Home is not a house

Chapter 40

Tw for this chapter: Mention of suicide, suicide attempts, death, abuse

Tommy landed in the front yard. He winced as he felt his ankle fold the wrong way. But he ignored the pain and looked at the house, hoping that the noise wasn't going to raise suspicion. After a moment he turned the other way.

Tommy took off running down the street, glancing behind him every once in a while until he was out of the neighborhood.

Did he have to sneak out? No, he could have asked for a ride.

Was he thinking at all about anything other than seeing his mom before it was midnight? No.

The only thing on his mind was how he couldn't miss seeing her.

So he kept running. Once he made it to near the highway he knew exactly where to go. The one good thing about living in the same town was he was always able to visit her.

And he did. Only once a year would he make it to her grave. The day she passed, which just happened to be Christmas.

That's another shit thing about loosing your mom, is when you loose her on the one day where you're supposed to be happy with family.

But at least he was able to have a moment with her each year. And if Tommy was any later he probably would have missed it.

Turning down a very busy road he spotted the cemetery. He stopped for a moment outside of it and wheezed. Running a long distance wasn't hard, but it took a toll on him.

If he was in his right mind he would realize that he ran over 2 miles in 10 minutes.

But he wasn't in his right mind.

Tommy walked over to the gate, opened it and walked through it. He knew exactly where to go from there, down the path, past 22 graves and then turn a left. Walk past 5 more and there she was.

When he reached the grave he smiled softly, brushed off any leaves and dirt that had fallen on the stone and sat down.

"Hey Mom." Tommy smiles, looking down at the stone.

Jamie Shroud

A daughter and a mom

Gone too soon

"How are you? Sorry it's late tonight, I almost forgot. But I didn't, I remembered." Tommy smiled. He took a deep breath. "Lots happened since last year, guess I gotta catch you up huh?" Tommy laughed a bit.

The sudden noise of the gate slamming shut made Tommy look up, but it was just someone leaving. Tommy watched for a moment as they walked away on the other side of the gate. Tommy hadn't even seen another person in the cemetery but then again, he wasn't in a good mind set in this moment.

Tommy looked back down at the stone and scooted a little closer to it. Like he was going to whisper secrets like a child on the playground in school.

"Well let me think, went into three houses this year, and the group home three times before this house that I am currently in. Most of them were shit and abusive, so that doesn't really matter." Tommy smiles, but he lets his smile drop for a moment.

Would his mom really want to hear that? What mother wants to hear about their son being abused?

"But don't worry, I'm strong. I made it through those houses. But this one, this one is special mom." Tommy had a smile on his face again.

His mom would want to hear about this house for sure.

"It's a family of three, Phil is the dad, Techno is the oldest and Wilbur is younger than him. Both the boys are in collage, and Phil has some tech job that I don't entirely pay attention to." Tommy giggles softly.