Where They Go

Chapter Thirty-Three: Listen

It was now the start of September.
School was going to start in a few weeks.

Erin sat in her hanging chair, looking out the window, daydreaming.

It seemed like deja vu.
Around this time a few months ago, her mother entered her room and told her to go outside, where she saw the moving van drive past her.

Speaking of her mother, she saw Carol pull into the driveway after her work day had ended.
Another day had passed and they still hadn't properly talked about the situation with Erin and Zoey.

Erin sat in that same spot for a while, when she heard Carol's footsteps going down the hallway.
Her mother hesitantly stopped in front of the door, then knocked on it gently.

That was strange, really strange.
Erin had never heard her mother knock on her door.
"You can come in." She said after a couple seconds.

Carol stepped into the room.
"Can we talk about something?" She asked.
Erin looked at her curiously.
"What is it?"
"It's about Zoey."

Erin didn't know whether to feel anxious or hopeful upon hearing Zoey's name.

"What about her?"
"Well, I talked to her mother the other day when I went to take Zoey's sweatshirt back." Carol said, sitting in front of the hanging chair.
"What did you talk about?"

"We talked about you and Zoey, what happened the other day."
"Oh." Erin said after thinking for a moment.
She wanted to know where her mother was going with this.

Carol sat silently for a bit, thinking over what she was going to say.
"Erin, I'm sorry."

Erin didn't know what to say to that.
Carol wasn't one to apologize often.
"What are you... sorry for?" Erin asked.
She knew the answer, but she wanted to her mother say it. She wanted to hear her admit that she was wrong.

"I'm sorry for... a few things, actually." She said. "I should knock on your door. You deserve your privacy."

This was a good start. Erin was happy with where this conversation was going.
"Anything else?"
Carol nodded her head slightly.
"I'm sorry for... causing such a scene the other day. Whatever you have with Zoey isn't a bad thing, it never was a bad thing. I just have my own views that I need to work on."
"Thank you for saying that." Erin said.

"You're welcome. If you love Zoey, then that's... okay with me. I want you to be happy more than anything."
Erin smiled at her mother.

After the events of that day in her room, she never thought that Carol would be okay with her loving Zoey.
Sharron must've really opened her eyes.

"That's good. I do really love Zoey and she does make me happy."
"I know she does, sweetheart." Carol said, smiling. "That's why I'm giving this back."
She pulled Erin's phone out of her pocket.

"Thank you." Erin said, holding the phone in her hand. "Am I allowed to call her?"
"Yes. You can visit her, if you'd like. You haven't seen her in a while." Carol said. "I'm sorry for that, too. It was wrong of me to deny you time with her. I was wrong about this whole thing."

Erin pushed herself out of her chair, then hugged her mother.
As of right now, she couldn't fully forgive her.

The painful sting of getting called all those terrible things and being told that her love for Zoey wasn't real would take time to fade away, even if Carol didn't have that toxic mindset anymore.

Even though she wasn't in the place to forgive her mother, she was happy.

She was happy that for once in her life, Carol admitted that she was wrong, and she was happy that Carol listened to her.

Carol let go of her, stood up, and started to walk out of the room, saying that she had to start dinner.

But as she exited the room, she subtly pulled something out of her pocket and sat it on the ledge of Erin's television stand.

Once she was out of the room, Erin went over to the ledge and looked at the item.
It was a small, rainbow pin. Stuck onto the pin was a folded up sticky note.

Erin unfolded the note. It read:

I know this button isn't much, but I want you to know that I love you no matter who you love. All I want is for you to be happy.

Love, Mom

She held the pin in her hand for a moment.
This small pin was her mother's way of saying, "I accept you". That made her incredibly joyous.

For the first time in a while, she felt happy.