Backstories & One-Shots. (Includes MCSM AU's) |Requests Open|

Divided Homes May Come With Divided Hearts

Many people would expect someone that has two homes to bounce between for the person to quickly figure out where they fit in and who they wanted to be with. Yet no one understands the stress that the person feels until they are faced with it themselves.

In one home, some rules are different or contradict with rules in the other home. In Lotus "Lottie" Blossom's case, she knew how it was. 

In her mother's house, Lotus had to have her hair neatly pulled back, while she wore a comfy work skirt or pants, and a T-shirt around the home, while her father really didn't care how she dressed or did her hair when she went over to his home.

Lotus never really knew where she belonged, so she drew away into her music; the one thing both parents didn't care what she did with. In her headphones or her earbuds (whichever she had on her), Lotus could lose herself in the blaring trumpets, the trilling flutes, and the lyrics that spoke to her bruised heart, drained soul, and her ravaged mind; filling her with the many different emotions that a person could feel, but she never felt alone, for she was surrounded by friends who cared deeply for her.

What she didn't expect, however, was the decision that would weigh on her when she became eighteen years old.

That day, they were having breakfast when the mother asked, "Lottie, are you packed up for your father's?"

 The dreaded question that the young lady was dreading at the end of every week had been said. As she finished chewing her food, Lotus thought about how to respond to the question. While she knew that it was expected that she went to her dad's home for a couple of days, she didn't want to go due to tensions and the different environment there.

"Not...yet." She slowly replied, dreading what her mom would say. Her mother stared at her, with a face Lotus couldn't read. The mom quietly continued to stare and started eating again, but now she was staring past her daughter at the painting hanging on the wall. Lotus knew that her mother was thinking when she did that because she had seen the mother doing it every time she had something she had to attend and was unsure of what to do with Lotus. 

Always gazing at the same painting with the same unreadable face.

 As she watched her mother stare at the painting, her mind brought back, unbidden, one of the happier times, before it had all changed.

It had been a lovely, sunny day in June for a picnic in the park. The sky had been a bright baby blue, filled with soft, white clouds, the grass a warm green, and the laughter and smiles had been as cozy as a warm bath in December. Closing her eyes, Lotus once more could see her mother packing the old, well-used picnic basket full of cold meat and bread for sandwiches, while into a second bag went plastic cups, a closed container filled with water, and the sweet, yet sour lemonade container, the two drinks packed to wash the sandwiches down with. She couldn't quite recall, but she thought perhaps her mother had also packed a pie, or maybe it was a cake, carefully into the back seat of the car.

They had planned to meet with one of Lotus's friends' family, and have a fun little picnic together, the parents talking while the children played until lunchtime.

Just as she was about to remember the time at the park, she was snapped back to reality by a cold and calloused hand on her shoulder, the cold seeping through the thick T-shirt she wore. Looking up at her mother as the elder said, anxiously, "Honey, is something bothering you?" Swallowing, Lotus was torn between telling her mother how she felt and not telling her mother.

 Finally, the mother sat down and said, "You don't have to tell me, but you need to finish packing soon."

Lotus took a deep breath and whispered, "Mom?" Her mom, who was starting to get up, raised her eyebrows, sat back down, while saying, "Yes?" Then Lotus told her mother how she didn't know where she belonged and confided that she was always nervous to make a solid decision to where she wanted to live more. The two women locked eyes, staring at each other, until the mother said, "Sweetie, let me say something."

Sighing inwardly, Lotus thought "Here it comes. The talk about why I shouldn't live with my dad, again." When her mother began speaking, something came out that Lotus didn't expect.

"Lotus, you are in charge of that decision. I won't try and manipulate you into thinking your father is bad to make you live with me. Just know that all I want is for you to be happy, and sheltered. All I ask is that, if you should decide to live with your father, I would like you to come to visit me every once in a while." As she spoke, the mother stood and walked out the door, calling back, "I'll go and check on the animals to make sure everything is taken care of, so I can see you off safely."

Several minutes later, Lotus was sitting on the bus, watching the home that her mother lived in fade into the distance, the mother's figure fading also like the stars did when the sun came to kiss the earth good morning. Thinking about her decision, her mind brought up differences and a couple of similarities between the mother and father.

Her mother was always helping Lotus learn how to cook and learn from her mistakes, while her dad always ordered food from restaurants. Yet they always celebrated Christmas with her, giving her something she loved. She smiled, thinking about how one Christmas, her mother, who lived on a farm on the outskirts of town, had given her a horse all her own, with a brown star on its chest. 

The similarities seemed endless, from veggie nights, game nights, and stern talks about boys and people she should or shouldn't hang out with. 

Then her mind brought the differences: the thoughts about how alcohol should be used, how she should dress, and what they approved of. As she thought of these things, suddenly she found out what she wanted, just as she noticed the city where her father lived on either side of the bus.

She gazed out the window at the small, neat stores with the little, breakable trinkets inside; and then the bus pulled into the station.

She spotted her father near his truck, and she took a deep breath as the doors opened. As she walked to meet her father halfway, she mentally prepared herself to tell him her decision first. Just as he reached to take her bags from her, the father smiled and said, "Hi, Lotus! What's up, sweetie? Did anything new happen to you?"

So... this is a story that I had to write for one of my classes. I thought it came out great, but my teacher said that it should "have an ending" when I planned it to be a cliffhanger.

"Should I continue it, or should I just leave it up to the readers...?" I think to myself, before grinning.

Enjoy your own story writing, my fledglings~! I'll see you next chapter. So I hope that you stay safe and healthy and I will see you then!

Soar high, my hybrid fledglings~~!

1245 Words