A/N: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! So I actually have legitimate reasons for not updating this time. There has been a lot going on lately (I know I always say that but it's really true this time). I have had a lot of doctors' appointments and physical therapy for my ankle (which I sprained/broke in March, still isn't healed at all) and then I have a whole bunch of stuff for Color Guard and I have to help teach the newbies how to do stuff. And then last week my father was taken to the hospital for a stroke and that was extremely stressful. Please forgive me!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE KISSES!
I was so nervous it took me three tries to punch in the right number because my hands were shaking so much. Once I got the correct number in, someone picked up after the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
I willed my fingers not to automatically hit the "End" button and reminded myself that I had nowhere else to go.
"Mom?"
There was a pause at the other end of the line and then there was a hitch in her breath.
"Raven?"
My mother's voice sounded shocked, almost like she didn't believe iwas actually talking to her on the phone. The feeling was mutual.
It had been three months since my father kicked me out of the house and forced me to move in to the mansion with Alexander. Three long months since I'd seen anyone in my family, let alone spoken to them. The sound of my mother's voice made a lump form I my throat and tears began to well up in my eyes.
"Mom, I want to come home."
A familiar silver vehicle pulled up to the swing set at Evans Park where I at. Its lights shone bright into my eyes.
Blocking the light with my arm, I stood up when hearing the car door click open and slam shut.
The second I saw my mother I couldn't help myself. I ran up to her, hugging her with all my might. Her familiar arms returned the embrace immediately as I began to cry into her chest.
"Shh, Raven. I missed you too."
After our short reunion in the park, we climbed in the car to head to my old home.
The drive there was silent and my mother gripped the steering wheel with both hands while I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
We pulled up into the driveway and I almost burst into tears again seeing my old home where I had lived with my family for seventeen years before three months ago.
Without thinking I took in a deep breath before following my mother through the door. Everything looked the same as when I left. Same plain, beige walls with the familiar photographs of family and friends, and the mirror that hung in the hallway that I always checked myself out in before I left the house. All of these little things made me realize how homesick I really was- and that was only in the front hallway.
Walking in to the kitchen almost brought me to tears again. The sink was filled with dirty dishes and silverware, the dishwasher hummed loudly as it ran and the cabinet in the corner still didn't close properly. Again, there were family photos hung on the walls.
Mom came up behind me and rested her hand on my shoulder. "I'm going to make some tea. Why don't you go up to your room?"
My Bedroom. The one place I stayed in most in this house. It was where Becky and I used to watch movies on my tiny, old TV and stay up all night talking and giggling, trying not to be too loud but failing miserably. It was where I didn't do my homework and where I came up with my most brilliant plans and schemes. Somehow, I didn't know if I wanted to ho up there and face all those good memories that I'd given up.
Pushing that thought out of my head, I climbed up the staircase and stood in front of my old bedroom door. My pale, white hand gripped the knob and twisted it, swinging the door open.
This time, the tears did fall from my eyes. Everything was covered with a thing layer of dust that gathered within the last three months, showing me that nobody had been in my room since I'd left Everything was the same way I'd left it when my father kicked me out. The only thing different was that some of my clothes were gone from when Jameson picked them up for me. Though I could never dream of fitting in to them with my rapidly growing tummy.
I sat down on my bed, wiping the tears from under my eyes. How did it end up like this? I wondered. Before, I was just a regular vampire-loving Goth teenager. Then I went ot being a pregnant Goth teen living with her boyfriend because her parents kicked her out of her home, and now I was back in the same house I was kicked out of because said boyfriend didn't want the baby anymore. Why me?
A few minutes later my mother's footsteps could be heard climbing up the stairs. She gently knocked on my bedroom door.
"Come in."
Mom stepped in carrying a tray with tea on it.
"It's not coffee but it's the closest thing you can have at the moment," she said, setting the tray down on my nightstand and handing me one of the steaming cups.
I took a sip and the warmth of it spread through my body.
Mom sat down cross-legged across from me on my bed, nursing her tea in her slender hands.
"So, do you want to talk about what happened?"
I hesitated for a moment contemplating my answer. Looking at her, I realized I could tell my mom anything and she would still love me. I only hoped my baby got that feeling from me one day.
"A-Alexander and I had a fight. A big fight."
Mom shifted to get more comfortable. "Care to tell me about it?"
That's the only thing I wanted to do, tell her about it. Teller about everything, vampy details and all. So I did.
My mother listened carefully as I explained everything to her, from Alexander being a vampire, to the Maxwell siblings and from the Coffin Club to Mr. and Mrs. Sterling. I went through my appointment with Dr. Zaharu and meeting Aunt Lydia and her family, and described when Alexander's parents met us at the mansion and told us about the consequences of having a hybrid baby and the morbid doll in my locker at school. I told her everything that had happened up to that very moment.
I didn't know what I thought her reaction would be, but it certainly wasn't the one she gave me. Her expression didn't hold any shock, fear, or disgust that usually comes with telling someone you're dating a vampire.
Instead her face was thoughtful and slightly amused.
I waited for a few moments, expecting her to call the nearest mental to have me admitted immediately, but it never came.
"Mom?"
"Hm?" She looked up at me the same way she used to when I would say something to her when she was reading. Like I'd pulled her from somewhere else.
"Did you understand what I just told you?"
Mom laughed and replied. "Yes, Raven I understand. I'm not shocked because I already knew that Alexander was a vampire. Actually, your father and I have known about vampires since before you were born. Since college to be exact."
"I- wait, what? You've known this whole time? You knew about everything?"
"No, not everything. Only that Alexander and his family are vampires. Nothing about these Maxwells for the club in Aunt Libby's town. And this death threat for your baby- I knew vampires looked down on half-breeds but not to this level."
Never would I have ever guessed that my parents knew about vampires. They were Sarah and Paul Madison, the once-hippies and now-completely-conservative parents living in Dullsville. This was more shocking than when I found out I was pregnant.
We continued to talk for a while after that. She told me how her roommate in college was actually a half-vampire who was coincidentally dating my father's best friend who happened to be a vampire. They never saw them after college, unfortunately.
Also, we talked about my fight with Alexander. I was still completely devastated about it. I'd never had a fight with Alexander this bad, and I feared where it put us in our relationship. The one thought that continued to run through my mind was, Did he really mean it?
It was around ten o' clock when I finally asked where the rest of my family was.
"Billy is at a Math Club meeting and your father is on a business trip. He should be back on Friday."
I couldn't decide whether this was a blessing or not. My father was really the one to kick me out, despite my mother's protests. He never tried to contact me after that, so assumed he was still angry with me. Would it be like this forever? What would happen when he came back home on Friday? That is, if I was still her by then.
Mom left, tucking me in just like she used to do when I was a little girl. I had missed her so much. It made me realize that I was still just a teenager who need the love of her parents.
I cried myself to sleep that night.
Thankfully, no one bothered to wake me up that morning, letting me sleep in.
My mom left me a note on my nightstand informing me that she called the school and that both she and Billy would be home late.
This didn't bother me in the least considering I felt completely dead at that moment. I didn't feel like getting up, I wasn't hungry, and my body just felt…. blah.
For the rest of the day, I was either sleeping, or crying myself to sleep.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I liked writing the conversation with Raven and her mom. One of the strongest bonds is between a mother and her daughter.
Please REVIEW! I will be picking the best reviewer to win a special prize. That prize being….. THE CHOICE FOR WHAT I SHOULD WRITE FOR A THREE-SHOT! So you give me a (reasonable) topic or situation and I will write it for you. And it doesn't necessarily have to be for Vampire Kisses, it can be for any other books as long as I've read it.
If you give me a nice, long, juicy review then you could get a three-shot especially written for YOU!
So, PLEASE REVIEW!
(seriously guys, you're killing me.)