**Diary Entry**
What on earth is happening? Where are you off to? Whos going to make dinner?
«Where are you rushing off to like that? Someone has to cook!» my husband, Oliver, snapped, watching me storm out after yet another row with his mother.
I glanced out the window. Gloomy clouds hung heavy, even though spring had supposedly arrived. In our little town up in Northumberland, sunny days were rare. Maybe thats why everyone here seemed so gloomy and cold.
Lately, Id caught myself not smiling at allthe permanent frown on my forehead adding an extra ten years to my face.
«Mum! Im going for a walk,» my daughter, Sophie, announced.
«Right,» I muttered.
«Whats that supposed to mean? Give me some money.»
«Since when do walks cost anything?» I sighed.
«Mum! Why do you always ask questions?!» she huffed. «Hurry up! Is that all youre giving me?»
«Enough for an ice cream.»
«Cheapskate,» Sophie muttered before slamming the door behind her.
I shook my head in disbelief. She used to be such a sweet girl before the teenage years hit.
«Tanya, my stomachs growling! How much longer?» Oliver grumbled from the sofa.
«Cook for yourself,» I said flatly, setting a plate on the table.
«Or bring it to me?»
I nearly dropped the pan. Who did he think he was?
«Dinners in the kitchen, Oliver. Take it or leave it,» I said, sitting down alone.
Fifteen minutes later, he stomped in.
«Its cold gross.»
«I left it out too long.»
«I asked you! Not a shred of care or love in you! You know Im watching football!» He shoveled in the chicken, barely chewing. «Tastes awful.»
I rolled my eyes. Football turned him into a different manbets, kits, expensive ticketsthough hed never cared for sports when we were younger.
Without sitting, he grabbed a beer, a bag of crisps, and marched back to the telly. I stayed behind, clearing the mess.
Wasted effort. No one appreciated it.
I was exhausted after my shift as a senior nurse at the hospital. Patients came to me stressed, ill, demanding. Work was chaos, and home? No comfortjust a second shift of serving, cleaning, tidying.
«Any more left?» Oliver yanked open the fridge. «Whys there none?»
«You drank it all! Am I supposed to buy that too? Have some decency, Oliver!» I finally snapped.
«Look at Miss High and Mighty,» he sneered before slamming the door and storming off to restock his «supplies» for the next match.
I tried to sleepwork loomed tomorrowbut couldnt. Worry gnawed at me. Where was Sophie? Who was she with? It was dark, and she wasnt home. I didnt dare calllast time, she screamed at me.
«You embarrass me in front of my friends! Stop calling!» shed shrieked. After that, I stopped checking, telling myself she was eighteen now. No job, no studiesjust a «gap year to find herself.»
As I finally dozed off, Olivers cheers jolted me awake. A goal, probably. Then he started loudly debating the match with the neighbour whod dropped by. Soon, the neighbours girlfriend joined, and the three of them roared at the telly. Later, Sophie clattered in, banging dishes before stomping off to bed. Just as silence fell, the cat yowled for food.
«Can anyone else in this house feed the cat besides me?!» I stormed out, my head pounding from exhaustion. I wanted them to hear me. But Sophie had her headphones in, flicking her fingers at her throat. Oliver was already passed out, beer in hand, snoring in front of the screen.
«Im done so done with all of this,» I thought.
The next morning, my mother-in-laws call woke me.
«Tanya, darling, remember its time to plant the veg? And the cottage needs sorting.»
«I remember,» I sighed.
«Well go tomorrow.»
My only day off was spent labouring under her orders at the countryside cottage.
«How are you sweeping?! Hold the broom properly!» she barked from her perch on the bench.
«Im nearly fifty, Vera. I can manage,» I dared to reply.
«And Oliver»
«Where is Oliver? Why didnt he drive his own mother? Why did we waste three hours on a bus? And youalways Oliver this, Oliver that!»
«He gets tired.»
«And I dont?»
That set her off. Vera loved to talkespecially about justice. Hers, never mine. Shed spent her life coddling Oliver while treating me like a servant she barely tolerated.
We rode back in silence, sitting at opposite ends of the bus. The next day, Vera complained to Oliver, and he exploded.
«How dare you speak to my mother like that?!» he snarled. «If it werent for her»
«What?» I crossed my arms, done with this nonsense.
«Youd still be at the clinic!» He pulled his trump cardVera had pulled strings to get me the hospital job. Better pay, but it cost me my nerves and my hair. Id regretted it a hundred times. «Where are you going?»
His face was priceless when he realised what I was doing.
What I did next, Oliver never saw coming.
