The Girl Unnoticed

34. Messed Up

Chapter Thirty Four: Messed Up

Jackson's P.O.V

~Flashback of many years ago~

Mum was usually strong. She always stayed calm and go through her thoughts carefully when she faced a difficulty. She would approach problems in a fair and logical sense. But then there were times I knew she wasn't as strong.

I remembered clearly when I was 9, I caught Mum crying in the kitchen once during midnight. It was about 2am and I was waken up by the huge thunderstorm happening outside. I got out of the bed, wanting to pee when I heard faint sobs downstairs. I followed the sound and saw Mum. It was the first time I saw Mum cried. It was the first time I realized Mum wasn't always going to be the strong mother who would lecture me about eating green and told me to face my fears. Her head was hanging low, her hair falling all around her face as she sat on the tall stool at the kitchen island, sobbing continuously.

As a 9-year-old, I was stunned. I didn't know what to do. I've never seen Mum like that. I was going to head back upstairs like the helpless and useless child I was but she saw me.

"Jack? Is that you?" she whispered through her sobs, her voice weak and raw.

I didn't know what to respond so I stared at my feet. I heard Mum calling me again.

"Jack? It's alright, you can come here," she offered me a weak smile and her hand gestured for me to come forward.

Slowly, I stepped towards her until I was beside her. Her sobs were lessened and I watched her as she tucked her messy hair strands behind her ears before she faced me.

I wanted to ask her what was wrong. Why was she crying? Who made her like this? Was it Dad? Was it because of me? What happened? Thousands of worry thoughts flooded my naïve mind. But of course, my younger silly self wouldn't even know how to say a word to comfort my own mother. So I stood closely next to her, watching her tears flow down her cheeks.

Unexpectedly, she pulled me into a hug and placed her head on top of mine. Her chest was still heaving up and down from her crying. I could hear her crying so closely against me.

"Jack...my precious boy..promise me that you'll never, never break the heart of someone who loves you dearly...okay?" Mum said to me in between her soft sobs.

I didn't know what to reply so I just gave a small nod. A half smile formed on her lips and she placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

"I love you so much, Jack," Mum said.

For the rest of that night, I listened to her crying silently—no words exchanged between us—just the sound of the heavy rain outside, as if the sky might even be crying for her. As if her tears had made up this wild thunderstorm of the night in the first place.

__________________________
~Present~

Leighton stood before me, her eyes avoiding me since I saw her across the hallway. She looked troubled. It seemed as if she was going to break down and cry any moment soon. She looked so fragile and sad, I wanted to just hold her and ask her to tell me everything that went wrong.

She didn't want to look at me.

Not even once since I called her name. It was almost as if she wanted to...avoid me?

"I don't want to see you, Jackson," Leighton said, her voice came out constricted and muffled.

What the-