Chad opened the front door to his house and was greeted by the sweet smell of cinnamon. His mom was on the couch as usual with a laptop on her lap and a glass of wine in hand. The television that was currently out of his sight was on, keeping a nice constant source of background noise.

Rebecca looked up over her reading glasses at her son who had just entered.

“Hey sweetie, dinner’s ready in the kitchen and I made cinnamon rolls for dessert.”

He looked at the coffee table where his mother had a plate with a half eaten cinnamon roll and a full one. It seemed she was enjoying her own cooking.

Unlike when he would normally come home from school, Chad was quite hungry. That could be thanks to both the elongated school day and having to stay after for the student council meeting. Instead of walking up to his room as he usually would do, he went straight to the kitchen.

His mother had prepared some simple chicken and rice. It seemed that she didn’t have as much time today to do something more luxurious. That was fine with him, this was food that he didn’t have to make for himself so it was still appreciated.

After quickly eating his fill of dinner at the kitchen table, he brought his dishes to the sink and rinsed them off. He then placed them in the dishwasher and turned it on.

Chad looked over at a glass pan that was placed next to the stovetop.

Woah.

This pan must’ve been the pan his mother used to make the cinnamon rolls, but there was only one left. It seemed like she had eaten the rest of them before he had come back home. He could still sense the strong smell of cinnamon in the air, so she must’ve made them somewhat recently.

How did you eat all of those so fast? And where do you even put them?

Rebecca wasn’t large by any means. She was quite fit for someone her age despite her eating habits. Chad chalked it up to a high metabolism that he must’ve inherited as well. He could often eat as much as he wanted to without worrying about gaining weight. Although, this could just be from being a teenage male and not an inherited high metabolism. It seemed that he would only be able to decipher where his immense appetite came from later in life after he passed his teenage years.

Chad grabbed the last cinnamon roll, not wanting his mom to eat all of them before he got to try one. He then left the kitchen while taking a bite. Even though the whole pan was gone, the roll was still warm. The bready texture and cinnamon taste of the roll combined with the sweet taste of his mom's homemade frosting made his tastebuds cry in joy. His mother’s baking never disappointed.

Chad made haste to the stairs, trying to escape to his room.

“Chad, come sit.”

With a mouthful of a cinnamon roll, Chad replied quickly, “Going upstairs.”

“That wasn’t a suggestion.”

Her tone turned stern.

He stopped his leg mid ascension of the first step. He then slowly turned around and adhered to his mother’s command. He sat on a small sofa chair adjacent to the couch that she was laying on.

“Do you not have a plate? You’re going to get crumbs on the floor.”

“I’m not,” Chad said with his mouth full, “I’m careful.”

“Ugh, take mine.”

She handed him the plate she was using earlier for her cinnamon rolls. Chad noted that it was now empty.

She didn’t say a word while he was eating his cinnamon roll. She just went back to working on her laptop. It seemed like he was safe, although, why did she call him over to sit?

Whatever.

Chad grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels.

“Hey, turn it back. I was watching that.”

“No you weren’t, you’re working.”

She set her laptop down on the coffee table.

“Well, now I’m not. Change it back please.”

Chad rolled his eyes at his mother as he handed her the remote. She changed it back to the channel the television was on previously.

The show was a familiar one to Chad. It was his mother’s favorite show. The title was Only Traveling Hearts are Honest. The title alone made him want to gag, but the content was even worse. It was a crappy reality T.V. show where the studio sends some bachelor on a two to three week long vacation with a plethora of girls. The vacation seemed to be the main premise of the show since every other aspect of it was so cliché. They could send them on basic trips to extravagant or even weird ones. Some of the trips from recent seasons included Europe, a Caribbean cruise, hiking in the wilderness and there was even a season where they went on a road trip. That was a weird season and Chad was pretty sure it tanked their rankings. This was the only credit he gave the show, they created interesting and unique environments for a generic premise. After the vacation the man would have to choose one of the women to either begin dating or marry. Pretty bland and distasteful.

He could probably deal with the show by itself. It wasn’t objectively a bad show. The studio did a good job at fabricating drama and storylines for the audience to follow. The problem was his mother. She didn’t have anyone but Yuna to talk to, so when she wasn’t available, he would become the source of her venting.

“Ugh,” she took another sip from her glass, “He’s really going shopping with Jenna? Why didn’t he go to the pool with Courtney? He’s such an ass!”

Rebecca brought her legs up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her knees. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

“Courtney is way prettier than Jenna. Plus, Jenna’s a bitch. He’s really screwing this up, Courtney is the way better choice!”

Contrary to how his mother was feeling, Chad was not enjoying himself. He still had a few bites left of his cinnamon roll and wanted to enjoy them. He couldn’t do that with this going on. He had a strategy. He utilized this technique whenever his mother forced him to watch some crappy reality T.V. show.

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“Yea Courtney’s the way better choice. Her tits are massive.”

Whack!

Rebecca reflexively threw the remote at his head. It made good contact making a loud sound on impact.

“Ow! What was that for?” Chad said, rubbing his head.

“Don’t objectify women!”

“I didn’t objectify her,” he picked up the remote from the floor, “I was making an astute observation. Isn’t that what you’ve been doing this whole time? Why can’t I do it?”

Rebecca grimaced at her son’s twisted logic. She should’ve expected this because this was a routine that they had done many times with just slightly different variations.

She conceded to her son’s wishes.

“Fine, you can change the channel, but make a comment like that again and I’ll have you castrated.”

“I think that’s illegal.”

“I made you. No government is going to stop me from punishing my own blood.”

For a second, Chad thought his mother’s eyes glowed red.

Maybe I went a bit too far this time.

He began his mindless changing of channels. Never settling on a single station. His mother often grew frustrated with this habit of his, but it seemed like she was done watching television and began harassing him with questions.

“Chad dear, how was your day at school?”

He grunted in response while continuing his mindless changing of channels.

Her tone turned venomous, as if an entirely different person was talking to him.

“You better not have skipped the student council meeting!”

“Wha-” Chad quickly swallowed his last mouthful of frosting and cinnamon, “Of course I didn’t. Why do you think I came back so late?”

Rebecca twisted her lips, “I wouldn’t put it past you to try and trick me.”

When have I ever tricked you?

“Well, I really did go.” Chad gestured towards the window, “Ask them if you’re so skeptical. One of the council members is our neighbor.”

“So you’re making friends?” she smiled.

Friends?

Chad thought of his current plan of gaining favor from the current council members to slowly take control of the council and make it so he doesn’t have to do as much work. This required him to act friendly towards them, but not necessarily make them his friends.

He shrugged at his mother’s question.

“Friends is quite a strong word… acquaintances is much more fitting.”

“Well you better not skip the meeting tomorrow or you’ll disappoint your friends.”

With a sigh he responded, “Wasn’t planning on skipping.”

The comfort of silence finally came back as he continued to skip through channels. Rebecca grabbed her laptop again and resumed her work while sipping on some red wine. Chad had finished his cinnamon roll, but he didn’t feel tired enough to go to bed nor did he have any unfinished homework. He didn’t have anything to do and this was the most mind numbing entertainment conveniently available to him.

What was that?

He backtracked two channels and landed on the local news. In the big headline was his school, Manha High School. It read: “Does Manha High School host the troublesome Vandalizers?”

“Oh Yuna told me about this.”

Rebecca seemed to become distracted from her work and began talking to him again.

“She called me just a bit before you got home and warned me about some kids who vandalized the library. Apparently they spray painted a crown on the back of the library. Usually their vandalism is much worse, like egging, toilet papering or even sneaking in termites, but she scared them off before they had a chance to do anything else.” she chuckled, “Imagine the looks on those kids' faces when Yuna chased them off.” her laugh turned into an infectious giggle. “They were probably terrified.”

Chad conjured up the image of his boss sprinting towards him.

I wouldn’t call that a scary sight, just odd.

He didn’t reply to his mother’s comments seeing that her face had a nice shade of pink to it now.

“God I can’t believe I’m sending you to a school with a bunch of misfits who go around vandalizing buildings. Maybe I should transfer you to a new school.”

Please don’t.

Although he wasn’t exhilarated with his current situation, another drastic change such as moving schools would surely do him in.

“I mean… Are those parents even parenting? Like how hard is it to not make your child a complete… a complete… What word am I looking for Chad?”

“Idiot?”

“No that wasn’t it…” she tossed her upper body back into the couch, “I-I can’t think of it. It's on the tongue of my tip.”

Tip of your tongue.

Chad stood up and went to the kitchen to clean his dishes. He left his tipsy mother in the living room to her own thoughts.

***

The rest of Chad’s night went smoothly. He washed his dishes then wished his mother goodnight. After laying in his bed without falling asleep for a while, he heard his mother’s car pull out from the driveway. She must’ve been called into work. It wasn’t uncommon for her to get called in at strange hours like this. She worked as an editor and she had an author that required a lot of maintenance.

I just hope she’s sobered up enough to drive safely.

Rebecca would often be sipping on wine throughout the day and be suddenly called into work. Chad wasn’t sure if she qualified as an alcoholic or not, but she seemed to make it work. After a quick prayer for his mother, he quickly drifted off to sleep…

Ding dong.

“Ugh.”

Ding dong.

“The hell?”

Ding dong Ding dong.

Chad rolled to his side and reached for his phone, at first missing it and slamming his hand against the side of the night stand.

“Ow.”

Ding dong.

“Give me a minute!”

Did she forget her house keys?

His mother had left in her car and her house keys were with her car keys on the chain. That probably ruled out that possibility.

Chad squinted as he brought the bright screen of his phone into view.

“12:09?”

Whenever his mother left late at night, it usually indicated her pulling an all-nighter at work. There was almost no point in her going in if she would get back as soon as midnight. That left only one other option.

“Burglars.”

With her going into work overnight and leaving their driveway completely empty, Chad figured that they could become a target for robbery. They were probably ringing the doorbell to check if anyone was home. He forced his body to move and stood up.

Better let them know the man of the house is still here.

He navigated his way in the dark towards his door, opening it and carefully watching his step while descending the stairs.

Ding dong.

“Coming! Stop ringing that damn doorbell?”

These supposed burglars were being quite thorough in making sure no one was home.

Chad had finally made it to the door. He grasped the handle and twisted. The door wasn’t even locked.

Did she forget to lock it? C’mon mom, that’s dangerous.

He opened the door without thinking too much of what could await him on the other side.

The chill night breeze hit him, sending goosebumps crawling up his skin. Without any hesitation, he had pulled the door completely wide open. He was now standing with an astonished look on his face.

“I-I’m so sorry!”

A girl was awaiting him at his front porch. She had brilliant blonde hair and bright blue eyes that glowed in the night. She was wearing what looked to be pajamas. As soon as she started speaking, her apology was drowned out by tears that streamed down her face. She rubbed them with her sleeve, accidentally bumping into her glasses that were placed on the tip of her nose.

He wasn’t really sure if his eyes were deceiving him since he had just awoken from a deep sleep, but he thought he recognized this girl.

“Rose?”