Meet Kristal Jane Anderson.
The girl that feels as though she was stripped from all the joys of life on one ungodly night. A night that changed her whole perspective on love forever, a night in which she stopped believing in it's existence, a night...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aiden Vasilakis
My mother kicked me out.
I had insisted on staying the night but she kicked me out, telling me that she was fine, that she had woken up feeling brand new this morning. But deep down I knew that that couldn't be further from the truth, I knew my mother well enough to know that one of the things she despised most was being a burden to people. She would hold off on telling me things until it was unbearable for her to withhold.
Which was why it took her so long to open up about her illness. It was one of her weaknesses in life.
I stayed for as long as I could, trying to convince her that it would be best if I stayed over like I had done the night before.
"No, I am not letting you sleep on that couch again, Aiden, I'm fine I promise," She told me for what felt like the thousandth time but the stubborn and persistent part of my brain wouldn't fully believe it. She sat in her bed, her usual pile of pillows behind her back supporting her up as her hands worked skillfully knitting a top that she was planning to give her nurse, Candice.
Her knitting was a form of reassurance that she was feeling better than she was the day before when she didn't have the strength to do so. Yet I still couldn't bring myself to fully believe it.
Perhaps I was becoming paranoid, the inevitability of losing her was getting to me. The thought of losing her was on my mind every waking moment, it's all I thought about. Knowing that at any moment I could receive a call with the news of her passing was absolute torture, knowing that the only person who ever loved me unconditionally was living on borrowed time was eating me alive.
"You have to take me to one of your races soon, remember? I told you that I wanted to see you happy and I know how much happiness racing brings you," Her voice echoed in my ear, she had told me this right before I left her room, a soft smile was lifting her hollowed cheeks. She spoke in a tone of excitement and anticipation but I couldn't help but catch the underlying meaning of her request. She could feel that her time was near. And right as she told me that, a lump formed its way into my throat but I hid the turmoil going on inside me with a smile and a nod. Her smile only grew when I assured her that I'd take her to my next race which just so happens to be next Friday.
The chilly outside air hit my face, cooling me off and sending a wave of relief down my body that I didn't know I needed, I shut the front door to my mother's wing of the house and took a few moments to take in the fresh air. Inhaling the fresh air like my life depended on it and exhaling like all of my worries would leave my body alongside the carbon dioxide. The sun was long gone and the stars coated the dark canvas of the sky, that was one of the perks of having a house away from the city; the nights were always clear.
The door to my father's wing of the house opened, pulling me out of my thoughts. A large bush separated the two doors and made it impossible to see who was on the other side but that mystery was quickly solved when my father's grating voice filled my ears.
