonde hair sprawled out on her pillow. Mala had been blessed with the worst hair to try and tame. Jasper chuckled and gently ran a hand over Mala's face.
"I didn't mean it." Came a voice from behind Jasper, causing the woman to turn around. Lapis was standing in the doorway, hugging herself. The woman tucked her dyed blue hair behind her ear and avoided Jasper's gaze.
"Mala loves you, I'm glad you're in her life." Lapis admitted. Jasper looked down at the little girl and sighed.
"Maybe her life would be better if I wasn't here…" Jasper whispered quietly, walking towards the door so that they didn't wake. But Lapis stopped her, refusing to move from the doorway.
"That isn't true...I wouldn't know how to take care of her…" Lapis said, before looking back at the small child as she laid in the bed. Lapis's blue eyes met Jasper's brown ones.
"She needs you….I need you….Please don't leave…." Lapis whispered, before wrapping her slim arms around Jasper's waist, hugging the woman tightly. Jasper's arms still hung at her side as Lapis buried her face into her chest. They always did this.
"I won't." Jasper whispered back, and they were forced together another day.