When the daylight has faded

Tangled lives (#tangle)

The lines around her mouth look deeper than this morning. Her cheeks are hollow, but her eyes seem alert.

I tighten my hold on Dee's hand.

"Mother!" Dee's voice sounds scratchy.

Our mother heaves herself out of the recliner with a groan. The seat is the only piece of furniture she brought with her when she moved in with me a few weeks ago.

Dee takes a step back. I squeeze her hand.

"Danielle!" Nobody calls Dee Danielle anymore.

Dee doesn't protest. She holds her arms up instead, palms up.

"She came, Ma!" My heart wobbles like jelly, but my voice comes out strong. "I told you I could get her here."

"I did it for Hunter, not for you!" Dee hisses at Ma.

I jump between my mother and my sister before the daggers shooting out of Dee's eyes pierce Ma's heart.

"Well, you're free to leave again then!" Mother shoots back.

"Come on, let's behave like adults, you two!"

I duck a little, trying to avoid the barrage of bullets I'm expecting to hit me from both sides now.

"Thanks for dragging me here to this futile fight, Hunt!"

Dee pivots and storms out of the room.

I glare at my mother and hurry after my sister.

"Dee, please!" I touch her shoulder with my fingertips.

Dee stops as if I had used the force of a tow truck.

"I know she wasn't much of a mother, Dee. But she's dying now. If you don't want to do it for her, do it for yourself. This might be your last chance."

I don't care that the jelly has found its way into my voice now.

"I've been doing just fine without her, bro. I'm just not as forgiving as you are."

"I haven't forgiven how she abandoned us, Dee. But I understand now that the drugs and the alcohol were an illness, and now she's paying the price. Nobody deserves to die alone. She's still our mother."

Dee's eyes soften. "Remember how she took us to the park every Sunday? She always got us our favourite ice cream."

I smile. I also remember how I caught Ma scoring drugs from her dealer in the park not long before Dee and I were taken away from her. I sigh with relief that my younger sister never found out why Ma seemed to be such a good mother on Sundays.

Dee turns and heads towards our mother, whose eyes are shut. The doctor told me it wouldn't be long now.

Dee hesitates, then puts a hand on the top of Mother's head.

"It's so fine now, so clean. I was always so ashamed of her looks. She used to shout at me when I tried to make her look a little more like a mother. Her hair was thick and curly and full of tangles. All I wanted was to untangle the knots, but the carpet on her head was beyond repair." Dee swallows. "So's the fabric of our relationship, Hunter. I am so sorry!"

Dee gives Ma a light pat on the head and me a kiss on the cheek. The front door closing is the last thing I hear before the dam behind my eyes breaks.