moonlight | c.r [2]

05.

After quickly purchasing two plane tickets to Los Angeles, California, ignoring friends' calls and texts, and barely having time to say goodbye to her boyfriend- less than twenty-four hours after finding out about her parents' divorce via E! News, Sydney stood next to her brother, the two of them in front of their childhood home. And, she was certain she'd never felt more out of place.

She was supposed to go back in November. Just like most years, she'd stay over in L.A for Christmas and New Years, spend January, February, and March there, and go back to Georgia in April to film. Lonely Christmas mornings where she'd sneak out of the quiet house and spend the day shopping for herself and her friends became a tradition. She'd receive texts and calls wishing her a happy holiday, the warmth and coziness of the season that her friends seemed to experience being nothing short of foreign to her.

She wouldn't even attempt to call her dad- who, yes, wasn't home for Christmas, because once again work was more important. That's what he told them at least, but no one in his household was stupid. They knew he wasn't spending Christmas alone, even if his supposed family was. Her mother was nowhere to be seen most Christmases- either out doing whatever it was that filled her empty days when Sydney wasn't home, or she was locked up in her lonely room, like a moody teenager.

Sydney always eventually called her brother. Skyped him or just chatted over the phone for hours on end. Complained about the cold, dead house she had to be in. Complained about how she struggled to find presents for people. Complained that she couldn't be with Axl this time of year. Kept how alone she really felt to herself.

Being back 'home' was never something she was excited for. But it was something she accepted. So, Sydney was ready to go back in November. It was routine, she was used to it. Until Axl suggested she didn't. "I know it kills you to be there. And, you're not the only one alone on Christmas, I'm here too, Syd. Maybe, you could ask Mom to stay this year."

She almost felt guilty about leaving her mother. This time truly alone on Christmas. In a big house with no one to fill it, Alexandra Evans would be the definition of lonesome. But, this was the woman who abandoned her youngest child every holiday. Not like Kevin did, she wouldn't physically leave- but she would be absent. Just like Sydney had given up on her father, Alexandra had stopped trying.

She couldn't even pretend. She'd throw faux smiles at half filled dinner tables made for four, but when the holidays rolled around, the woman was a wreck. Her credit card would turn into her best friend, and so would a glass of wine- or two, or three.

And Sydney knew things were bad when the house wasn't quiet. Like an unseen monster rising from a deep slumber, if her mother was anything but silenced, that could only mean one of three things: