“Dane.”
She hugged her son tightly as he ran over with a smile. The mother frowned briefly at the sight of her child’s dirty face covered in dirt, but soon spoke casually.
“Did you have fun? Are you hungry? Let’s go in and eat.”
She held a paper bag with a few vegetables in one hand and held her son’s hand in the other as she climbed the stairs. Dane waved at his friend who was left alone and went into the apartment.
A bowl of soup with floating vegetable parts and bread was their usual meal. Dane’s mother didn’t have a steady job, so she didn’t make much money, and so she had a hard time living by splitting up the small amount of money she had. Fortunately, her son wasn’t that picky.
“Come on, eat.”
His mother boiled soup and put it down with bread, and sat down across from him at the table. Dane tore the bread, soaked it in the soup, and smiled brightly. The mother smiled affectionately at her son’s admirable appearance and patted his head.
“I love you, Dane.”
“Me too. I love you, Mom.”
They smiled at each other across the small, worn-out, scratched table between them.
“You were a good person, Mom.”
Dane continued in a tone that showed little emotion.
“You raised me as best you could, even though things were difficult. You told me you loved me often and kissed me generously. When you went out to work, you hugged me so hard that I felt like my body was going to burst. I waited for Mom all day, but it was okay. When she came back, I was happier for the amount of time I waited. Even now, I think she wasn’t a perfect mother, but she was a good mother.”
A bitter smile spread across Dane’s face.
“If only she hadn’t drunk.”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Mom screamed and threw everything on the table. Dane crouched in a corner and burst into tears as he saw her screaming, banging her head against the wall.
“Oh, Mom, Mom.......”
No matter how much he called her, she did not return to her usual affectionate motherhood. Instead, she glared at Dane with bloodshot eyes and started throwing punches at him.
“You, it’s because of you! Because of you!”
“Mom, Mom.......”
“If it weren’t for you, if you, if you hadn’t been born......!”
A loud sound rang out. Dane covered his head and tried to avoid the beatings by curling his body as much as possible, but it wasn’t enough to block the pouring blows. The beatings continued all night long. Until she fell asleep on the floor drunk. By then, Dane had also been beaten to the point of losing consciousness.
Dane, who came to his senses first when the dawn broke, dragged his swollen and bruised body to the bed, blinking his eyes that couldn’t open properly. He dragged an old sheet over his mother’s body and slowly crawled into her arms. Later, his whole body started to hurt. However, Dane closed his eyes and desperately pressed his body against his mother’s. Then, he forced himself to sleep and waited for his mother to wake up. Then, his mother would return to the way she used to love Dane.
“Dane......!”
As expected, when she opened her eyes, the first thing she did was check the child in her arms and burst into tears.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Dane...... I’m sorry.”
His mother, who had been repeatedly apologizing and kissing him, looked into Dane’s face and said.
“Do you know how much I love you?”
Yes, Dane nodded. He wanted to cry because it hurt, but he held it back desperately. This moment when his mother held him like this and told him that she loved him was so happy. And he saw his mother off to work, holding his side that hurt every time he breathed with his hand. Now he couldn’t go out for a while. Since it was already a familiar thing, Dane didn’t think much of it. He just took the medicine his mother gave him and fell asleep. After swallowing the medicine and water as usual, Dane lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. The routine that had been repeated several times continued again.
Grayson turned pale and looked at Dane. He couldn’t believe what he had heard. He checked Dane’s expressionless face facing him again. There was no sign of a joke or a lie.
“......You got hit?”
He barely managed to say this. Grayson, who couldn’t continue speaking with one hand on his forehead, just smiled and barely managed to make a sound.
“Your mother, hit you? A child who wasn’t even 10 years old......?”
“Don’t be so surprised. It was a common occurrence where I lived.”
Dane replied nonchalantly. Grayson was once again dumbfounded by the contrast between his own and his own. That’s right. His mind blankly recalled the past events. That’s why Dane had asked him so many times.
Did Ashley Miller hit you?
“Wh, how long, how long.”
Grayson stuttered uncharacteristically. I want to kill her. Grayson felt a stronger desire than ever. He couldn’t resist the urge to find the woman who hit and hurt Dane right now and strangle her.
Pheromones filled with hostility flowed out of his body. But it was meaningless. Dane continued to speak in the past tense. That probably meant, she was... ... .
Grayson, who had thought about it up to that point, released his clenched fists in frustration. The strong pheromone scent that had been lingering around him also faded away.
Dane looked at him with a strange feeling and answered.
“Until about fourth grade? I was much bigger than my peers, and I grew up fast.”
Dane smirked as if recalling the past.
“It’s time to rebel.”
“Stop it now!”
Dane yelled, his throat reddening. He was sick of it. Once again, his mother was acting up drunk. Before the bruises from last time had even healed, Dane was grabbed by the hair and slapped on the cheek.
“Fucking punk, dirty bastard! If only someone like you hadn’t been born, you, you!”
“Stop it now!”
Dane yelled until his throat was hoarse and pushed his mother hard. She staggered back, perhaps because she was drunk. Her face, flushed red from the alcohol, seemed flustered. It seemed quite shocking that her son, who had been so well-behaved until then, had pushed her away, despite being drunk and out of his mind. Dane looked at her blank face and shouted again.
“And you’re going to wake up tomorrow morning and tell me you love me! Stop it, I’m having a hard time!”
Then his voice began to tremble.
“Can’t I, can’t we, live like other families? Can’t you love me like other parents? Can I be normal, like other kids?”
Many of the kids I met at school had perfectly normal bodies without any traces of beatings. Dane was the only one who had bruises all over his body every day without fail. Even his friend’s father, who had been to prison, didn’t hit him, so why me?
Why me?
“Mom, please love me.......”
Like other kids.
When he said that, pleadingly.
“Heh, heh, heh heh heh heh heh.”
His mother shook his shoulder and laughed. Dane blinked in bewilderment at the unexpected reaction. She muttered, giggling.
“Saraang? You want me ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) to love you? You?”
She then furrowed her eyebrows and asked.
“Why, do I have to do that?”
Dane smiled at her twisted pronunciation and answered.
“Because I’m a mother.......”
“What?”
Then she burst into loud laughter. Ahahahaha, ahahahahahaha, ahahahahahahaha. Her sharp laughter made her ears rip. When Dane distorted his face and covered one ear, his mother, who had been laughing while bending her back, barely stopped laughing and asked.
“Why do I have to do that?”
Strangely, her mind, which had been completely intoxicated until then, felt clear for the first time. Her pronunciation was also clear. When Dane blinked in bewilderment, his mother giggled and asked.
“That’s funny. Isn’t it a prejudice that parents should love their children?”
Heheheehe, heheheehe. She laughed again, shaking her shoulders. She was making fun of Dane. Dane, who was holding his trembling hands tightly, asked between his gasping breaths.
“Then why did you give birth to me?”
His vision became blurry. She answered Dane’s voice, which was choked up.
“You’re just plain weird.”
Dane couldn’t say anything anymore. His mother drank again, screamed, broke things, and fell asleep on the floor. Dane just looked down at her, snoring. He didn’t bring the sheets or burrow into her arms like he usually did.
“You’re just plain weird.”
Her words kept ringing in his ears. Suddenly, his vision seemed to turn white, but soon his vision cleared. But it was only for a moment, and soon both eyes became cloudy again.
Thump, thump, the water droplets that had flowed down fell to the floor. He raised his arm and rubbed his eyes, but the tears did not stop and continued to flow. Sob, sob. A sob escaped through the gap in his teeth. He stood there and cried like that for a long time.
