MayHem

Mother?

**Flashback 6 years** (Mahalah 10 years old)

As Mahalah sat on her bed reading one of her favorite book, she remembered that Victoria (her mother) would be in town. Instantly, she hooped off the bed and ran to the kitchen to retrieve her report card. She wanted to make sure her mother knew she was doing her best in school. See, unlike other children, Mahalah worked extremely hard to make her mother proud. She wanted everything to be perfect when she arrived.

(Victoria knocks on the door)

May: (Looks through peep-hole and opens door) Hello, I have my recent report card.

Victoria: (Walks in and sits suitcase on floor) Sit it next to my suitcase. I'm only going to be here for one night. (Walks into her bedroom and locks the door)

May: Ok...

Mahalah was used to her mother going into her room and locking the door. There was a distance between Victoria and Mahalah since her father died when she was two years old. Mahalah always thought that her mother hated her. All she wanted was a normal mother that would hold her when she cried. A mother that would teach her what it is like to be a woman. A mother that would be there for her when she got her first boyfriend. But most of all, a mother that would show her how to be a daughter. She felt that her mother didn't feel like a mother: more like a stranger.

The next morning Mahalah woke up alone. Seeing her report card was where she had left it last night, she knew that Victoria hadn't touched it. She worked very hard this year to maintain her straight As and for what? A mother who could care less if she flunked out. "Maybe next time", she thought to herself as she put the report card in a shoe box that held the previous ones. " I can't give up." Mahalah had hope that one day her mother would walk through that door and tell her that she was wrong. She would explain to Mahalah that she didn't know she had such an amazing daughter, and maybe tell her those words that Mahalah wanted to hear so bad, "I love you."