Before You Know It

Chapter 15

That Saturday I groggily got out of bed and patted my way into the kitchen. When I walked in I saw mom sitting at the table, hovering over her steaming coffee mug. I looked at her little body buried behind her bulky bathrobe and her hair looked a mess.

I just continued past her as if I didn't realize she was sitting there and made my way to the coffee pot on the counter. I quietly grabbed a mug and poured my cup and felt her eyes on my back the entire time.

I turned around and began walking out of the kitchen when I heard her whisper, "Anne,"

I stopped abruptly in my tracks, not even turning to look at her.

"I'm sorry." She said.

I just stared at the steam coming out of the cup like it was as interesting as a book about WWII.

"If that is all you're going to say then I'm just going to walk away, mom," I said with a stern and bored voice.

She quickly got up and I could feel her facing me, "No, it's not all that I wanted to say."

I turned around and faced her. Her eyes were sunken and didn't have it's normal glow as they use to. Her hair was a mess and looked like it hadn't been brushed in days and her cheeks looked more sunken than normal, making her look like a skeleton. Looking at her made me feel like I was looking at the ghost that she once became after dad.

It took me back to the day that Jan and I came home after Jan walked me home from school. We walked around the house and couldn't find mom. We were so scared because her recent behavior had been crazy and distant, and exactly how it is now. She stopped being a mother and became more of a ghost. The house was completely silent but the only sound that we could hear after calling her name was the sound of water running. Jan sent me to my room as she spoke in a shaky voice that I had never heard before.

I just sat in my room and I heard Jan yell.

"MOM-"

The second I heard it I ran to my door and threw it open, seeing the bathroom door open wide open and Jan was hunched over something. I slowly walked towards the bathroom and got hit in the face with a rotten stench.

"Anne-" she started when suddenly there was a knock on the front door, pulling me out of my thoughts

Who the hell is at the door?

I pause and look at mom. She's just standing there staring at me. I can't pull my eyes away as I stare at her and picture her on the floor laying in her own vomit.

The knock came on the door again.

My eyes remained on my mother.

She looked away and walked to the door. She quietly unlocked the front door and cracked it open.

I heard a sad voice speak.

"Can I come in? Please?"

"Why yes of course. I'd never leave you out there." My mother said, in a voice that almost sounded like hers.

My mom walked behind the door and opened it more. Allowing Sophie to walk in. She had a large sweatshirt on, pitch black leggings, and her hair was falling all around her face.

She had bags at her feet and she looked like a fragile egg getting ready to crack.

When I caught sight of her I ran over to her.

"Soph? What's going on?" I asked as I grabbed her biceps and tried to examine her face.

She lowered her head and ran the back of her hand across her nose, "Stupid parents." She spoke in a low whisper. If I wasn't standing right in front of her, I probably wouldn't have heard her.