22 Alone.

"Hello? Emily, come home this instant! How dare you leave home so suddenly!"

I scoff, unable to believe her words. I silently wish I never answered the phone but the damn woman wouldn't take no for an answer. After ignoring her calls multiple times, I decided to answer before she blew my phone up. . . Literally.

"Leave me alone Mum."

"Where are you? I demand that you come home!" Mum screeches at the other end. Besides me Jake raises an eyebrow and I know he can hear her scream like a banshee.

"I'm safe, isn't that all that matters?" I argue back with her, desperately trying to make her see sense. I hear her pause on the other end before she inhales sharply. I wonder whether she finally understands but when she begins calling me selfish and an inconvenience, I slump my shoulders in defeat.

Why can she not see that I ran away for my own safety?

Would I always be the child blamed for all of the troubles in her life?