A collection of short stories by Tribias.
An extract from the first story,
As darkness falls:
One day, while my father was out, trying to earn for us, she was outside, cleaning the yard and I was inside, playing with the one toy my parents managed to get for me. As a six year old, it got boring after a while, playing the same game again and again and again, so I went outside to help my mother, but instead of cleaning, she was lying on the ground, her auburn hair tangled in the trunk of the old willow tree.
I rushed to her side and shook her, my naive little mind expecting her to wake any second, but even at that age, my instincts told me something wasn't right, why were her eyes open? Why were they so blank? I didn't understand until hours later my father came home and found me hugging my mother's cold corpse and sobbing.
Sixteen-year-old Anna embarks on a lakeside vacation with her overbearing mother, hoping for a break from her father's constant absence and her mother's smothering care. But a series of humiliating accidents force Anna to confront her vulnerabilities, while her mother's firm hand brings their relationship to a breaking point. As the trip unfolds, Anna struggles with the loss of independence and the looming reality of her mother's drastic solutions to her recurring issues. Through embarrassment, arguments, and reluctant compromises, Anna and her mother navigate the fine line between care and control, culminating in an uneasy understanding that will shape their relationship back home.