Weightless

Nine.

1993

After Olivia arrived home after giving birth, everything quickly went back to normal with Serena and her usual ways. Olivia was left to her own devices and left to attempt to make peace with herself and the decision she had made.

Most of Olivia's days since then had been a blur of pain spending most of her time held up in her room. Her mother had never really explained what she should expect in the recovery process after giving birth, let alone be there to support her daughter through one of the hardest moments of her life.
Olivia was exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally.

Abbey however was Olivia's saving grace. Olivia wasn't blessed with a typical mother figure in Serena and Abbey knew that from the beginning, so she felt somewhat responsible for Olivia as they had grown closer in the short amount of time they had known each other.

It was a Thursday night, late in August when Serena had arrived home in a particularly foul mood. She had a rough day at work and was desperate for her poison of choice. She managed to pull a fresh bottle of vodka from her stash at the top of the kitchen cupboard. The once full bottle quickly vanished in no time at all as Serena found her way to the couch to pass out for the night. Olivia had decided to emerge from her room after she heard silence for a while in search of a small snack for dinner.  As she made her way through the lounge room she saw the familiar sight of her mother past out on the couch clenching a bottle of vodka. Olivia stood in front of her mother's sleeping figure and watched her for moment. She looked almost peaceful, without a worry in her drunken state. She wondered how this was her life, how this was the norm for her, if she would ever amount to anything more than living in the shadow of her parents dark past.

Was there anything more for her in this world.
After a brief moment Olivia began to clean up her mothers physical mess she had left behind. She picked up all of Serena's papers she had brought home to grated that had found their way to ground, she then picked the bottle of vodka up and headed for the kitchen and began to clean up the trail of mess. Olivia picked up a few dirty dishes and placed them in the sink, as she moved the dishes they fell making a loud sound in the process. She swore at herself internally hoping she didn't wake her mother in the next room.

Serena stirred on the couch as she began to wake up. She saw the light on in the kitchen and knew the reason would be her daughter. Serena stumbled to her feet, using the wall to gain her balance as she attempted to make her way to the kitchen. The alcohol was still fresh in her veins but she wanted more. Olivia was quietly putting a glass away when she heard her mother enter the kitchen. Before she could even turn around her mother snapped.

"Do you even know what time it is?" Serena slurred.

Olivia wanted to rebuttal by asking Serena if she even knew what time it was but knew that wouldn't end well. "Sorry. I went to Abbey's after school, she was helping me out with some school stuff."

"Of course she was." Serena snapped as she moved further into the kitchen.

Serena had a sense of jealousy towards the woman.  She knew she wasn't the mother Olivia needed her to be but didn't want to be replaced by another woman. She saw the way Olivia eyes would light up when she mentioned Abbey.

Olivia should had known better than bring up the subject of college to her mother. Even though her mother worked at a college, it was never made to be an obvious option for Olivia to attend.

"So.." Olivia started as Serena found her vodka bottle, "Abbey and I were talking about colleges, where I might be interested in applying. I was thinking it's a good time to start applications, you know, get a head start on it all." Olivia spoke carefully.