Home sweet...

A woman in her early 40s stood over a kitchen counter, chopping up vegetables as she prepared something. She had streaks of grey among her black hair and lines from worrying sat at various places on her face. At this moment, her brows were furrowed in concentration as she steered something on the stove and added the chopped-up vegetables. In a bowl nearby, chicken pieces sat in the dish. They were washed, cleaned, and ready to be added to the pot.

Just at that moment, a knock was heard from the front door.

"Who is it now? Is it Alden? He has been out for quite some time, I wonder what has been going on with that boy," The woman's brow furrowed even more as she began to fall deeper into thought.

She unlocked the door and pulled it open to find a shocking scene before her. Her son, his arm limp at his side, and scratches and bruises covered his skin everywhere on his body. The clothese he was wearing was a new pair, the old ones could have been torn, or bloodied. From how he stood, his mother was sure that there were more injuries in his body. What on earth had happened to her boy?

"Alden, oh my, what on earth happened?" The mother asked as her son fell into her hands.

"Mom," He said.

"Alden, tell me who did this? This has gone on for too long. This is too much," His mother said as she looked at his body, trying to make sure he was okay.

"Mom, listen..." Alden tried to calm his mother down,but she was not having it.

"You have to tell me...As a mother how can I just watch my son getting hurt again, and again and do nothing about it? How on earth do I bear...this?" Alden's mother was close to tears as she spoke. Rivers, lakes, and oceans of emotion threatened to break the dam wall and be released, and be released as some sort of destructive, cataclysmic flood.

Alden stayed silent before he felt his legs give out, his mother supported him as he knelt on the ground, Alden's face scrunched up inpain but the expression went as fast as it came. Alden smiled reassuringly at his mother.

"Mom, I..." He trailed off, his head lowering as he struggled to string together words that properly described his emotions. "I'm so sorry. I have been selfish, and I forced yo..."

Alden paused for a moment before he seemingly, forced himself to continue, "I forced you, and Dad to bear the weight of my problems. I made you worry, You don't have to worry anymore, mom...I'm..."

Alden's face expression changed as he struggled to stay composed, "I'm fine now. I'm fine. I'm so sorry mom, I'm so sorry that you have to worry because of...me."

The words scratched his throat like glass, they were painful to say, he felt every letter as he said it. Every letter, it crept from the deepest part of his heart and crawled painfully, painfully it crawled out to try and dorm something, something close to an apology. It struggled to take up the shape and form of Alden's regret and guilt, and that was the best it could do.

The strain, however, was far too much and Alden felt himself failing miserably to keep his emotions under control. Alden's mother who was paralyzed with shock, finally absorbed all that he said properly and she wrapped her arms around him, comforting him.

"It's fine, dear. We all have rough patches, in life and, it was our job to worry about you when you had your rough patches. I'm just sorry that..." Alden's mother stopped, and hesitated before changing her words. "We're sorry that you had to go through all that alone."

"No mom, its fine," Alden closed his eyes which were soaked with tears. "I was never alone, I just never saw that."

And they sat there, cormforting each other, until his mother remembered.

She left some food on the stove.