Lighter

e i g h t

every moment's relevant,
bittersweet and delicate,
tomorrow may not come a g a i n . . .

⚡️⚡️⚡️

"Mom!" I squealed happily, running through our front door out of breath due to the walk home from school. My head spun around in every direction searching for her when I heard her call me from the kitchen. "Mom, guess what?"

"What's up, sweets?" She took a second to finish pouring Haleigh's cereal, who was in her highchair at the table, then my mom smiled at me.

"I got first place in our class spelling bee today!" I cheered the good news, my whole body bouncing with joy.

My mom's smile stretched into a proud grin as she gasped, "That's so great, Savannah!" She bent down to squeeze me in a warm hug. Haleigh giggled, oblivious to whatever we were talking about, and decided to fling a couple of Cheerios at us. I couldn't help but laugh, while my mom tried to stifle her own laughing fit. "Haleigh Grace," she gently scolded her.

"Are you sure she's my sister? Because I would never do something like that," I gloated.

"Says the girl who never wants to eat her dinner," my mom retorted, the loving smile on her face not slipping once.

I sheepishly grinned back, and decided to take a seat at the table with Haleigh. My mom crouched onto the floor to pick up the bits of cereal, but she stopped abruptly.

Then she was just staring at the ground, a dazed look on her face. I watched the sparkle in her eyes fade away until they were just a dull green, something that I hardly saw from my mom. Even when she was a little sick, she never went a moment without a beam of light on her face.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

She snapped out her trance with a rapid shake of her head, dark curls swaying back and forth. "Y-yeah. I'm fine, sugar," she stuttered, glancing at me for a moment. There was an uneasy smile on her face now. That tone of her southern accent didn't fool me.

I continued to stare at her as she carefully picked up each Cheerio, her hands shaking ever so slightly, which made it hard for her to hold onto the tiny pieces. Once she got them all in her palm, she just sat there, hunched over on the floor. Again, her eyes glazed over and this time, they started to flutter.

Something was wrong. My ten-year-old brain couldn't process what it was.

The front door opened and quickly shut, signaling that my dad was home from work. Him calling out so proved that to be true.

Before I could do anything to react, my mom fell to the floor with a loud thud, the Cheerios splayed across the tile in every direction.

At the sudden sound, my dad came running into the room. "What was that? Oh my God." His frantic cry had me standing up from my chair and looking over at my sister. She was observing the scene before her, little mouth hanging open and a spoonful of cereal in mid-air. My muscles were frozen at the look on my dad's face as he shook my mom's limp body. "Leigh," he cooed, cradling her head in his lap. "Leigh, baby, come on."

"Dad?" I whimpered, ignoring the tear that just slipped from my eye.

He didn't answer me right away. Instead, he put his fingers on the side of my mom's neck, a deep sigh leaving his lips as he shut his eyes. They flashed open in an instant and were aimed at me. "Savannah, what happened?" He demanded, a hint of softness in his voice.

"I-I don't know. We were just talking, she was picking up the cereal off, off the floor, then she fainted," I stumbled over every word, a blubbering mess by the end of it.