0dpressedwhale

[0dpressedwhale]

Just One Good Day

TW: Implied abusive/neglectful parenting, Cussing, Implied addictions and maladaptive dreaming.

Luka was startled awake by the sound of glass breaking, but when he opens his eyes all he sees is his Mom standing next to his bed. She smiles warmly once she sees he’s awake,

“Good morning sweetheart, I hope you slept well!” She says, her golden brown eyes lighting up with her smile. She had her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. She was wearing a nice cream coloured shirt with a pair of black jeans.

“It’s time to get up now hun, we have to go get groceries” with that she leaves. When Luka looks out his window he sees the bright blue sky and the bustling city below.

“Today is going to be a good day” Luka muttered to himself.

“I wouldn’t be too hopeful” a voice responds.

“Who’s there? Where are you?” Luka scans his room, but only sees his bookshelves and dresser.

“Come to the mirror” the voice answers. Luka hurriedly throws off his warm blankets and runs over to his mirror, trying his best not to trip over the mess of books and clutter he was supposed to put away before bed the night before. Once in front of the mirror Luka only sees himself with his fluffy dirty blond hair and… bruises?

“Wait where did these come from?” He asks quietly. Purple, yellow and green bruises could be seen where his pajama t-shirt ended, they littered his thin arms like stars in the night sky.

“Come on,” a figure responds poking its head out from behind Luka’s shoulder. Luka turns in surprise, leaving him more surprised when the shadow is actually behind him, “you know where they came from” the figure states.

The figure was the same height as Luka, it looked as though a shadow had come off the ground, it had no features and was just a dark humanoid mass.

“W-who are you?” Luka manages to stammer, alarmed by this faceless being.

The shadow pauses for a second, “I’m Ombre”. The shadow, Ombre, states mater of factly.

“What are you-” Before Luka can finish his sentence he hears his Mom yell,

“Luka are you up? Did you fall asleep again?”

“No, I’m just getting dressed.” He calls back. Luka rushes to get changed, grabbing a forest green t-shirt and a pair of new black shorts.

“Wait is that what you’re going to wear?” Ombre asks confused, but Luka is in too much of a rush that he decides to just ignore Ombre’s question.

Luka leaves his room to be greeted by the smell of freshly washed clothes and homemade food. On the wall in front of him is a collage of photos with smiling faces.

“What? Where did these come from?” Ombre asks, even more confused then before.

“They are from our family trips, we put all our photos from them here!” Luka responds motioning to the rest of the hallway.

“There you are!” Luka’s Mom chimes, pouring a bowl of chicken noodle soup, “You better come get some soup before your Dad eats it all!” Luka runs over to their neatly made kitchen table where his Dad was sitting. He was busy drinking his coffee and reading the paper, but once Luka sat down his Dad gave him a soft smile.

His Dad was wearing a light blue blazer with a gray tie and dark brown pants.

His Mom comes over and sets down his bowl of soup to which Luka starts scarfing down his meal Meanwhile Ombre seems lost in a daze.

“It’s so… so…” they pause for a minute, lost for words, “This place is just so clean.” They manage to say at last. Luka had been so distracted by his Mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup, which was his favorite meal, that he forgot about Ombre.

It was only then he realized that neither of his parents seemed to even notice Ombre, nor their conversations, nor Luka’s bruises.

Luka’s Dad then sets down his paper,

“Good morning kid!” he says grinning ear to ear, “Why don’t you and your Mom finish getting ready while I go say good morning to Mr. Tucker?” He gets up and grabs his old coat off the coat hanger.

“Okay, see you in a minute Dad!” Luka responds happily as his Dad heads out the door.

“I guess I should go grab my purse and coat then now, shouldn’t I?” Luka’s Mom asks as she exits the kitchen. Luka looks back at Ombre, they seemed to be deep in thought as they looked around the apartment.

“What’s up Ombre, is something wrong?” Luka asks hesitantly.

“I think I know what’s going on now, I should have noticed sooner.” Ombre mutters, not really paying attention to Luka.

“You sure say some weird things, what are you even talking about?” Luka asks confused.

Startled, Ombre says,“Huh? Oh it’s nothing, I was just thinking out loud.” Luka’s Mom comes back, her pretty brown coat on and silver purse in hand,

“Let’s not keep your Dad waiting!” With that they head out the door and down the stairs to the lobby.

“You guys ready?” Luka’s Dad asks holding the door open for Luka and his Mom.

“Yup, we are good to go!” Luka chirps practically skipping out onto the sidewalk with Ombre trailing behind. It was a busy Saturday, people were out walking their dogs, cars drove by at a steady pace, and shops had people going in and out. Today is a good day, Ombre must just be pessimistic.

Luka and his family crossed the street and walked into the local general store.

“I’ll go grab the ground beef, eggs, milk and bread” Luka’s Dad says making his way to the right side of the store.

“Okay, that just leaves us to grab the cereal, strawberries, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.” Luka’s Mom states heading to the left side where the rest of the items were. “Luka why don’t you pick a cereal you want while I grab the strawberries?”

“Really! Any cereal?!” he chirps. To which his Mom nods chuckling. “I’m going to pick Lucky Charms!” He shouts as he passes his Mom to run to the cereal aisle. Luka stops once he’s in front of the Lucky Charms, grabbing a box with a big smile plastered on his face. Ombre slowly walks up beside Luka,

“I haven’t had these in forever.” They say look down at the box in Luka’s hand,

“They are the best! Mom only lets me get them every once in awhile, so I made sure to grab the biggest box!” With that the two go to meet Luka’s Mom in the produce section, she already has the tomatoes and lettuce by the time they find her.

“Luka, will you run and grab me three of those cucumbers over there please? I forgot that I need to grab some apples for the apple pie I was going to make.” She says heading off towards the fruits.

“Sure thing Mom!” he replied jogging off. As Luka got to the bin where the cucumbers were he sees two of the employees looking at him with sad eyes,

“That’s him right? I feel so bad, how could anyone do that?” He overhears one of them say,

“I know, I just wish there was something we could do for the poor kid.” The other responds. Luka had no idea what these people were talking about, but he suddenly felt nauseous.

“Hey, be careful you might drop the cucumbers.” Ombre says quietly while stepping in front of Luka’s line of sight to the two workers, “Let’s just hurry up, they are waiting for us at the till.” They finish off.

Luka looks towards the till and sees his Mom and Dad getting in line, so he quickly grabs one more cucumber and heads over, trying to figure out what those two people were talking about. They pay for their groceries and then Luka’s Mom turns to him.

“Here, Luka, could you carry this for me please?” She says handing him the bag that had the eggs, milk and his Lucky Charms in it.

“Sure” he says distractedly, still confused by what happened earlier, but neither of his parents seemed to notice. They make their way back to their apartment building, the air seeming to get colder the closer they get. Once inside they head up the stairs, they are only on the first floor but the grocery bag seems to get heavier with each step.

“We are almost there, just think of the Lucky Charms.” Ombre says trying to be reassuring. They walk up to their door and Luka’s Mom and Dad walk in after unlocking the door. As Luka goes to walk through, he trips on the door frame and spills everything on the floor.

“Oh no. Now we’ve done it.” Ombre says, their voice sad.

“I- I’m so sorry!” Luka says, he looks up to his parents and instantly wishes he hadn’t.

His Mom looks scared, her golden brown eyes seem to dull and become sunken, her hair no longer looks well kept but ratty. She seems paler and unhealthily thin.

His Dad is no longer well dressed, cheery and clean, he now has an old gray stained t-shirt on, an unkept stubbly beard and rage filled glossy eyes that don’t seem to fully focus. Luka closes his eyes in fear as the room starts to spin.

Luka wakes to the sound of glass breaking. Opening his sleep filled eyes he hears yelling from the room over.

“Luka! Luka, get out here when I call for you dammit!” It's dark and the wind can be heard from outside. Luka quickly throws off his thin blanket, heading out of the empty box he calls a bedroom.

Once in the hall the smell of garbage and cigarettes overtakes his senses, dirty clothes and garbage covers the otherwise bare hallway floor.

“Luka!” Dave, the man who Luka no longer considers a father, screams out again from their living room. Luka rushes to get over to the couch, dodging piles of beer cans, clothes and rotten fast food wrappers.

“What took you so damn long, brat? I need you to go and grab some snacks from the store. I want barbecue chips, twizzlers and a big thinga Pepsi, got that?” He looks over at Luka with an annoyed glare. Luka nods quickly, wanting to get this over with. “Now take this and go.” He says throwing (aka dropping on the ground) a twenty at Luka, making him flinch slightly. “And you better be quick this time dammit.” Dave slurs looking back at the Tv.

He is drunk again.

Luka picks up the money and scurries to his room to grab his hoodie and throw on a pair of jeans instead of going out in his pyjama pants.

Luka’s room has nothing but his bed, a mirror and a small closet where he keeps all of his clothes. Luka looks at his reflection in the mirror, he is thin and pale, minus the ugly bruises on his arms which vary from deep purple, to dark yellow, to some seasick green colour.

“Guess I was right, today isn’t all that good.” Ombre states appearing beside Luka.

“What do you want Ombre?” Luka sighs at the figure, used to this appearing act. “Please tell me you’ve come to tell me this is all a dream, I’d much prefer the other one.” Luka says bitterly as he puts his old navy blue hoodie on, looking away from the mirror.

“Dream? This? This would be a nightmare don’t kid yourself.” Ombre says with a bitter laugh, they then pause, “No, sadly this one is real.” They say turning away.

“Great.” Luka mutters. With that the two head out of the room, then the apartment. As Luka gets down to the lobby he finally sees how badly it’s raining outside. You could barely see two feet in front of the glass doors.

“Should put up your hood, it’s better than nothing.” Ombre says as they head towards the door. Luka throws his hood on and runs outside, the wind seems to go through his hoodie.

He runs across the bare streets to the general store and then bursts through the doors of the store.

The person at the till looks over and gives a weak greeting. Luka gives a small nod and heads over to the chip aisle, with Ombre in toe. He grabs the barbecue chips and rushes to grab the rest. Then, as he is going to pay he overhears two employees at the front.

“It was him wasn’t it? You know, the Hampton kid? How could that man call himself a father, sending his son out in this weather?”

“Right? I feel so bad for the boy. I wish I could help him and his Mom, she works so hard.”

Luka hated the fact that everyone in their area knew what kind of person Dave was. Hell everyone at his school did too, he could never escape all those pitiful looks.

“We should hurry, he’ll be really mad if we are any later.” Ombre says, snapping Luka out of his trance.

He rounds the corner, pays quickly while trying to avoid the cashier’s pity filled smile and prepares to leave. He hurriedly steps outside coming to the edge of the sidewalk. Just before he was about to run across the road Ombre shouts,

“Look out!” Luka falls back, startled, as a car speeds past him going well above the speed limit.

He starts shaking, but it’s not from the rain.

“You need to pay more attention!” Ombre says kneeling next to Luka, or whatever you could consider kneeling for a shadowy figure. Still shaking Luka looks at his now cut up palms as he tries to get up. Picking up his now muddy bag he looks both ways and then runs across the street.

Once inside Luka realizes how soaked he was, he is probably going to get a cold. Rushing upstairs, his legs still shaking from his near run in with a car, he tries to calm down a bit.

Luka opens the front door of the apartment and is greeted by Dave cursing out the tv. There was some football game on, he probably made some bet and lost. As he closes the door Dave turns towards him, the anger from the losing team now directed at him. He stands and starts yelling at Luka,

“Where the hell were you? What took you so damn long?”

“I-” Luka tries to say that the rain was really bad and that he was almost hit by a car, but he’s cut off.

“You probably went and bought yourself something didn’t you?!” Dave screams and starts heading towards him. Luka knows that there is no explaining anything when Dave is worked up, so he just tries to get as much distance from him by backing into the front door with a quick glance at Ombre.

Today was not going to be a good day.