Wildflower

5

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2142

Hushed voices in the hallway woke eight-year-old Liza from her slumber. She'd gone to bed late the night before, staying up with her mom and drawing various Pandoran wildlife, and had slept in much longer than she was usually allowed to. Pushing back her blankets and wiping her eyes, she stood and walked to the hall. René and Grace, her mom's coworkers and best friends, froze when they saw her.

"Good morning, Liza!" Grace said brightly, although her face had drained of all its color. Something was wrong.

"Good morning Grace." Liza looked at René, who had also gone completely white. "What's wrong?"

Grace closed her eyes. René glanced at her helplessly, then without warning, wrapped Liza up in a tight hug. She held him back, but soon pulled away. "What's happening? You're scaring me."

"Your mom," Grace said suddenly. Liza's head snapped toward her.

"Mommy? Is she okay?"

"Yes, sweetie, she's okay. She's not hurt. But..."

"She's gone." René interjected. It was then that Liza noticed the piece of notebook paper crumpled in his white-knuckled fist. "She left last night, after... after tucking you in. She wants to live with the Na'vi now."

Liza stared at René, then at Grace, who affirmed the former's statement with a somber head nod. She didn't know how to handle herself-- her head was spinning, and her heart was splitting. "Without me? Why didn't she tell me?" She doesn't love me anymore. What did I do wrong?

"I don't know, honey, I don't know."

Before she knew it, she was screaming, tears running uncontrollably down her face. René picked her up and cradled her. For a minute or two, she swung at him, trying to hit somebody, anybody, to make them understand how she hurt. But after a while, she gave up and surrendered herself to the pain. She slumped wordlessly against René, and Grace petted her hair soothingly as they put her back to bed. It wasn't much longer before Liza had cried herself back into a deep sleep. The next time she awoke, she would be a much, much different girl, and she would never see her mother again-- nor know what had happened to her.

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