Abigail's heart dropped, her vision swam for a brief moment as she tried to make sense of what she had heard. She didn't even know that her mom had still kept in touch with her father; kept in touch after all this time.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" This couldn't be happening. "I didn't even know that you two were still in contact together." Her voice sounded far away to herself, almost as if she wasn't the one talking.
"We weren't. I got the invitation to his funeral the day we moved." She answered quietly.
A memory flashed through Abigail's mind of that day, a little more than a week ago, when they had left behind everything she had ever known. She was sitting by her mother's bedroom door, listening to her crying. At the time, she had just assumed that the tears had stemmed from her rocky relationship with her mother before the move, and the fact that moving day was upon them had just pushed her over the top. Her mother had had something in her hand then. A paper. And in an instant; it was as if someone had flipped a switch on, everything fell into place. Her mother had been reading the invitation to her father's funeral.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? Why do you always keep things from me?" The threat of her tears spilling out had been quenched as anger started to build up inside of her.
"I didn't want to hurt you. You were having such a hard time adjusting to the move."
This was news to Abigail; she thought that she had been covering her tracks well. Sure, there had been a chink in her armor today, but she thought that had been the first.
"I'm fine mom. Honestly." She knew it was a futile attempt, how could she make her mom believe that she was okay, when she didn't even believe it herself?
Her mom scrutinized her, her eyes slightly pained, but filled with love.
"Okay honey. I'm sorry. Don't worry; I won't keep anything from you anymore."
Abigail nodded in understanding. Her anger had ebbed away to be replaced with sorrow for her father's death and an unexpected warm feeling of love towards her mother.
"Thanks mom." She absentmindedly began to twirl her spaghetti around her fork again; it seemed to help her sort out her jumbled mess of thoughts and feelings that were running through her mind. "Do you know..." She paused, swallowing the hard lump in her throat. "Do-do you know, how it happened?"
"No. I tried calling his house after I got the, you know...hoping maybe a family member was there, but no answer." Her eyes were glistening with tears.
"Okay, thanks." Abigail wanted to talk about it, about everything that had happened since the move, but she could sense that her mother was too shaken already. For some reason, she didn't feel the way she imagined her mother must feel. She loved her dad, yes, but maybe it was the fact that he had abandoned the two of them. If he hadn't left, her life probably wouldn't be like this now.
The awkward silence was back. This time, however it wasn't filled with tension, but with grief and the anticipation of unshed tears.
"Good dinner." Abigail said, not looking up from her bowl of food. "You're right, spaghetti is my favourite." She glanced up and saw her mother smiling slightly.
YOU ARE READING
(You are Never) ALONE
Teen Fiction"Sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, it takes more than just yourself to do it." It's a story about love, about hardships, about hope, but most of all about finding yourself especially when you never thought it was possible. Because ever...
