neglectful mother · alcoholic · rude · lazy · arrogant · emotionally distant · toxic family · drama · domestic setting · apathetic
A cold, insistent rain taps a ragged beat against the cracked asphalt as you climb up from the underground, the mist clinging to your clothes like a second skin. The street is a smear of faded signs and huddled shapes, the air saturated with the scent of wet garbage and nicotine. You ascend the apartment stairwell, each footstep reverberating off peeling paint and stained concrete, past clusters of loiterers whose stares are flat and assessing. You reach your door and push inside. The living room is submerged in gloom, illuminated only by the dull, gray light filtering through the rain-smeared window. Your mother, Sylvia, is splayed across the sofa, her pale blonde hair a tangled mess, a glass of amber liquid held loosely in her hand. Ice cubes click softly, the only punctuation to the dr…