Living in the Shadow of Another Day

The Search

-February 27th, 1944

A young man walks in the pouring rain shivering. His wavy light brown hair was already drenched in water. "What kinds of place rains this much?.."He thought to himself while walking. He sighed to himself as he thought about what his mother would say about him being out in the rain. She worry about him to her grave.  The rain was beginning to pound him even harder as he got closer to home. He groaned a bit but continued his walk in determination. Matthew had to get back as to not leave his poor mother worried.  

Matthew Larkin took a more steps trying to ignore the feeling of being wet. He had more important things to worry about His thoughts drifting as the sound of his shoes hitting the sidewalk became a rhyme to him. 

Matthew's mother was a kind soul. Always doing everything for him. He felt like he could never repay her. Guilt filled his mind as he remembered the state of his mother. Sadness was in his piercing blue eyes.  His mom had been sick for a while, slowly getting worse as the sickness burned through her. Somehow, she still always cared for him. She would still be working on her bakery if he hadn't made her confined to the bed. He sighed, sure they had always not been the richest but they made ends meet. Without his mom's work in the bakery they would have no source of income. Matthew had gone searching for jobs but he didn't really have much options. There was factory jobs but he had always heard stories of abuse coming from them. He was pulled out of his thoughts once he realized he was finally home.

Matthew examined his small little house, looking over the details for a moment. It looked a bit run down with a few cracks in the old bricks of his childhood home. The door was still in working order despite the lock not  working. Matthew grabbed the door nob slowly, not wanting to disturb his mother if she was asleep. 

Matthew finally opened the door to find a kind smile waiting for him. He gave a small smile in the sight of his mother. Even the sight of her alive made him a bit happier.

"H-hey mom..H-How are you?.."Matthew questioned as he walked in taking off a small jacket that his mom had given him. He slowly sat next to next her in a chair.

"..Oh..I'm doing just fine -cough..-cough..Still a bit sick though...How are you?..-Cough Did you..-cough.. have any luck find a job?.."She asked with a smile between between coughs. His face was one of sadness as he was reminded of her condition. "Oh mama..."he fretted. He quickly grabbed another blanket and placed it over her frail body.  He had knew that she was getting worse, he hd seen the light drained from her sparkling blue eyes. The blue eyes was something he was happy to get from her, she had always had a special type of light in them that never seemed to fade. 

He looked over her in concern and nervousness trying to make her feel better.  She sensed his concern and stated "Honey, I'll be okay..I just want to here about how your doing...Don't worry about little old me..". He sighed for a moment before sitting back down. "N-no luck....M-maybe..I c-c-could search for o-other j-jobs in different regions."He confessed. His mom's smile never left her face. "That's alright..you really don't need a job..I'll be fine."She claimed. Matthew knew that the statement she made wasn't true. He just sighed. 

"M-mom..I do t-think that y-you need s-some rest..I-I'm gonna g-go back o-outside for j-jobs once the r-rain clears up." He declared. Matthew got up and looked through a window to see that the rain was clear up but it was still a bit cloudy. He opened the door and went off in search.

He walked down the alley and was thinking of jobs that he could do that would make a good living. The only thing that he knew was that he would die a million times before he would let that woman take her final breath.