Phoenix Peak: The Darkness Within ~Aarmau AU~

~Never A Mistake~

*Play Song*

"Here you are, little one...." Aphmau recites like before, tucking a personal quilt further atop Lilith's petite body, although her figure was not that much shorter than Aphmau's. "Lucky you, you get the room with the best air conditioning..."

Lilith doesn't laugh, nor seem to acknowledge Aphmau's commentary, her eyes distant and her mind aloof as she scrutinized the unyielding tin roof above.

Aphmau sighs softly, a rueful smile at her lips as she adjusted her seat on the edge of the guest mattress. "Take it from the expert....the ceiling gets pretty boring after a while...."

"Huh?" The nine-year-old utters, blinking as if out of trance to meet Aphmau's comforting gaze, a tint of pink at her cheeks as she realized her embarrassing action.

"Heh....you have no idea the innumerable nights that I spent trying to take the quite dull rippling-design of the tin and imagine the flowing tulip fields of Amsterdam, or towering skyscrapers of NYC...."

Despite her clouded mind and dismal heart, Aphmau regards the noticeable curve at Lilith's lips, her plan of getting girl distracted working quite well. "What are you imagining they are?"

"The fields of my farm back home....sitting on the barn's roof right at sundown and seein' the change between night and day through the fields of corn....." Lilith describes with what seemed like renewed joy, her baby blue eyes alight with distinct delight.

"Is that your happy place?" Aphmau asks, the purring of the cool current escaping the air conditioner whispering around their conversation, the only other sound besides the outlying crashing of the waves at the shoreline.

"It used to be...." Lilith's expression fluctuates once more back to the misery, taking Aphmau's optimistic attitude down with her. "Until about a few months ago....my momma.....she was always yelling on the phone or at the farmhands....irene knows what about but one night.....she got in a real bad fight over the phone....part of me thinks it was my daddy because I don't ever remember her being so upset."

Aphmau listens keenly, her eyes focused as she absorbs Lilith's story.

"Then I remember her beggin'....like angry beggin' but still beggin' as if for her life....next thing I know, she got me packin' my bags, my whole life up, and we left and never looked back.....we have been hopping around different places ever since...."

"My momma said we were just goin' on a really long vacation but I knew better....we had lost the farm to someone....and had no place to call home..."

Aphmau pulls in her bottom lip as she tried to blink back tears, wanting to hear the ending of the story.

"I was never really close to my momma...but she was still my momma....she still occasionally read me bedtime stories and cooked me her world-famous pumpkin pie...she was a good person, but part of me thinks she wasn't meant to be a mom.....that I was a mistake she had to deal with along with her other problems...."

"Oh, sweetie...." Aphmau reaches out, unable to take it anymore as she engulfs the little girl in a firm embrace, Lilith tensing up at first, before relaxing into the hug, her tears soaking Aphmau's peach tank top.

"Never....think you are a mistake...regardless of how your mother showed it, she loved you...there is no way she couldn't have....and you said it yourself, she was a good person....so of course, she appreciated you and the thought must've never crossed her mind that you would be anything other than a blessing...."

Lilith sobs softly into Aphmau's blouse, uncertain on how to react as she digested this stranger's consoling words, shaking her head as she pulled away.

"Why....are you sayin' these things? Why are you takin' care of me...." Lilith questions, her heart trying to build a protective barrier, but Aphmau knocks it down with grace.

"Because...you remind me of myself at your age, too well actually...." Aphmau's somber expression then fades into a crooked grin. "Plus, I like to think of myself as a good person as well...."

Lilith giggles, sniffling as she messily wipes her tears with her wrists.

"C' mon...." Aphmau gestures, a lightbulb igniting in her mind, gesturing for Lilith to grasp her hand.

"Where are we going? It's getting dark outside...."

"Well, it ain't dark yet. C'mon...." Aphmau's grin only widens, her hazel eyes twinkling with faith. "We're heading up to the roof...."

A little mother-daughter moment for y'all, don't worry, you'll get you're aarmau.

Have a nice day my crystals!