Wildfire

Ten

  Pale and disoriented due to lack of appetite, she tumbled over her own toes, dirtying her clean white socks with spilt grape juice on her living room floor.
  "Mommy sit down, you don't look well." the four-year-old half-Caucasian child worried about her busy mother, pointing over at the couch so that her mother could take a seat and a breath.
  Taking her daughter's advice, a tired Elizabeth placed her bottom on her worn-out sand colored sofa, taking a breath before stressing out once again. If she wasn't stressing out over her job waiting tables night, she was stressing over the unexpected return of Aija. As a twenty-two-year-old, she had a lot on her plate to worry about while raising a four-year-old daughter on her own.
  Dumph, dumph, dumph, the door cried for attention from Elizabeth and her little Allison's overly sensitive ears. The tired mother of one rubbed her faint eyes as she tiredly lifted from the slumped couch.
  "That must be your grandma, Alli." Elizabeth exhaustedly smiled at her daughter, not really putting any effort into the smile as she had to save all her effort for work.
  Twiddling her hands while her face glowed with excitement to see her grandma, Allison became simultaneously hyper with joy and laughter as she jumped up and down in the air just for her Grandma Sarah.
  With her droopy, pale hands, Elizabeth twisted the doorknob, opening the door so her child's grandmother could come in. A small Korean woman walked into Elizabeth's small apartment, hugging Elizabeth during the process, but she wasn't in the mood for a hug as she was running late and extremely tired.
  Feeling nauseas herself, Alli's grandmother took a breath as she relaxed on the couch. Allison jumped on the couch beside her, giving small Sarah a little jump scare during the process.
  "Behave Alli," Elizabeth sternly looked at her four-year-old, "behave..."
  Too worried about being late for work or asking Sarah how she was feeling when she was actually feeling disturbingly terrible, Elizabeth ignored it ask as she went out the door, placing her white, cheap shoes on her juice covered socks. There was already enough on her mind, she didn't have time to deal with her daughter's grandmother too. Where was Sarah's deadbeat son? Did he ignore her health as he ignored the existence of Allison?