Chapter 15: Mommy Dearest

Howard and Ellen cuddled on the couch together, watching an old movie. It didn't really matter what was on though, they were just content with each other.

"I refuse to share my guestroom with that woman!" Violet angrily announced as she threw open the door.

Howard and Ellen both jumped and turned towards her. "Violet!" Howard said. "What are you doing here?" he implored.

"Is everything okay over there?" Ellen questioned, repositioning herself on the couch.

Violet looked to them with confusion. "I'm sorry, did I scare you two?"

Ellen nodded as she began to laugh. "Yes."

"Well Mr. Borden's always just barging in over there. I thought we had like free range between the apartments," Violet defensively argued. "Besides, I would rather be getting yelled at by you two than sit over there and listen to my mother talk about me."

"Why is it so bad that she's talking about you?" Howard questioned.

Violet went and took a seat, plopping down in the chair. Obviously, he hadn't quite caught on to the situation. "She's over there telling them how bad of a person I am."

"You're not going to defend yourself?" Ellen implored. She looked to her, surprised.

Violet just shook her head. "It's better to just not deal with her right now. I'm already having dinner with her tonight. I'll save my arguments for then," she explained. In the back of her head though, she did have to wonder, if maybe either Bob or Emily were currently sticking up for her. Maybe Bob more so than Emily.

"I still think you should defend yourself. Your mother needs to learn to respect you," Ellen explained.

Violet looked to her, wishing that that were possible. "You think you could come to dinner tonight and help me with that?" she requested.

Ellen sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry kid, I gotta go cover a story tonight. One of the candidates for city council is running a benefit. I was lucky enough to have someone trade me stories," she regretfully informed her. Even though she was excited to write about something more important than restaurant reviews, she also wanted to see how things worked out between Violet and Nora.

oooooo

The five sat at the table. Silence. That was all there was at the moment. The tension was nearly tangible as Violet and Nora slightly glared to each other from across the table. Even Howard knew it was best not to talk.

Nora sighed as she looked over to Emily. "This is really a nice dinner," she commented.

"Thank you Nora," Emily stiffly responded. She wasn't sure how to react right now. She could have sworn that Violet glared to her when she opened her mouth to talk.

"Yeah, you should take some lessons from her. You know, learn a few recipes that don't involve poison," Violet spat.

Nora raised her eyebrow. "You're paranoid! You know that?"

Violet sat back and smirked. "That's real funny coming from you," she replied.

"What are you trying to imply?" Nora questioned. She dropped her silver wear on the table and crossed her arms.

Bob uncomfortably looked to Howard. "See anything on tv lately?" he randomly asked off the top of his head.

"Nothing as good as this," Howard answered, watching the two to see what was going to happen next. He was the only one there that had no clue what was going on between these two.

"Oh dear, the neighbors might see you getting arrested. Oh dear, the neighbors might judge me when you come home pregnant," she mocked, showing her disgust.

"They already do!" Nora responded.

"Damn, maybe you should have thought about that before you slept with one of the neighbors!" Violet stated, standing up from her seat.

Nora copied her actions. "That was none of your business!" she nearly yelled.

"Because it obviously had no affect on my life!" Violet remarked. "You know, you keep talking about me ruining my life, how about you stop being a bitch and start being a mom for once in your life?"

"You spoiled little brat!" Nora hissed.

"Oh yeah, I'm real spoiled! That's why you locked me out of the house, which you probably regret the hell outta that decision don't you? That's also why you poisoned me. That's why I had to figured what bra size I wore on my own. Hell, I even had to teach myself what a period was! Yeah, you've definitely spoiled me rotten."

"First off, that door shouldn't have stopped you. Last I heard you were pretty good at getting in and out of windows. Second, I poisoned you because you decided to go out and be a stupid slut! And finally, you were such a baby over that! There was no reason to be that hysterical. You need to seriously grow up," she defended herself.

Violet stood there, mouth agape as she looked ready to cry. "So, you finally admit it huh? You really did put something in my food that night?" she implored.

"Yes I did, and I'm glad I did it," Nora announced.

"You bitch," Violet whimpered. "You, you really did it! You killed my baby." Violet looked down for a moment and gathered herself, forcing herself to look back up at her mother. "You rigged the car too didn't you?"

Nora just nodded. "Yes."

"What's wrong with you?" Emily implored. She stood up and looked to her with disgust. "How could you do that to your own daughter?"

"You'll find out real soon how hard it is to become a mother," Nora assured her. She then looked back over to Violet. "We'll see how you deal with the back talk, the sneaking out, the very pain of knowing that your little girl is a drunken whore and that's all she'll ever be. Apparently if its legal or doesn't come out of a bottle, syringe or pipe, she has no idea how to use it."

"So that's what you really think of me? A drunken whore with a drug problem?" she smugly questioned. "Well at least I'm not a selfish, murderous slut and a home wrecker."

"You should feel lucky. You had someone there to help you get rid of your problem. I had to keep mine," Nora told her.

"Nora!" Emily snapped. She then looked down to Bob who hadn't said anything to try and help, silently urging him to say something. Bob, in response, shook his head. He personally thought it would be best to just let the two get everything out at once. Until it got physical, it was best just to let them go, as long as the neighbors didn't start complaining.

Violet stood there, holding her composure as she kept her cold eyes glued to her mother. "Why don't you just say every fucking little thing on your miniscule little mind of your's?" Violet suggested through gritted teeth.

"You first. You're always so goddamn sarcastic. Why don't you try just telling me what you really think?" Nora offered.

Violet laughed. "Oh okay! Well, lets start with your wonderful gift of being able to run away from every little problem! Blame everything on everyone else! Why don't we even talk about your ability to go on lying to everyone about your entire life? The fact that you go on telling everyone about what a wonderful mother you are, hiding all of my little problems and shoving them under the rug so that you don't have to feel ashamed when ever you leave the house? The way you hide the fact that you lead a joke of a life and now you have to pay the consequences?" she yelled, tears of anger and frustration running down her now beat red face.

Violet calmed down and caught her breath. She then darkly grinned to her mother. "You holier than thou piece of shit. You wanted so bad to be able to live the life you wanted that you subjected me to everything I know now. You're so blind you can't even see that I'm only doing what you taught me. Now you're so afraid to allow others to see that you messed up, you tried to cover everything up at the expense of your family. I could get over the fact that you have problems, and I could forgive you, but you never even tried. You never once apologized, never tried to make up for anything, and you never even once recognized the fact that you were wrong. You can't even bring yourself to simply state that you screwed up," she bitterly explained before turning and leaving the room.

"That's not fair!" Nora called to her. "I didn't get my turn!"

Violet turned to her and flashed her the finger. "I think you know where you can stuff your thoughts," she said before continuing to the den.

"Get back here you little tramp! You can't make sit here and endure your bull shit little sob story without getting to hear why I'm so miserable!" Nora called, beginning to follow her.

Emily's face began to pale as she closed her eyes and sat back in her chair.

"What's wrong?" Bob quickly asked, all his attention to her.

"I don't know," Emily flatly replied.

"Come on," Bob instructed, ignoring the arguing that was still going on in the background. "Le- let's get you to the, the hospital."

Bob helped Emily to her feet and guided her to the door. Violet and Nora both stopped as the door opened and the two left. Violet suddenly felt at fault. "Dammit," she said to herself, knowing what was happening.