The landline was always ringing now that we had a dying person in the house. All of a sudden, mum's sisters needed daily updates of how their mum was doing. In the past, mum and her sisters were lucky to speak to each other a handful of times a year. I spent time hovering behind doorways, figuring out what was really going on; how long grandma had left to live, and how screwed up my mum and dad's relationship was becoming.
'He's really strung out.' I heard mum say to Aunt Livvy. 'I can't tell if he's over-reacting or what. But it's all worse case scenario with him. I mean, it always has been. His dad was an overthinking, hypochondriac too. Somehow, he's got it in his head that he's going to catch it and the whole football team will catch it and then he'll be sacked. He says house prices are crashing, governments are printing too much money and inflation is going to sky rocket. Yesterday he was saying Bitcoin is a good investment. Then today he was worried about how terrorists now have a blueprint to bring the world to the standstill. Everything is so dire. I can't take it anymore. I'm pleased he's taken these couple of weeks out. When he said he wanted to stay at the hotel, I said 'go'.'
My grandmother was right. They were on the rocks. Their solid foundation was shaky. Dad's livelihood was threatened, this house was threatened, their marriage was threatened. COVID wasn't just a health danger it was a danger to our whole livelihood. And here I was, just worrying about me and my small life and this boy I was chasing after who was already attached. I had bigger issues to worry about now. My family unit was slowly deteriorating.
YOU ARE READING
Repeat After Me
Teen FictionAn impossible love between two young street artists. *** Ivy is a 16 year old street artist who finally has the streets to herself when Melbourne goes into the first COVID lockdown. She meets another street artist, Asten, and can't help falling for...
