Finally Free [Gavin Free][Undergoing Editing]

Mummy and Making Amends

(Jane's POV)

Was it a bad idea? Maybe I should just turn around and forget about this. But your dad told you to do it and you don't want to disappoint him, right? My inner voice questioned me and I wanted to shove it back into the very depths of my brain.

"Okay." I breathed out and stepped from the car to stand in front of the rehabilitation centre my mother was at. The dark brown bricks were damp from the newly forming drizzle that clouded the skies, rose bushes outlined the yard to add a splash of peppery colour, and the glazed green grass was dotted with morning dew.

As I walked inside, the smell that first filled my nose was strong sanitation chemicals. Never had I been in such a cleaner building than this one--not even the hospitals could compare. The front desk was to my left with a plump, middle-aged woman sitting behind it, her dark blond hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her eyes were covered by square spectacles that slid to the end of her nose.

"Hi," I smiled. "I'm here to visit my mother."

"Name." She didn't even say it in a question. Her voice was monotone and the Chesire accent that flowed through her mouth was thick and slow.

"Violet Downing." I nodded and as she clicked away on the computer I suddenly grew very nervous. I wasn't exactly chipper when we last spoke at the hospital. I was still upset with her. How could I not be? She put my father through so much and she still considers alcohol to be her best friend instead of finding comfort in her family's arms.

"Um, I have a Violet McDonald." She said and I rolled my eyes to myself. Of course she changed back to her maiden name.

"Yeah that's her." I nodded.

"Okay, take a visitor's pass and she'll most likely be in the entertainment area." I thanked her and grabbed the sticker, writing my name in neat hand writing and placing it on my chest before I walked through the door to where my mother shoulder be.

Rehab patients strolled around the room, either chatting away with others or playing games of some sort. In a way it kind of looked like a mental institution, minus the security guards and nurses with heavy sedative needles. I scanned the room for my mother, trying to pinpoint her exact location.

A flash of dark, golden curls had my eyes lock on a woman in the back on a window seat, staring out into the gloomy morning. There she was. She wore a long, grey robe that brushed past her knees, her hair was loosely falling in strict curls, and her face held an emotion I couldn't quite explain.

My legs felt like rubber as I made my way slowly to her, fingers playing with beautiful ring on my left hand. She looked exactly the same the last time I saw her. She has beautifully aged, with only a few grey strands touching her golden mass. I knew my father still loved her and I wished they could reunite and be the way they were a few years ago, but I knew their fallout was the end of things.

"Mum," I whispered quietly as I approached her. The dark circles under her eyes had my stomach do a little flip. Her green eyes that resembled mine were dark, a shade of forest moss in the spring. "Mum, hi." I smiled lightly and sat in front of her, the cushion beneath me stiff.

"Hello, Jane. So quaint how you've come to visit me after all these years," Her voice was hoarse as it drifted from her throat. "I thought you disliked me."

I looked down and watched as the faint gleam of shaded lamp light had my ring throw off dancing rainbow patterns against the wall. "I came to...talk. To really talk to you and hear your side of the story." She turned to me then and she wore only a blank, pale expression that did nothing for my nervousness.

"Really?" She asked. I nodded and I sighed, running a shaky hand through my pink curls.

"Yes. I didn't give you a fair chance to explain yourself. I was more in tuned with what dad had to say and I realised I made a terrible mistake, mum," I looked up to her green eyes, taking in every speck and for that touched the green iris'. "I shouldn't have pushed you out of my life."