Days With Zion Dawsey

8. Upset

"Have you told my mother that the food is almost done?" Zion asked Margarine right before she left for the kitchen. The elder woman turned to him with surprise and then shook her head.

"I thought she would be downstairs with everybody else." She answered and Zion nodded.

"Alright, I will go and tell her." He said and the maid nodded before leaving. And so he made his way upstairs.

When he saw her room empty, he didn't think twice before he opened the door to his father's old office. And there she was, sitting in her late husband's chair, sobbing while looking at old photos of her family.

"Mother, everybody's downstairs having a good time. Why are you here, crying over old pictures?" Zion was annoyed by his mother now. Did he have to remind her that they only meet like four times a year?

"I'm not crying over the pictures. I'm crying because I don't know what to do. I don't know why you are the way you are. I just don't know anymore." Sheryl sighed before closing the photo album she was holding.

"We were far from perfect. Our family was never a happy mediocre family. I mean, you know that more than anybody else. You and I, Zion. You and I are the only ones still alive. Yet you treat me like a distant cousin, that you have to talk to every once in a while because we're related." Sheryl said and Zion clenched his jaw.

"To say I don't know who you are anymore would be an understatement. I don't even see a glimpse of my little baby boy in you anymore. I don't see the mischievous boy that loved watching his mother bake, that loved annoying his father to the core or the boy that looked up to his big brother anymore. None of that." She shook her head and wiped her cheeks again.

Zion watched his mother stand up and walk past him into the hallway. He was angry and followed her.
"You don't bake anymore, father is not here to annoy and Kai is not here to look up on! Do you realize I'm only doing this to protect you? I know I remind you of father and Kai. I know that it hurts you to think about them and you say it enough that you don't like how much I work. That I'm like father. I'm doing this for you!"

"In what twisted universe would it be better for me not to see the only son I have? To have lost my firstborn and my husband within a week hurt me. It almost ruined me, but I knew I had to be strong for you. That you're the only one I still have! I know you're cold-hearted nowadays but just imagine losing your whole family. You'll hopefully never know how it feels to lose a child, it shreds your heart to pieces!"

"And having your only child turn his back to you after that is close to worse! You're all I have, Zion. Do you not understand that? And I feel like each year you slip a little farther away from my reach."
"Mot-"

"Do I have to die for you to realize that what you're doing is not even close to helpful?"
"Don't say that!" Zion's loud voice stopped her. He was fuming, his face was red and his fists were firmly balled up as he took a step towards his mother.

"Do not ever say that again." He warned her in a low voice.

"I am your mother, you do not just tell me what to do and not to do. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear it but I'm not getting any younger. All I'm saying is that I am here now." She sighed before reaching up with her left hand and cupping his cheek.
"I want you to know that I'm here for you, Zion. You're my only son, I love you more than anything in this world." She closed her eyes and then turned to leave.

"Come on, the food is almost ready." She said over her shoulder. Zion gulped and then shook his head before stopping her right before the staircase.

"Would it make you happy if I brought her back?" He couldn't stand to see his mother like that. Right now, he would do anything to just have her smile again.

And from the looks of it, Ebony Stewart would do the job.