♰ᕈᒪᗩﬡTᓰﬡᘐ ᔕᙓᙓᖙᔕ

3

After making contact with me and seeing how horrified I looked, he dropped his head back down. I bit my lip in nervousness. I don't want to make the wrong moves. I tried reaching for him but he winced and shrugged away. Mother really must've hurt him for him not to speak to me. I breathed in confidence.
"Hayes?" I asked calmly. He kept on staring intently at the floor. "Can you please tell me what happened?"
He suddenly jerked his head up and stared at me with welled up eyes and a furious expression.
"She hit me," he spat out. "She...she locked the door and suddenly pushed me onto the bed and screamed at me. Saying that I don't need to be sleeping with you anymore, that I'm not a baby anymore. I was scared Adrian. And then she smacked me painfully because I wasn't responding to her. The whole time I was just thinking of whatever happened to her for her to be so...heartless."
He let out a long sigh and looked away from me. I opened my mouth but I didn't speak any words, pondering my thoughts and wondering what I should say.
"Hayes, you understand this not your fault right? You did absolutely nothing wrong. Okay? Don't think that mom hit you because you did something bad. She is messed up right now. I need to figure some things out. You don't deserve this."
"Well I obviously did something wrong that made her mad," he said.
I took his face in my hands and looked him in his silver eyes, "You aren't the one that did something wrong. I will fix mom...I'll fix everything."
He then stepped forward and hugged me so tightly. He was so bony and fragile, I am surprised at how strong he really is.
     "Thank you," he whispered softly, "for always being here to stick up for me. I don't ever want you to leave...now can you make me breakfast? My tummy keeps grumbling at me." he chuckled as he wiped away at his tears and soon enough his mind was on food.
     I checked the time once more. "Um, actually Hayes, I don't think we have enough time for a real breakfast but I can fix you up something quick while you get your stuff ready for school."
He agreed and went over to gather his backpack and books. I spaced out for a bit wondering if mom went back to sleep or something.
"Do we still have any leftover chocolate donuts from Saturday?" he called from the other side.
This snapped me back to reality. "Oh yeah. Let me check."
I stood on my tip toes and reached for the tightly packaged donuts still sitting on the shelf. I took out a chocolate donut with Oreo crumbs for him and a powdered lemon one for me. I try to visit the shop after school on Fridays and spend the time having fun with Hayes. I try to give him opportunities to do things away from home.
     "Here you are, just where I left them. Now quickly eat."
     I handed him the donut enveloped in a napkin. He took quite a large bite. "Mmm. It's still as good as it was on Saturday." He smiled up at me, mouth full of chocolate. I couldn't help myself. I slid over to him and started tickling his little sides. He started laughing loudly and tried to escape but I never let go of him. "H-hey! I thought you were in a rush to get to school!"
     He did have a point. But it's moments like these when I remember that there is still an amazing reason for being such a hard worker in the family. Hayes and I have this bond that's never faded when the bad things started happening. I care too much for him to let silly things destroy our relationship. I don't know what I'd do if I was an only child right now. I probably would have ran away by now honestly. The only thing holding me back from leaving is Hayes. I think constantly about what is going to happen when it comes to my graduation. I want him to be in my hands forever. I want to know he is completely safe and cared for when I am gone.
I finally stopped torturing him and let him finish up eating in peace.
     I unlocked the doors to my car. He took his place in the back and before I shut his door, took a long look at him. My expression fell when I realized he was still in his pj's and had messy bedhead.
     So much has been on my mind, I was not so focused. All I was focused on was bringing his mood up so that he wouldn't show up upset for school. Life around the house has gotten so disorderly, that we forget to get dressed in the morning.
"Oh Hayes...," I looked at him sympathetically and tried to softly smooth his hair.
"It's alright, I don't want to make you late for school. I-uh...would've changed clothes but really I didn't want to go back to my room after what mom did. Figured the pj's would be good enough. At least I am clothed."
He shrugged and showed no sign of regret. I could still see the pink mark mother left behind on his cheek, however, it was starting to fade away. Thank God. I don't want any teachers getting suspicious.
     I still can't believe she did that, it's never gotten that far before. Even if Hayes did do something wrong, how would a slap make things any better? What would it solve? How would it make his actions improve?
     I closed his door and went over to the drivers seat. I climbed in and turned on the ignition.
     "If you find yourself thinking about what happened earlier with mom, just tell yourself that you forgive her and things will change soon. Okay? Are you ready?" I asked.
     He let out a long sigh, "I guess so."
     I bit my lip and spaced out. I don't know what to do about this. I keep telling him that things will change but I don't even know that for sure. I'm afraid I'm giving him false hope.
     I drove out of our driveway and headed for our school district. The sunrise was so welcoming and the misty morning air felt pure. There were streaks of vibrant pink, pastel purple, and orange all layered together across the entire sky. All blended, creating a harmonious masterpiece viewable for all who look up. I look forward to the sunrise everyday on my way to school. It truly helps me keep in mind to move on forward with the day. Everyday is a new, just like the combination of colors and patterns of every sunset I see.
     It is proof that this day is special and all that's past doesn't exist anymore. That this day should not be spent in despair by what happened yesterday or this morning. Twenty four hours of life shouldn't be dedicated to a moment that only lasted a minute. I'm not saying I bypassed all that mom has done but I'm sure not going to hold onto it all and live this cycle of feeling like I can't do anything about it but I need to do something.
     I looked at Hayes through the rearview mirror. He was looking down, wringing his dainty hands together. He usually doesn't hang onto things but I'm sure this was going to be a challenging day for him. Kids are going to notice. They're going to ask him questions he won't know how to answer. How was he supposed to answer them without mentioning child abuse? We shouldn't have gone to school but we shouldn't have stayed home either.
     We finally got to our school district and I pulled into the Montgomery Elementary School.
The lot was loaded of open car doors and teachers and children hopping out of them. Mother's were doing last minute pampering to their sleepy children. I saw some others walk hand in hand to the school entrances. People who come in contact with Hayes today won't have any idea that his mother had abused him before he came. There's lots of things people don't know about the people they talk to everyday. Who knows about these mothers? They might be putting on an act...
It looks too good to be true.
     ...Maybe there's no such thing as too good. I'm just so used to a good for nothing mother.
     I turned to look at Hayes one last time.
     "I'll be picking you up as soon as possible alright?"
     He didn't say anything. Just stared out the window, emotionless. "What are you thinking?" I asked instead.
     "I still can't seem to ever forgive her. This is all her fault. And you know what? This is the tenth time I've come to school like this. Except now, I look like there's something wrong with me."
     Hayes looked down at his clothes and shook his head in disbelief. He jumped out of the car and turned to me.
     I understood him and he probably didn't realize that but thank God I understood him.
     "H-have a good day," I uttered and I felt so silly saying it too.
     I looked up at the sunrise once more with tears in my eyes. I closed my eyes and I let out a little prayer that Hayes will have good friends and teachers that help put the incident with mother out of his thoughts. I opened my eyes again and rolled down my window, breathing in fresh air and letting it out.
     I suddenly saw something in the sky as I was still looking up. What was it? I squinted my eyes trying to make out what I saw. I couldn't believe may eyes. A cloud. But not any blob of fluff. There was a womanly face. She had the longest wavy hair and...there were huge feathery wings behind her. It was an angel...
     I blinked my eyes, looked away, and then laid my eyes back on her in even more astonishment this time. She was definitely there, it was crystal clear. She wasn't alone in the sky either. It looked like she was holding hands with a woman. Was it my mother she was holding hands with? I walked out of the car completely shocked. I stood there for I don't even know how long.
     When I looked at them, time was no longer relevant. The angel was just like the ones that were hung on our Christmas trees. Except this one had the face of a goddess and nature of the purest spirit no human could behold. I believed it was mother who was up there. This was for me to see. This was no smartly shaped cloud, this was something only meant for my eyes. I wanted to try to figure out what it was trying to tell me. Unfortunately, I got back to reality and realized school was about to start soon. I almost tripped as I walked to my vehicle with my face still up towards the sky. I looked out at the sky through my window once more. The angel was no where to be seen.