𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟷 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟷-

"and alone in my room / I am the last of a lost civilization"
~
Pilot (TW: mild violence)

"I can't take this anymore!" Caroline Peters shouted from the tiny kitchen of the one-story bungalow she shared with her daughter. "I can't fucking take your attitude, Tate-"

"I don't have an attitude-" Tate Johnson argued back, running her fingers frustratedly through her tangled blonde hair, which had gone too many days now without being washed.

"You're just like your father, you know that? Just like that son of a bitch-" Without warning, Caroline picked up a plate from the counter and chucked it at the wall. Tate flinched hard, but recovered just as quickly.

"Don't say that, Mom, you know I'm nothing like him-" she said in as calm a voice as she could manage. Her fingernails gripped the countertop behind her so hard the skin around them turned bright white. She let go on instinct and spun out of the way as Caroline picked up another plate, this time aiming towards the window right behind where Tate had been standing. The glass shattered and Tate's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest.

She took a shaky breath. "Mom, stop it. You're destroying the house- do you know how much that window's going to cost-?"

"Destroying the house?! You think it's possible to destroy this dump any further? You think anyone on this god-forsaken island gives a shit about how our house looks-"

"Mom-"

"No, no. I'm done," Caroline threw her hands in the air, pacing back and forth across the dirty tile floor as Tate shifted nervously. "I'm done with this place. The only reason I dealt with it in the first place was because of your father, and see what good that did me. I don't have any reason to stay-"

"Mom, I'm here!" Tate erupted, stepping forward bravely. This wasn't the first time they'd had this same argument. Caroline had been threatening to leave the island for years, but she never really did. She'd yell and throw things around, but later on calm down and apologize. This time, though, it seemed more serious. She was acting as if it was already a done deal.

"Well you can stay here with your dad or come with me, I don't care either way-" then, as an afterthought- "but if you come with me, you pay your own way there. I know you've been hiding away the money you get at that job."

Tate stared at her in disbelief, for once speechless. Caroline had never offered to bring Tate with her, not that she wanted to go. It had its flaws, but the island was her home. "No- Mom-" she managed, and then collected herself. "I'm not going, and neither are you. Come on, let's just talk-" but her words were cut off by Caroline hoisting up the entire microwave and hurling it out of the already smashed window. It landed with a crash in the backyard, which was already littered with belongings that served no purpose anymore. Tate liked to call it the junkyard behind her mom's back, but now wasn't the time for jokes. "Mom- what the hell?"