Their Masks

Their Masks (Mitchelle's)

Mitchelle knew there would never be a way in which she would have stayed in her home when her mother was there. She would never allow it after all she did.

And Mitchelle didn't blame her.

She had already made arrangements to stay in a hotel somewhere near town. That part was not a problem at all. The money she had now earned in her life of servitude would have no meaning.

The hard part was about to start now that she stood at the front of her home. It had been a week since she came back home that she finally got the courage to go to the house. She hadn't spoken to her mother in years. If she was correct in remembering, the last time was when their father was first admitted into the hospital.

But there was no way she was going to back out of this now. There was too much she had to do today. She had to try and come to terms with her father's ash-spreading ceremony, and find a way to make her mother allow her entry back into the family.
She was knocking on the door when she wished she had the strength of Marcus beside her. He had assured her that he would set his affairs in orders and follow her as soon as he could. That man was a blessing in Mitchelle's life and the girl knew it.

"Mitch!" her younger sister squeaked from behind the door before it was yanked open and her body squished in a hug.

"Lexi... Can't... breath..."

The blonde girl laughed as she loosened her grip. It might have seemed excessive to many people, but she had truly missed her older sister. Life had been somewhat cruel since she left.

"Took you long enough to come back."

"Well, I got here eventually didn't I?"

It seemed a cruel joke at this time in their lives. When Mitchelle last saw her younger sister, she was nowhere near as tall as the blond girl standing in front of her. But she had grown up to be a marvelous beauty. A mask that both of them had gotten from the woman who was somewhere in that house.

"Is she coming?" Mitchelle knew the answer to that question even before her sister's frown drew on her face. The woman was completely numb if she was not going to be with her husband's children for the final moments in this life.

"Maybe you can make her come,"

Mitchelle really doubted that as Lexi stepped aside and welcomed her inside. But maybe that was her purpose here today. It certainly wouldn't be to make her mother feel better. If she wanted her mother to have any peace of mind, then she would have been as far away from her as possible.

The two sisters were in the living room when Lexi pointed upstairs. Her destination was going to make her pass through all those photos of their once-upon-a-time happy family. They were a lovely sight. Painful, yes. But a lovely sight indeed.

Mitchelle was by her mother's bedroom door when the reality of what she was about to do struck her. She didn't know what would happen. She didn't want to cause her mother any more pain. But she wanted to look at her. She wanted to see her. Two feelings pushing against each other in her mind, neither one gaining any ground.

"I'll go first," Lexi's voice came from behind her as she gently moved her aside and knocked on the door before opening it. The room was just the same as Mitchelle had last been in it. The floral wallpaper was chipping away in some areas of the wall though. But Lexi had done a wonderful job of caring for their mother.

"Mama... Everything is ready. We just need you to come with us." Lexi made it sound so easy that Mitchelle had to look her way. Nothing at all was ready. Not even by a long shot was Mitchelle ready to go and spread her father's ashes to the wind.

Their mother must have had the same sentiment as her head rose slightly. She had been facing the window that overlooked the garden she liked tending too. From where Mitchelle stood, it looked well maintained. Lexi had done too much alone that it seemed Mitchelle needed to apologize to not just one woman in this house.

But she had no time for that when their mother turned around and her sharp gaze landed on her. Mitchelle could have given everything she had owned to leave that spot she was in. She detested her mother's cold stare whenever she was the cause of it.

But she had hid from it for too long. Four years too long.

"Mama..." Mitchelle had to have more to say to her mother. She didn't know what words to use. She didn't know how to tell her she was stupid for every single minute of the four years she had left her and Lexi.

And she was so angry about that that the tears flowed out on her rosy cheeks all on their own.

Their mother rose from her chair and came to stand arm's length from her eldest child. Mitchelle was surprised that her mother was not screaming at her to leave. She saw the woman raise her hand and she waited the warm comfort she had missed for so long.

But the sharp impact on her left cheek staggered her back. She had been a fool to think that her mother would be that forgiving.

"I told you to never set foot in this house."

She had. She had explicitly communicated that the last time she had been face-to-face with the woman like this. And just like four years ago, it seemed like the exchange was not going to be pleasant.

"I came to lay Papa to rest, Mama."

"That does not require you to step foot in this house. You lost that right when you left us."

"This is Papa's house too. I have every right-"

She didn't get a chance to react to the second slap as it made contact with her right cheek. Mitchelle acknowledged that. She didn't have any rights to anything in this house.

"You are not his daughter. You ran away from that honor."

"Mama... "

"No! I want you out of this house! And never come back!" Mitchelle would have allowed her mother to strike her again. If Lexi hadn't been in that room, who knows what the woman would have done to her daughter.

The two struggled for a while before the woman was overcome with a crying fit that she offered no resistance to her younger daughter restraining her. Mitchelle didn't expect her mother's pain to be this much. She knew she had hurt the woman, but it seemed that it was more than the pain of her husband's passing.

That realization sent Mitchelle on her knees. She didn't want to weep as she was about to ask for the only thing that her return would get her.

"Mama... I didn't come to ask for your forgiveness. I don't think you can ever give it to me even if I worked all my life to make amends. But the thing I ask of you is to pretend. Pretend for one day, Mama. Pretend that I never left, that I am not this disgrace in your life. Pretend to accept me for just this one day so we can bury the man we both loved with the peace and love he deserves in his final moments on earth. Anything that comes after that, I will gladly accept."

Mitchelle's mother had done everything she knew to raise her two daughters right. As young girls, she had taught them to understand when love was needed, and when understanding would suffice.

What the older one did was unforgivable to her. She could never find it in her heart to forgive the girl. But she was glad that the daughter had been listening to what she had been taught all those years ago.

For the immense love she had for her late husband, she would put on a mask and walk to his funeral. That was the best she could give this child of hers.