Dragon Lady

A story about the moster within

The Dragon Lady

 

Alex opened her eyes – darkness. Far away she heard the beeping of her alarm clock. She sighed. She had fallen asleep in the closet again. As she slid open the closet door, the sunshine hit her eyes full force, and for a brief moment, the pain in her heart was forgotten. She smiled her secret smile that few had seen, and sat in the warmth of the sunlight for as long as time would allow. A moment too soon, she heard her mother’s alarm go off, and the memories of last night came flooding back to her mind. The smile faded and she got up to wake her sister. Katheryn was less than amicable about getting up, and even threw a, “Stop being my mom” remark at Alex. Well, somebody had to be the mom around here.

            As Alex headed to the bathroom, the upcoming day swirled in her mind. Mom would want the laundry done today, and if the dishes didn’t get done again, it would not be pretty when she pulled up onto the driveway tonight. Alex also had to make sure that she got her homework done, set dinner out, and make sure that Nick, Daryl, and Katheryn did something productive, or at least they would give the illusion that they did. This would mean cleaning the pool, dusting and vacuuming, and the aforementioned dishes. This would also mean a day of “mom” comments that she hated. Why didn’t they understand that if they would just do their chores, mom would be happy? Hearing her mom’s door open brought her back to earth. She rushed out of the bathroom and ran downstairs just in time to see her mom getting ready to leave.

“Morning mom.”

“Morning,” she said, anger clearly resonating from her words.

“Are you going to be home for dinner tonight?”

“I don’t know,” was her cold reply.

“Okay. Well have a good day,” Alex tried to give her mom a hug, but before she could, her mom moved out of her open arms, grunted a good bye, and headed out the door. Tears welled up in Alex’s eyes. Mom was clearly still mad about last night.

            Alex hadn’t meant for it to happen, but yesterday she had taken the day off. She had stooped down to Daryl and Nick’s level, and had spent the day watching television and playing video games all day. For pity’s sake, she’s 15, she needed a break from reality. The result was that none of the chores had been done, she hadn’t done any of her school work, and dinner wasn’t ready when mom got home. The only reason it had even been started was because dad came home and did what he did every night; walked in, sat down in front of the computer, and, a couple of hours later, asked for food. Alex had begged her siblings to help her with dinner, but it had been chicken and they didn’t want to help. So Alex was left to make dinner by herself. At least she had remembered to make more than just the chicken. There had been potatoes and green beans too. But it hadn’t been ready when mom, or as Alex called her behind her back “The Dragon Lady”, got home from the homeless shelter she volunteered at. She stepped through the door and instantly began her string of judgmental and condescending remarks. The one-way conversation was always the same and would generally be directed at Alex since she was the only child brave enough to stick around.

“Hi mom! How was your day?” Alex asked, praying that she was in a good mood today.

“Fine” she said slowly, “Why isn’t dinner done?” She asked with a confused look on her face and a tone that said trouble was coming.

“I kinda forgot and got it started a little later than normal,” Alex lied.

“Uh…huh, and why aren’t the dishes done? Did someone clean the pool today? Did the trash get taken out? Of course not.” This was the point in the conversation that Alex tried to defend herself, but mom’s voice turned to anger. “I don’t know why I even bother. I don’t understand why my STUPID children can’t seem to get a few chores done. Did you do any homework? Is your bed even made? No? What did you do all day Alex?!?” This line of conversation continued on for a few more minutes, with several more demeaning remarks about her family. The evening was finished off with mom watching television in her room and going to bed angry.

            Daryl coming down the stairs pulled Alex back into the present. Well, today would be different. Today things would get done, and dinner would be ready before mom got home, and Alex was determined she would find a moment to do some of her schoolwork that had been pushed aside for the past couple of days. Since the laundry would take all day, Alex decided that it was the most important thing to do. She started gathering it together from around the house, and thought about her mom and how she called her “The Dragon Lady”. She really didn’t enjoy calling her that, but she figured it was better than some of the other names she could call her, and it was the only way to express how she really felt. How did she feel? Alex deeply and truly loved her mom, but, as of lately, mom had become extremely absent. It had been building up for quite some time, but now it was worse than ever. They had started going to the shelter together as a family, but mom had been getting more and more involved, and was now the “manager” of the site. She would leave every morning at 6:30 and get home every night sometimes as late as midnight. It’s really hard to be home schooled, and have your teacher never be around.

            After Alex got the laundry started and set out the hamburger meat for dinner, she wandered upstairs to get dressed. She heard her brothers in mom and dad’s room playing on the Nintendo system, and her sister was still in bed. As she pulled a brush through her long brown hair, Alex caught her eyes in the mirror. Today they were blue. She had to admit that her eyes were her favorite attribute, and it helped that they changed colors with her mood. After she was dressed, she stopped in to remind Nick that he was supposed to help her with the dishes later.

“Okay mother” was the response.

“And Daryl could you please take out the trash? Mom was pretty mad yesterday when it wasn’t done.”

“Who died and made you queen of the household?”

“Shut up you guys. All I’m asking for is a little help.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll get to it later.”

Alex sighed. That meant that he wouldn’t do it. She went outside and started to sweep the swimming pool. It was a dark green because of the algae, and she knew that she would have to do a deep scrub to make it look like she had been out there. It took her until lunch time to sweep and vacuum the pool. It was grueling work, and she was ready for a break when she was done. She ran into Katheryn when she came back inside.

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

“Nothing. Just getting some food.”

“Okay then. Do you think you could do the recycling?”

“Sure. I have to call mom about getting on the computer, do you need me to ask her anything?”

“Nope.”

            Alex fixed a sandwich, and shrugged off the niggling thought that calling mom would be a bad idea. She changed over the laundry and went upstairs to change and get started on her homework. A few minutes later, Katheryn came into the room crying.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“She yelled at me. For no reason at all.”

“Well, what did you say to her?”

“I just asked if I could get on the computer to do some research, and then she started yelling about how I don’t have to call her and ask about every little thing.”

“Well, that’s not really anything you need to cry about.”

“I just wanted to hear her voice. When I said ‘I love you’, she just said ‘Uh huh’ and hung up the phone. Why doesn’t she love us?”

            Alex sat down on the floor and embraced her little sister. That was a question she had been asking for years now. It just seemed that nothing they ever did was good enough for mom. Alex and Katheryn sat on the floor of their bedroom for a good hour, just talking and hugging and crying. It's hard when you figure out that you really have no parents, just people who discipline you and yell at you whenever they feel like it's necessary. Alex had known for years but Katheryn, being 12 and the youngest of four children, was still living in he bubble of “normalcy”. Alex protected her from the harsh truth, and knew that Katheryn would be more likely to forgive her mom by the time she got home.

Katheryn fell asleep, emotionally and physically exhausted, and Nick and Daryl hadn’t moved from the Nintendo. Alex knew that work would take her mind off hating her mother for what she was doing to her sister, so it was downstairs to do the recycling and trash. Alex spent the rest of the day stumbling around the house doing the chores, and, when she was so frustrated she couldn’t take it anymore, she watched the afternoon cartoons.

            The moment that dad pulled into the driveway, Alex started on dinner. It was Hamburger Helper, so it was really easy to do. After dinner was made and eaten by everyone, she knew she had to do the dreaded dishes. Mom wouldn’t be home for a couple more hours, so she knew she would have the time, but getting Nick to help would be a problem. This proved not to be as hard as she thought though, because dad was home and yelled at him to sit at the kitchen table until she was ready for him to dry the dishes. Since Nick was confined to the kitchen table, Daryl sat down too, and since there were cards sitting right there, they struck up a game of canasta. Pulling Nick away from that game when the dish rack was full was like pulling teeth, but at least it was getting done. Nick was making sure to be as much a pain in the neck as possible about the whole situation. He would send back dishes that he felt weren’t clean two and three times, and always with a smile on his face. They were almost done when Nick sent a pot back. Alex couldn’t see anything on it, but she rewashed it. But then, Nick sent it back again claiming that there was some spot on it that Alex couldn’t see. Dad had already gone up to bed, so she had no body backing her up. By the fourth time, though, Alex had enough. Mom walked in the door just in time to see Alex throw the pot at Nick’s head. Screaming and crying Alex broke down. The weight of the entire day came crashing down, with all the months before it fueling her emotions. Mom decided to intervene.

“What is going on in here?”

“He’s telling me that there is some invisible spot and he won’t dry the pot because he wants to play his game, and I’ve spent the whole day doing all these chores and taking care of Katheryn, and I’m TIRED and the whole world is stupid and I don’t know why you can’t be at home every once in a while, and why don’t you love us? and…and…and” At this point, Alex fell on the ground sobbing. She felt like she was having an out of body experience. She could see herself rambling on about everything, and now she felt as if she was crying for no reason. Mom came over to try to give her a hug, but Alex shrugged it off.

“Don’t touch me! Why weren’t you here today? We need you to be here.”

“I had to go to the shelter.”

“You always have to go to the shelter.”

“Why are you doing everyone else’s chores?”

“Because if I don’t then you get mad and I’m tired of you being mad. I just want you to be happy and stop yelling at us when you come home.”

“Do you think I’m happy seeing my daughter like this?”

“You don’t care! All you want is the house clean and dinner done on time. You don’t care that all Nick and Daryl do all day long is play video games, and you don’t care that Katheryn sits on the floor of our room crying because you don’t love her.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“I don’t know”

“Alex, you don’t have to be the mom.”

“Yes I do. We NEED a mom here.”

“I didn’t know you were doing this.”

“Well, what did you think I was doing all day long? Don’t be dumb mom. Nick and Daryl do NOTHING, and chores don’t just do themselves.”

“Alex, I think you need to go to bed and get some sleep.”

“No, I have to finish the dishes.”

“The dishes can wait.” Mom helped Alex to her feet. “Go on up to bed.”

Alex climbed the stairs slowly, still sobbing every once in a while. She didn’t even bother to change into her pajamas. Where was her big sister to comfort her? Why was she always alone? It felt like she had been abandoned by everyone. She kept replaying the scene in her mind over and over again as she crawled into bed. She lay there and sobbed until Katheryn came into bed. Alex heard her change into her pajamas, but then she left the room again. A few minutes later, Alex rolled over to see her mom come in with Katheryn. Through her teary eyes, she saw in her sister tremble with fear as they climbed into bed together. Katheryn, her sister who she had held just a short while ago, was afraid of her. She watched mom hold Katheryn, protecting her from something. Alex heard herself cry out, “Don’t be afraid of me!!” and she heard mom gently shush her. As she lay there watching them, she thought about how she had yelled at her brother and mom, and how she had demanded so much from her siblings. As she thought about it, a cold realization came over her. Her last conscious thought as she fell asleep was that she was now the Dragon Lady.

Reviews

[Yurial Metzger]

That was a nice ending to the story. All the pent up emotion and rage blowing out. An interesting story would to be how it all comes around the next day.