Mending Glass Castles

“You could always leave Melinda!”

“Leave?”

“Yes!” I can't take your craziness any longer, so pack your belongings and leave my life!” Dad smashed his dinner fork against the table, his nostrils flaring like those of an angered hippo.

“Oh, my goodness! Oh, no! Oh, no! You must be the biggest joker of the century if you think I'll ever pack my belongings and leave my matrimonial home so you can bring those cheap sluts you sleep around with into the house we spent our youthful years building together from the ground up!” Mum proceeded with a sadistic smile on her face;

“Can you hear yourself, Legend?” Do you honestly believe I'll let another woman into my home and reap what she didn't sow?” As she let her words pour out like poison, she locked a stony glare into her eyes.

“Oh, Melinda, shut up! When was the last time you saw me with another woman?”

Mum burst out laughing, as if dad had said something incredibly amusing, and dad sat with his arms crossed, staring at her as if she were the craziest person he had ever encountered.

“Could you guys please stop fighting for a moment and just eat?” Please, mum and dad, your food is beginning to get cold.” In the person of my eldest brother ‘Maxwell,' my family's ever-loving peacemaker begged. He's known as our home's brightest star, the glue that's stopped us all from going nuts.

“Max, I'm not sure why you keep attempting to repair something that is already damaged.” William, our third-born brother and family's self-proclaimed insurgent, spoke up, his mouth stuffed with meat. He smiled, as though he hadn't just called our parents' marriage shattered in front of the entire room.

Kelvin, Will's evil twin, burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and slamming his fist into the dining table, oblivious to our mother's angry glares and our father's resignation head shakes.

“William, you're not allowed to speak about your parents in that way; we might disagree, but you're not allowed to rob them in our faces. Stop laughing like a jackass, Kelvin, and act your age!” Mum screamed as she looked at her two unrepentant children, who were snickering between themselves.

William and Kelvin aren't at all twins. We refer to them as the evil twins because they always do everything together; Vin always follows Will around like a lost puppy, despite the fact that Vin is two years older than Will.

All I could do was sigh hopelessly as I looked up from my food and looked around our big, round dining table at the people I called my family. My parents were arguing for the sixth time today; somewhere along the line of growing up in the Legend's family, my parents' disagreements had woven themselves into being a central tradition in our home. It would have been so much easier if they had admitted defeat and divorced rather than ruining each other's and their children's lives, but of course they didn't. My parents were much too stubborn for their own good, especially my mother, who preferred to be seen in public as the perfect couple with the perfect family. That's why we're all trapped in this hellhole we've all come to call home.

I got up quietly but quickly from my place, picked up my plates, and began making my way out of the dining room, no longer wanting to sit and listen to their wild shouting and banter.

“Meena!” Before I could successfully sneak out, mum screamed from the other side of the table, “Where are you sneaking off to in such a hurry?” I turned around to face her, sighing. Mum could never talk in hushed tones, even though a pistol was pointed at her head.

I told her I was going to see Daniel at his place, one of many half-truths I told her to keep her out of my business. Real, I was going to see Daniel, but I wasn't going to see him at his place, God forbid! That would be like moving from a frying pan to a fire, and I'm not that stupid.

“Fine, but take your car instead; I don't want you speeding around town on that death trap you call a motorcycle,” she shrieked, as though she could already see me in an accident. I had the urge to roll my eyes at her, but I refrained; considering the fact that I would be nineteen in five months, my mother was still capable of spanking me if I gave her an eye roll; rather than risk a spanking, I depended on my favorite and ever-reliable brother, Maxwell, to help me escape my insane mother's tight parenting clutches.

I turned to Max and gave him one of my trademark "help me!" looks. He grinned, nodded softly, and then turned his gaze to the mad woman we all referred to as mother.

“Mum, she'll be fine. She'll make sure to ride with caution.” “You will ride carefully, right?” he asked, turning to me with an eyebrow raised. I enthusiastically nodded and bolted from the dining room, dropping my plates in the kitchen sink, sprinting up the stairs to my room, retrieving the key to my power-bike, and fleeing the house before anyone could intervene. But before I left the building, I heard her yell something along the lines of, “Make sure you get home before 10:30 p.m.” I rolled my eyes at her, making sure she didn't see me do it, as though I'd ever followed her instructions when I had Max and Vin to help me stop her from killing me.

I swerved to the side of the road once I was far away from my house and within a safe distance of Daniel's, packed my bike, and then took out my phone and texted him that I was three blocks away. Daniel came to a halt beside me on his bike a few minutes later. He put it in park, then extended his hand to me for our strange and unbelievably stupid best friend handshake; when we were finished, he grinned brightly at me and asked, "Are you ready for tonight dude?" As I nervously looked at him, my smile changed to a serious look.

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” We could just go hang out in a nice club or a quiet bar; do we have to go there tonight?” I inquired, a mild headache forming in my temples at the prospect of what Daniel and I were about to do.

“Come on, Mimi, we've already discussed this. You can't back out at this stage. Remember how you said you'd do it for me?” Daniel had my hand in his and was staring at me sadly, and all I could do was sigh in surrender.

I yanked my hand away from his and gave him a serious look.

“Fine, I'll go with you. Remember, you owe me a lot for this; if my parents find out about what we're about to do, I'll be grounded for the rest of my life! Please make certain we don't get caught, okay?” He grinned brightly, charged at me, and began embracing me in a bear hug until I was able to gather my strength and drive him away.

“Let's just get this over with,”

“Relax, dude, we still have...,” He glanced down at his wristwatch before returning his gaze to me. “We have three and a half hours before 10 p.m., so let's go find something to do while we wait. “Should we go?” He grinned and swept his brows up and down like a complete moron.

“Please, Danny, reconsider; there is still time. Breaking and entering is a serious offense with legal repercussions! And if we're arrested, we're looking at a sentence of fifteen to thirty years in prison! This is insane, Dan, and all for a girl who has no idea who you are!” I tried one more time to reason with my thick-headed best friend, knowing full well that it would be pointless and that he would become enraged, but I couldn't let it go; I had to put it out there, and who knows, he could reconsider.

Danny's face creased with anger, but I pretended not to notice, making him even angrier. I instantly regretted my decision when I saw what was going to happen when I looked at him.

“How can you say something like that to me, Mimi?” You, of all people, know how much I adore Daniela; our names are even the same! Isn't it obvious that this is a match made in heaven? She loves me but doesn't know it yet; this is a perfect chance for me to show her how much I care, and you expect me to neglect it? I can't believe you just said something like that! “And...and...”

“All right, all right!” I begged him to stop his never-ending ranting. Daniel was one of those people who couldn't stop talking when they were angry, and I wasn't in the mood to go through another one of his numerous outbursts today; I'd had my fill at home.

I added, "I'm sorry I said what I said; please don't be mad at me," and then continued to give him the cutest begging look I could muster, which resulted in me being laughed at.

“Never make that expression again. You seem to be on the verge of puking.” He started to laugh as he said it.

I rolled my eyes at him and then walked around my bike, climbed on, and started the engine, all the while Daniel laughed and mimicked my behaviour. We were already out of the neighborhood a few minutes later, on our way to some guy's party that Daniel promised would be a fun way to pass the time before 10 p.m. Despite the fact that I knew he hated parties and that there was something fishy about him wanting us to attend this particular party, I nonetheless followed him because, just like Daniel was a sucker for Daniela, I was a sucker for him, and it was established that the dumb things I did for my insane best friend were gradually increasing my already high chances of getting murdered.