Inhaling Alongside You✔️

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Past That Reigns

"Why are you leaving mommy? Daddy why is mommy leaving us?!" I frantically ask, desperately reaching for her.

Her eyes never once look into mine as she tries to construe her sudden departure.

"Mommy has to go get better okay? Mommy has to heal princess" She speaks softly, gripping at her duffle nervously.

"She doesn't need your sorry ass excuse Jessica! Just get the hell out of here!" Daddy spits, gently throwing me over his shoulder.

"Robert! Don't speak to me in that why in front of our child!" She defends, dropping her duffle furiously.

Mommy and daddy always argued. But they always would love each other and worked it out, now she's leaving us. All because of daddy.

"Bull shit! She isn't your child. No child needs a drug addict as their mother dammit! Get out of here Jessica or this time I will call the authorities!" Daddy screeches, turning to walk away.

"You son of a bitch! I swear I'm going to get better and when I do, I'll see you in court for our daughter!" She fumes, scooping up her duffle.

With silence as daddy's reply, she blows me a simple kiss and leaves.

From that day onward, I waited for her after every practice, after waking up each morning, and after returning home from school. Each day I waited, each day she never emerged. The day I gave up was the day I realized I was finally abandoned with my mother.

Also on the day I surrendered my hope, I vowed silently to never do the same to my own child. Never will I abandon my child the way my mother abandoned my father and I. The past will not become a repetition.

Each night I dream of the sweet memories I have of my mother. Jessis Genivia Rose, a beautiful wild flower who shone brightly beneath the lights of a stage. She danced, she sang, she acted. She was a perilous and a jack of all trades. Compassionate, feisty, and even the more selfish. At her prime, she was beginning to sprout among the other young starlets whom were also young proteje's.

But, she was different. She had something that the others didn't, stage presence. The others could not captivate an audience the way that she could. The other's could not receive the grace of an standing ovation the way she did. The others were simply unable to measure against Jessica Genivia Rose. The others also couldn't capture the heart of Robert Lee Edmond as she did either.

When my parents met, "It was love at first sip", Father would explain when I asked as a young girl. " We met during a meet and greet in Europe. Your father just waltzed over to me and said..." Mother would lull in giggles, waiting for father to complete her sentence. "Well aren't you the nicest belle of the ball. How about I buy you a drink and you tell me your name, while I marvel over your beauty eh?" Father would reenact. I would only smile as I watch my mother and father in their happiest moments, reminiscing of old times.

In those moments, we were an happy family. The entire New York knew this. But what New York and I didn't know, was that mother and father were struggling. Mother was severing countless injuries due to her late night bar corals. Father was struggling to lift his dance studio up from the ground. Times were getting hard, and so was family life. Laughter evaporated into the air only being condensates with scowls and bickering. The Edmond's household was falling apart before my eyes and the result, my mother grabbing a duffle bag and promising on a return.

That return never happened.

"Jesse? I just came to check on you before I go on sta... Jesse what's wrong?" He asks, entering the dressing room.