Mother & Son

[Year X437 - Norma]

A few months into middle school, Irma sighed as she tidied up Weisz's room. He always left it a mess, and lately he had been so grumpy with her for no reason.
Also, the shady faces she had been hanging out with lately at school didn't reassure her at all.

And all of this got worse when, tidying up that mess of a room, she noticed an unusual object under a pile of books. A small pack of cigarettes. Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't want to believe that her son had started smoking. Weisz, her kind and smiling boy, who had always fought to be better, was now setting out on a path that was far too dangerous.

And then... he had just turned 13.... Literally not even a kid and he was already ruining his lungs?

That night, she decided to confront him. She waited for him to come home, and when he entered her room, she followed him and closed the door behind her. With the cigarettes in her hand, she looked at him intently, her heart heavy and her face serious. "Weisz, what are these?" she asked, trying to stay calm, but unable to hide the pain in her voice for the huge disappointment he had given her.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, then he looked down, his expression already defiant. "And what does it matter to you, Mom?" he murmured, trying to sound indifferent. "It's something everyone does."

Irma shook her head, incredulous. "I can't believe it, Weisz. This isn't something you do 'because everyone does it'. You've always had a mind of your own!"
"Good, and my mind told me to do it. Now what do we do?"

She was so angry that she didn't even realize that her son's uniform was all crumpled and she had practically destroyed the school bag she had bought him with so much love and sacrifice.

"E-e...tell me, what's going on at school? I heard you've been skipping classes...and for what?"

"I was with my friends, you always told me to do it."

"Oh my god, Weisz! You're a smart boy, you don't need to become a... delinquent!"

Those words hurt Weisz like a knife, her face lit up with anger and she was terribly sharp in her response. "OH, SO NOW I'M A DELINQUENT?!?" she shouted, her voice full of resentment. "MAYBE IF I WAS A BETTER MOTHER, I WOULD NOT NEED ALL THIS!"

The words echoed in the room, hitting Irma like a knife in the heart. She couldn't speak, words failed her. His expression of disappointment and pain was evident, and Weisz, seeing that pain on his face, immediately felt guilty. But he was too angry to admit it, and continued
"WE LIVE IN SHIT, MOM! OUR HOUSE IS AN ABANDONED FARMHOUSE THAT YOU HAVE ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED, WE DON'T EVEN LIVE WITH DIGNITY BECAUSE WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THE MONEY TO EAT THREE MEALS A DAY! AND NOT TO MENTION THE RAGS YOU PUT ON US FROM THE FLEA MARKET!"

The woman listened in silence to that attack of uncontrolled rage of her child, now a real little man. And then simply told him

"I'm doing all this for both of us. Think about it."

Irma said nothing else. She turned and left the room in silence, leaving him alone. The blond boy fell onto the bed, his heart still pounding, but guilt was starting to creep up on him. Those words, "If only I had been a better mother," echoed in his head like an incessant echo. He knew he had been unfair, that his mother had always done everything she could for him, and yet, in her anger, he had said the worst thing possible to her.

When he left the room to get some fresh air, he found her in the kitchen, sitting alone, her hands on her face, her shoulders shaking. She was crying, silently, as if she didn't want anyone to see her. Weisz's heart broke. He wanted to apologize, he wanted to reach out and hold her, but his own shame held him back.

In that moment, he realized that he was the one who was wrong, and that, even if he didn't deserve it, his mother had always been there for him, never leaving. The boy slowly approached, placing a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Mom..." he whispered, his voice shaking. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean it."

Irma looked up at him, her eyes shining, and a small, sad smile escaped her. "Weisz... you are everything to me. I only want the best for you. But I need you to want the best for yourself, too."

Weisz nodded, pulling his mother into a tight hug. "I promise I will change, Mom. For you... and for me."

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