Mafia's collateral

Broken Mind

>>Seraphina

I ran out of the taxi as soon as it arrived at the kindergarten.

The police car was right there and I just had to step out to see all the people I needed to see.

"Sera!!!" Eris was the first one to call out to me!

"Eri!!" I ran to her, she was standing by her class teacher's side. "Oh! God!!" I went and kneeled down to hug her.

I looked at the woman in question, and the moment our eyes met, I felt something boil in me. It was indeed her, Eris's mother, Ariel.

"Why are you here?" I hugged Eris tightly.

"I'm here for my daughter," She replied, "And now that you're here, you should give her to me."

"You don't have any right to call her your daughter." I replied.

"Yeah!!" Eris yelled, "You're not my mom!!" She glared at the older woman.

Ariel was baffled at Eris's words, "I am your mom," She said, "You might not believe me, my baby, but I am telling the truth."

"No," Eris grabbed my pants and hid from her.

My baby?

She has the audacity to call Eris that when she abandoned her? I came back from school that day only to find a baby crying her lungs out. She was barely a week old at that time, and I was the one who took care of her

Me!!

Not this vile woman claiming to be her mother.

I stood up and moved Eris to hide her behind me, "Leave, she's not going with you."

"I'm taking her back with me." She folded her arms, "No matter what you do, she's going with me."

"You abandoned her," I looked at the officers, "She left her to die! If I wasn't there, Eris would have died as a newborn!" I looked back at her, "I don't think you can take her away. Right, officers?" Wait, that male officer looks familiar.

The officers looked at each other, "Well," The female officer stepped ahead, "In normal circumstances, it would be difficult," She tried to reach out for Eris but Eris slapped her hand away.

"See!" I said, "You can't take her! Not when you are an awful person!!" I was angry, "She doesn't want to go with you."

"I didn't leave her because I wanted to," Ariel stepped forward, "I had no other choice!!"

"Lies!!" I yelled back as I pointed at her with my index finger, "You're a liar," I tried to contain myself, "Saying you had no other choice? You left a baby at the doorstep of an alcoholic and a minor?!"

"I had no resources to raise her then," She barked.

'And I did?!?!" I looked at her in bewilderment, "What did I have?!? Nothing!! And still I raised her!!" The memories flashed in my mind.

Memories of when Eris was tiny, so tiny I was afraid to pick her up. It was already a shock that a baby was at our doorstep, how was I supposed to pick her up? But I did because she wouldn't stop crying. I spent hours trying to calm her down before I realized she was crying because she was hungry, but I had no money to buy her formula milk.

That was that one time I stole dad's money. He was going to gamble it all anyway. I stole that and bought the things I could with it and fed Eris. Of course, dad found out.

He beat the shit out of me that night. I lay on the cold, unforgiving floor, the sting of my father's blows still fresh upon my skin, I felt every inch of my body throb with pain. Each breath I took felt like a struggle, the air heavy with the weight of my injuries. But amidst the agony, one thought consumed my mind: Eris.