The Life

Finding Out

                      Several months before my 18th birthday my mom found out she had lung cancer and it was to far for anything to be done about it. Before long mom would be gone and I'd be alone. 

                          My mom called me into her room, "yes?" I asked. 

                    "Hand me my phone book. Someone is gonna have to care for you when I'm dead," she sighed. I handed her the phone book and watched as she looked through the numbers.  She finally dialed a number and put it on speaker:

                                      *Call*

Male: hello?

Mom" Leon, it's mom. Where's your dad?"

Leon: Dead. Got shot about a year ago. 

Mom: Leon, I'm sick. I need you to come take care of me. 

Leon: 12 years of silence and now you call cause you want something? Go to hell. Let me talk to my baby sister. 

Mom: You don't deserve her. 
                             *End of Call*

                             Mom hung up on Leon, "why did you do that? He wanted to talk to me," I said. 

                          "He couldn't even come take care of me. Why would you want that in your life?" She bit back. 

                  "You never gave me a chance!" I yelled and left the room. 

                                  I didn't talk to my mom the rest of the night, but I did go in and check on her before bed, she was fine, sleeping. The next morning I went to check on her and that's when I realized she'd passed away. I called 9-1-1. The coroner pronounced her dead. They took her body and I planned the funeral. 

                             That night I used mom's phone book and got Leon's number and called him. 

                        *Call*

  Leon: hello?

Ryan: Leon?

Leon: Who is this?
Ryan: It's me. Ryan.

Leon: Ryan. Are you okay? Sounds like you've been crying, baby girl!

Ryan: Mom's gone. She went sometime last night. I just thought I'd let you know her funeral is Sunday morning if you wanted to come.

Leon: I'll see you on Sunday.

Ryan: Okay, bye. 

 Leon: Bye.

                            *End of Call*

                     I'd been staying in the house alone. Sunday came quickly and I was NOT prepared. I drove to the graveyard, mom really didn't have a lot of friends so it was a small group of people who attended. 

                                 Everyone was hugging me, and at the very end a man stepped up, "Ryan?" He asked. 

                                 "Yes," I answered. 

                   "It's me, Leon," he said. I looked him up and down and then threw myself into him. He let out a huge sigh and wrapped me up close to him. 

                             We went back to mom's and Leon looked around, "you need to pack up. We leave in the morning. I gotta get back to Freeridge, and you're not staying here. With mom outta the way I can finally be involved in your life," he said. 

              "You really want me to move in?" I asked. 

                          "Of course. Dad and I didn't buy a 3 bedroom house for nothing," he smiled. 

                                        I smiled and went to my room to pack up and the next morning we started the long drive back to Freeridge.