The Coat Hanger

ONE

The dull ring of her alarm clock in her ear startled Ella Winters. She opened her eyes reluctantly and threw her arm out to hit snooze. Before her mind was even fully awake she could smell the scent of cigarette smoke creeping into her room from the crack in the door. Mom's awake, she thought, throwing her blanket off of her. She quietly made her way downstairs, looking in all the usual places for her mother; until she found her sitting at the kitchen counter, cigarette in hand. Ella went to speak, but she noticed she was deep in thought, and decided against it. She walked towards the beautiful brunette, and set her hand on her shoulder lightly. Suddenly the woman once drowned in thought was pulled back to reality and she jumped as she focused on her daughters face. "Oh, good morning baby girl." She smiled, bringing her into a tight embrace. "Mornin, mama." Ella said sweetly, taking in her mother's calming scent of lavender and cigarettes. "Want me to fix you some breakfast?" The brunette asked, stepping away from her daughter and towards the stove. "Sure, just eggs please." Ella replied politely. Before anything else was said, a cellphone on the counter lit up and started to ring, "Ms. Lana Winters, it seems to be for you." Ella stated, handing her phone to her mom. Lana took it with a look of annoyance on her face, and stepped out of the room. "I'll be right back!" She yelled as she took the call in private. Ella busied herself reading the newspaper that her mom had left sitting on the counter, and became so engrossed in it she barely noticed Lana return to the room. "Alright, so eggs..." Lana started. "Fried, over medium." They said in unison, pulling a laugh from each of them. "So who was that on the phone? Are you going out of town again?" Ella asked, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. "Well... They want me to, yes. There's some story that they think would be good for me but... It's all about another asylum and I-" Lana's voice traced off, and her daughter could tell she was being thrown back into the past again. "Anyway, I just want to put all of that behind me. I'd rather be here with you anyway, El." They smiled at each other warmly as Lana went back to working on their breakfast. It was a bit odd for Ella to have her mother home on a Saturday morning, considering that always seemed to be prime time for news stories, but she was content with the company. Her mom had always been all she had, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

After about twenty minutes, and three batches of eggs having to be thrown out later, Lana had finally whipped up something close to edible, and set a plate down in front of Ella. "Thank you mom." She said with a grin, picking her fork up, and digging straight in. Her mom wasn't a great cook... She wouldn't even go so far as to say her mom is a good cook, but the one thing she could sometimes do well, was a fried egg. Lana sat across from her daughter, sipping on a cup of coffee. "Come on, mom. You gotta eat." Ella said, noticing Lana's portion of the eggs still sitting in the pan. The brunette sighed taking another sip of her coffee. "Maybe later I... I'm just..." Ella interrupted her, "I know, you're having a down day. I noticed when I came down this morning." Down days were the code the two had given to days where Lana's trauma from her past was just too much to handle. She wasn't able to do much on those days, and Ella was always more than happy to step up. "Have you talked to Marion at all lately? I haven't seen here around here in a while." Ella asked with a raised brow. "Now is not the time for this conversation El... I just... I haven't been talking to her much." Neither of them wanted to be the one to say it, but Lana was very noticeably in the midst of a bad depression episode. It had been going on for months, and her girlfriend Marion had noticed it too.
Ella chose to just nod in understanding, and she stood up and hugged her mother tightly. "I love you mom. So much." Lana felt tears welling up in her eyes the second the words came out of her daughters mouth, but she quickly wiped them away before Ella could see.
Lana pulled her daughter back, and held her shoulders firmly. Looking into her daughters eyes was the most calming and grounding therapy for her. She had thought that after having to carry around, and give birth to a baby that had been conceived under such horrific circumstances she'd never want to go through pregnancy and childbirth again. She soon found herself pretty lonely, though; and found it hard to hold down any substantial relationships. She knew that it was a long shot being approved, as a single- gay- woman, to have the procedure to be artificially inseminated, but she also knew if anyone could do it, it'd be her. She was determined, and on top of that a perfect candidate. She was successful, well known, and wealthy. There was no real reason for her to be turned away.
The pregnancy was anything but perfect for her. Riddled with morning sickness for the majority of it, and then put on bed rest towards the end, she began to regret her decision greatly. As the due date began to creep closer, Lana found herself lost in thought about the baby boy she'd given away so many years before. She began to again feel like she'd made a mistake, and she didn't know if this was something she could do. Yet, when the due date came, giving birth to her beautiful baby girl was the most magical moment of her life. The second she held her baby in her arms all the pain, and the trauma, and the heartache of the past seemed to just melt away; and for the first time she felt whole.
To this day, Lana knew that all it would take to get her through the rough days was just to look at her baby girl, and take in all the good she had now.

Ella had grown a bit concerned at her mother's locked in stare, and waved her hand in front of her face. "Earth to Lana." She said with a small nervous laugh. "I'm sorry I just... I love you too, El. More than you could possibly know." The two of them rejoined in one more tight embrace, before moving on to start their weekend.

The weekend seemed to fly by and next thing she knew, Ella's alarm clock was ringing again. "Leaving for school in 30!" She heard her mother yell, and she rolled her eyes. She'd waken up late. She quickly got dressed, and did what she could to get ready before her mom was banging on her door saying it was time to leave.
The car ride was silent, as both Lana and Ella were too tired to say much, but they still enjoyed each other's company. The bell was ringing as Lana drove up, and Ella jumped out of the car before it had even come to a complete stop. "Have a good day!" Lana yelled after her, shaking her head in amusement at her daughter's frantic hurrying. As Ella was running inside she felt as if there was someone watching her, but when she turned as she reached the main entrance she saw nothing other than the taillights of her mother's Chevy. She sighed, shaking the uneasy feeling away, and walked inside.

When Lana got back home she went into her office and shut the door. She stood for a moment, back pressed against the cool wood, until her knees felt weak. She slid down the door slowly until her butt hit the floor, and she buried her face in her hands. Her phone lit up, grabbing her attention, and she reluctantly listened to her voicemail again. Her publicist had given her an ultimatum; she either write the story over the asylum a few towns away, or she was fired. A single tear fell down her cheek as she kicked her legs out in frustration. She'd been struggling for some time, and everyone around her knew it, but her boss clearly didn't give a shit.

Ella finally got into class about 15 minutes late, and quickly walked to her seat trying to ignore her peer's eyes on her. She got settled in her desk, and was beginning to take notes when a loud ring interrupted the lecture. It took her a moment to realize it was her phone, and once she did she looked up to see the entire room looking at her. "Late, and disruptive today, huh Ms. Winters?" She held her head down and excused herself into the hallway to see who was calling. Nobody ever called her while she was at school. The number said unknown, but she hit the little green button anyway. "Hello?" She asked, putting the phone up to her ear. All she heard on the other line at first was silence. It took a moment, but she started to hear a low deep breathing come through the speaker, and chills traveled up her spine into the back of her neck. "Hello? Who is this?" She tried again, earning no reply. There was a sound resembling a chuckle on the other line, and then the call ended. She looked down at her phone, and squinted. It freaked her out, but she didn't have time to dwell on it, she had to get back to class.

Lana had been sitting with her back against her office door for half an hour, listening to her bosses voicemail over and over. She got more angry each time, and she could feel her blood boiling. In a moment of pure rage, she hit call back and waited impatiently while it rang. When she heard the line pick up, she didn't even give him a chance to get his full hello out before she spoke. "I quit. You don't get to fire me just because I don't want to take a story that you think I should. The story would not be good for me, or my mental health. I refuse to do it. So I quit, and fuck you." She didn't give him a chance to respond before she ended the call. She slammed her phone down next to her, and the reality of what she'd just done set in. She had been growing out of her job for a while as it was, and it was certainly time for something new; but she had just thrown her only stable source of income away in a matter of seconds.

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alright, i know it's been a long time since you've heard from me, and i haven't updated anything in FOREVER. i'm workin on it, just bare with me. in the meantime i got this idea for a story based on lana winters from ahs asylum, so enjoy. xx ily guys