Loving Maya

"Is that my mother?"

My eyelids slowly force themselves open at the sound of my alarm. In a frantic attempt to rid the quiet early morning atmosphere of this raucous noise, I scramble for my phone on the floor.

I must've fell asleep while writing 'thank you' emails and dropped it.

With the upper half of my body hanging off the bed and my hair over my face, I manage to switch the alarm off.

05:00

I sit up on the bed, contemplating what my next move should be. Usually, I'd go for a shower and begin studying immediately after.

I'm not very fond of the idea of waking anyone up this early morning.

Perhaps the shower can wait.

Maybe I should go to Mason's room. Chances are that he's still sleeping.

I smirk, thinking of how funny it'd be to wake him up so early. I know he'll be grumpy... But cute and I'd have someone to keep me company.

No.

I shake my head and laugh to myself. I'll let him be, this time.

I can just continue reading.

I get off the bed and make my way to the closet where my backpack is. After a quick rummage through, it produces the book Brian gave to me.

I return to my bed and comfortably settle under the duvet.

"Cry, The Beloved Country. A story about comfort in desolation." I read the words on the cover.

***

Forty minutes later, I realise that I'm no longer the only person awake. I hear humming and a door closing but the sound quickly disappears.

It's most probably Mrs. Wilder since it's too early for Angie to be awake and if Ollie is as I remember, he's not waking up any time soon.

I finish reading the last paragraph of Chapter 5 and close the book.

After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I sit down on the edge of the bed. I shove my feet into my the wooly morning boots mom got me and excitedly head out of the room.

My first stop is the kitchen. It's where I think Mrs. Wilder likely is and if she's not, I'm sure I can grab a snack while I continue my "search".

Before entering the kitchen, I bend down to tuck my pajama pants into my boots. I hear Mrs. Wilder's voice; it's panic and softness causes me to stop. I listen carefully.

I know it's wrong to eavesdrop but she sounds in distress.

"Yes, Alice..."

Alice? My mom?

"She's safe. We're all safe, there's nothing to worry about."

A moment of silence.

"I'll tell her to always keep her phone on." More silence. "Nothing will happen."

The silence lasts longer this time and I almost walk in, thinking she's done with the call.

"I can't promise that, Alice. I mean, I can..." She sighs heavily. "Alice, we're safe here."

It dawns on me that my mother is probably demanding a lot from her since I'm here. My mom isn't an easy person to deal with. She's... Very overprotective. After I got shot, it obviously worsened.

At some point, she wanted Lilly to come back because she didn't feel at ease with her being so far away.

She's... She's just being a mom, right?