𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫

[ 014 ] Depression.

        

     "HEY, mom, I'm depressed," Charles says to his mirror then sighed. "I have depression." He says and it still sounds unnatural. It's his mother, yet he still has to rehearse how to say it. When 7:00 nears, that's when he got to cooking because his mom gets off work around 7:30. He stuck to making some chicken, some rice and a bit of sides that were a mix of veggies, once everything was ready, that's when Sarah Dumont got home, sniffing.

"Char? You cooked?" She asked, setting down her purse and walking into the kitchen in her uniform, she works at Melvald with Joyce. "Yes." He says as the woman stood there, smiling while she watched her son set down the two plates full of food. "Wanna eat first before we talk?" She asked and he nods.

"Yeah, sit, I'll bring you some soda." He said as he pushes out one of the chairs so she went to sit, watching as he brings over the one litre bottle of Coca-Cola, setting down two cups he fills with the soda before sitting. "This looks delicious... where'd you learn to cook?" She asked teasingly as she picks up her fork. "When I got sick of microwave dinners or Eggos..." He says, chuckling at the way she smiled wider at him, taking a bite out of everything before looking up at her son.

Her 16 year old. She smiles, glancing down, "so... I actually had something to talk to you about too." She said as she raised her cup of soda, taking a bit of a sip and he stared at her expectantly. "Why were you at the clinic yesterday? Joyce told Will and I..." He says and she just smiles more warmly.

"That's actually what I wanted to mention, uh... I went there to look into foster care stuff. And they said we'd be perfect for it, since we have that spare bedroom and they don't have much foster families to send kids taken from homes and such... so, they're sending over a kid this Thursday. Her name is Rebecca." She says and he just stared at her blankly.

"We--we're a foster home now?" He asked and she nods, "mm-hmm. But baby, listen, I like having kids around, they're sweet, precious and remind us what life is all about. And... plus, she'd be better off here than some other place where they use foster kids for their own good, labor, abuse, whatever it is, she'd at least be safer here, you know?" She asked and he just nods. "How old is she?" He asks.

"Like... 4 or 5." She shrugged and then sighed. "So... you're okay with it?" She asked and he nods quickly. "Yeah, of course." He says and she just stared at him for a moment before glancing away, eating more of her food. The silence is deafening but Charles prefers it, thinking of how to bring it up. When they're done, Sarah insists she put everything away since he cooked. "Um, we could watch a movie. We haven't done that in a while." He stood up and she looks over at him.

"What about what you wanted to talk about?" She asked and he walks over, setting down the now empty cups that were once filled with their soda. "Oh, right..." He says quietly as she took both of the cups and he looks at her. "Ma." He says and she looks at him.

"Yeah, hun?" She says and he glanced down. "I think I have depression." He says quietly and waited as she just set down the two plastic cups gently into the sink. She turned to him. "What?" She said quietly and he looks up at her. "Um... you know, like... those weeks I'd just do nothing and just lay in bed. It's because I--I have these thoughts and then I just don't want to do anything. I never wanna get out of bed and stuff." He explained and she just softly nods her head, looking away.

"Your dad was like that... the nurses warned me if it runs in his family, it might... be passed onto you and I--I didn't wanna expect it because I didn't want that sadness for you, the same sadness that was in dad." She said as she put her hand over the back of his head and he looks away, softly nodding.

"So... what do you wanna do about it?" She asked in a quiet gentle voice and he looks up at her again. "Is it... okay if I get on medication for it?" He asked and he can tell by the face that shows on his mother's face for a moment, she doesn't like that idea, but she just smiles and nods. "That's okay, honey..."