LXXVII | Mother

❦

I keep
thinking

about Rowan's mother,

what happened
to her,

what Rowan feels,

how she copes with it.

Blindly fumbling around
and confronting it hesitantly.

I come home
after school early

for once.

Do my homework.

Play with my phone
until she comes back.

Since the man I call 'dad'
is gone for good,

she's home earlier everyday.

Her mood is better.

She comes home,
humming a weird song
really loudly.

With one high heel in a hand:
'Clyde? You're back early.'

'Mn.'

I want to shut myself
in my room.

This is awkward.

I remember
how foreign
my own mother's handwriting looked

on the divorce papers

and keep my feet
rooted to the floor.

I plop down on the sofa.

'What's wrong?'

Her voice drifts from her room.

The sound of
what's in her bag being poured out.
The sound of
clothes shuffled inside the wardrobe.
The sound of
hand-washing from the toilet.

'I want to talk to you.
'Are you free right now?'

Something drops to the ground
with a thud.

'What?'

I feel annoyed.

I go to the kitchen
and make two cups of tea.

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]