Chapter 3: Why Can't You See It?
My Mother left me and my brother when I was just 10 years old.
Neither of us knew why. One morning we woke up and she simply was no where to be found. She had abandoned us for no apparent reason. She left no note and hadn't made any effort in finding us or making any contact in the past 8 years she had been missing.
Everyone blamed themselves. Even people she barely knew.
Connor held out an old faded photo no bigger than a small child's palm. A photo I had never seen before now.
I looked up at him, and tried not to laugh, but I llet a small smile slip. That was a mistake.
"Look!" he shoved the tiny photo into my hands.
I stared into the eyes of my mother, cold and empty.
"What am I even looking for Connor?!" I demanded, getting sick of his games.
His head snapped up, his hands dropped to his sides and he stared blankly at the photo.
Then slowly he shifted his eyes to me.
"You don't see it?" he accused.
"Oh God, you don't see it".
He started panting, back and forth, back and forth.
He was really starting to scare me. What was he going on about? I check the photo again, maybe I missed it.
I saw only my mother, cradling my small baby self in her arms.
Not looking at her child like she should be, not smiling, not happy, but simply staring blankly, straight at the camera that sat in front of her.
I could still hear Connor in the back of my mind.
Repeating the same thing over and over.
"She can't see it... why can't she see it?"
"See what?" I whispered to myself as I continued to search the photo for anything that wasn't simply right there in front of me...
