Shooting Stars (a TMF fanfiction)

Practice (October 29th, 2020)

((Hailey's POV))

We got through practice well after Jake arrived. We rehearsed our song, 'Starlight' for about an hour before we decided to take a small break. "My throat hurts after singing that long!" Jake complains. Milly nods. "Yeah, my fingers are in so much pain right now." She says. I look at the both of them. "We need to sound
great for the competition. And besides, the competition is in a few weeks. We need to practice as much as possible!" I tell Jake and Milly. "Hailey is right. We need to practice tons these next few weeks." Says Sean. I hear a ringtone coming from Jake. "Oh, it's Drew." He tells us as he answers the phone. We all roll our eyes.

"Drew, I'm at a rehearsal."
.....

"I can't just leave because you want dating advice with Zoey!"
.....

"And that's my problem, WHY?!"
.....

"Ugh. Fine. I'll meet you at the mall in 20."
.....

Jake hangs up the call and looks at the group. "Guys, I'm really sorry, but I have to go now. Drew has some kind of problem with Zoey and I need to help him with it." Jake explains to us. Milly cringes at the thought of Zoey. "Wait, so you're just dumping us?!" Zander asks Jake in an annoyed tone. "Well, no-" Jake begins to say something, but Luke interrupts him. "Jake, you're our lead singer. You can't just leave us." Luke says in his regular, calm voice. "You guys still have Hailey! She's an amazing singer." Jake says. Milly gestures to me as if I'm not there. "In case 'ya haven't noticed, she hasn't slept for days!" Milly yells. "Hey, I'm still here you know-" I start to say. "You know what, I'm just gonna leave. Bye." Jake bluntly replies. He walks out of the music room and walks downstairs. I hear the slam of the downstairs door. The remaining 5 of us stand there in silence. "I guess that's the end of rehearsals for today." Sean says, breaking the awkward silence. We all nod. "God, he's such a jackass." Zander mutters. "He isn't. He's just a bit rude sometimes." Luke says back. Zander rolls his eyes. "Of course you don't admit that he's an idiot, you're too 'nice' for that."
Luke looks a bit hurt now.
We all stand in silence again. "Well, if we aren't rehearsing , I'm gonna go home." Milly states. "Mhm." Says Luke. "Same here." Agrees Sean. Well great, Jake! You ruined practice for all of us. "Oh. Bye, I guess." I blankly respond. Milly puts her guitar in it's case, and Sean picks up his laptop. "You want a drive, Mills?" Sean asks Milly. "That'd be good." Answers Milly. They leave the room, leaving me, Luke, and Zander. "Uhm... I'll go now. Bye Hailey." He says before leaving the house. Zander looks offended that Luke hadn't said bye to him, as well. "Ugh." I mutter. "Why the hell is Jake so unreliable?!" I ask my brother angrily. "He's always been. That's why I hate his guts. Mom will be home soon, I'm gonna go watch TV or something." He tells me, then walks away. I was all alone. Yay. Maybe I can take a nap, or something. Try to catch up on my sleep. I rub my eyes before slowly walking out of the music room, and into my bedroom. I flop myself onto my bed and cover myself up with my blankets. I close my eyes, and eventually drift off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I find myself in a black void, lying in the ground. I sit up and begin to panic. "DAD?! SHANNON?! ZANDER?! HELLO?! ANYBODY?!" I yell. My voice echos. I stand up. "Star?" I hear a woman's voice say from behind me. The voice is warm and familiar. I turn around and see a woman standing in the void behind me. She has the
same eyes as me, and long, light blue hair the same color as my grandma's from when she was younger. It's
my mother. "Hails? Why did you replace me?" She asks in a shaking voice. I stare at her in shock. "Mama? W-wait-, No, I didn't want to-" I begin to say. She cuts me off. "I-I worked so hard for your father and you... And you let your father replace me with your elementary school secretary." She sighs. A tear falls down her face. I run towards her. "MAMA, NO!" I yell. I try to hug her, but I fall through her. "W-what?" I stutter. The transparent form of my mother disappears. I start to cry. "No Mama! I swear, I didn't want any of this to happen! Please, come back!" I sob. "Please... Come back.." The black void beneath me opens, and I begin to fall. I start to scream. "HELP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Everything is now pure black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up. I notice I must have been crying in my sleep, because my eyes are wet. My phone says it's 1:00PM. I sigh. That was the 4th time this week I had that nightmare. It all ends the same; me falling down into the cold darkness. I think Shannon is home by now, and Dad will probably be home soon. I can smell grilled cheese cooking downstairs. Shannon is probably cooking Bethany something for lunch. I slowly sit up and yawn. "Well, so much for catching up on sleep." I mutter to myself before standing up and walking over to my door. I open it and walk downstairs. The smell of grilled cheese is stronger now. I walk over to the kitchen where I see Bethany playing with one of her many Barbies and Shannon frying a grilled cheese sandwich. Shannon notices me. "Oh, Hailey, Dear! You look so exhausted. Do you want a sandwich, too? I was just making one for Beth." Shannon asks me. I force a tired smile. "No thanks, Mom. I'm okay. Just had a nightmare." I answer. I started calling Shannon 'Mom' a few years ago, only now it seemed wrong to say. Zander still calls Dad 'Micheal', but I think that's because of his trust issues. Speaking of Zander... Where the hell is he? "By the way, where's Zander?" I ask Shannon. She doesn't look up from the grilled cheese. "Luke's." She responds. Ohhhh. He was probably trying to apologize."Oh, that makes sense." I say before crouching next to Bethany. "Hey Hailey!! can you play Barbie with me? I need someone to be Raquel!!" Bethany tells me. I smile at her and pick up the Raquel doll. "But of course!" I say in my most bratty, annoying, and dramatic tone that I could manage. Bethy grins at me. As we play, I notice how innocent and
happy Beth looks. I remember when I was her age. It was that year I remember the most out of all the 17 ones I had lived so far.

The year my mom left me for heaven.

((Sorry for the depressing moment at the end-
As always, the next chapter shall be posted as soon as possible 😌👍))