A World of Colors

Chapter 12

When I get home after the stroll on the beach, the pollution is still fresh in my mind. I walk into the house, expecting to get a word-lash thrown at me as I would pass mom in the hallway.

It is barren. I push the front door open, and the lights are off.

"Mom? Anybody home?" I call into the mansion.

Silence.

I drop my backpack next to the front door. Sprinting from room to room, I find no signs of recent life.

The only room of the house that she possibly would have been in was her room. It was a mess. There were spills and snack foods all over the bed tables, the bed isn't made, and I can hardly walk on the floor because of how much debris covers the carpet. I try to clean up some of the mess. After clearing the floor and making her bed, I begin to clean her table. I reach down into the piles to try to move some of the snack wrappers into the trash, and I cut my hand. I lift up to find two papers in a book under the heap. That's odd- she never reads.

The first one talks about how my mom has bought a designer apartment on an extremely small cruise line. Looking at the details, it is only her and a couple of her old friends that bought shares on the boat. Strange.

I finish scanning the first note and crumple it up as I feel my anger overtake my better sense of judgment. Nothing is enough for her. Not the expensive dresses, or the humongous mansion, or her own family. I unfold the second note, expecting nothing better than before. Would it be another house? A car? Her shopping sprees never stop. What would it be this time? My anger boils in my thought as I accidentally rip the second bill. After I piece it back together, I take a deep breath and look at the item. What? That makes no sense. I look back at the cruise bill and find the time of the first departure. Then I stare back at the second bill and fit two and two together.

The cruise on the first bill sets out tomorrow. The second one was for a plane ticket. An hour ago.

She's gone.