Charlene is apologetic

For a little less than a minute, which felt like an eternity, the only sounds that could be heard in the home were the gentle hum of the house’s electrics and the gut-wrenching sobs of Andrea.

Finally, Charlene took action, stepping forward and bringing Andrea upright, who lashed out at the sudden contact.

In response, Charlene put her arms around ‘her’ in a tight embrace, not letting go as Andrea tried to thrash about, ‘her’ outburst only subsiding as ‘she’ became aware of the weeps coming from ‘her’ mother.

“…sorry… I’m so sorry. I thought that—I didn’t know that--- God I was so blind! You were hurting and I just made it worse! I punished you when I should’ve been helping you! I’m such a shit mother…”, Charlene admitted through teared eyes.

Finally, Andrea’s warbling ceased though tears still fell from ‘her’ ducts.

Andrew had never seen his mother cry, not once.

She was always so headstrong and forthright, sticking by her guns no matter what.

To see her utterly defeated like this was too much for Andrew to bare, and his forgiveness was immediate.

Together, the mother and child cried cathartic tears for a good fifteen minutes, Andrew’s tears from realising he would finally be free of this situation, and Charlene’s from having been forgiven for her heinous acts.

Charlene wanted to make it up to her offspring, her self-hatred fuelling her steely resolve.

“I promise you sweetie, I’ll do my best to help you out with all this, and I’ll be with you every step of the way”, Charlene declared.

“Thank you, mommy”, Andrea replied, not even aware that ‘her’ Andrea voice had already become dominant over the original Andrew voice.