Walk me through the dark

46

Spencer jerked his head up at the sound of his mother's voice.

"No! No! No!" She was screaming from her room down the hall, having another episode. Spencer sat up from his desk that he had fallen asleep at, his schoolwork sprawled across the surface and his pencil rolled slowly toward the edge of the desk at his movement. His fingers caught it as it tilted off the desk, placing it back into the binding of the open textbook.

His bare feet padded across his carpet, the soft material itching between his toes. He pushed his door open a little more, looking out into the hall. It was dark, all the lights off and making his own lamp cast his shadow across the hallway floor. He nudged his glasses further up his nose before taking a deep breath and stepping out of his room. The closer he got to his mother's room, the louder her yelling got, he couldn't quite make out what she was saying, the words blending together to form some kind of gibberish.

"Mom?" He said softly as he pushed the door to her room open, she stood in the center of her room, her bathrobe open and showing her dirty pajamas. Her hands were gripped tightly in her hair, tugging it harshly.

"Mom" Spencer repeated, his own voice cracking, whether it was for fear for his mom, or his puberty he wasn't sure and it really wasn't at the forefront of his mind right now.

"Mom, let's get to bed" He kept his voice calm, slowly raising his hand to reach for her. When his hand touched her elbow she spun toward him, finally facing and acknowledging him. Her eyes were crazed, the lids pulled wide enough that Spencer saw more white than the blue of her eyes.

"Let's get back to bed" He murmured, watching her eyes soften,

"Hey baby" she smiled, letting him guide her back to the bed. He pulled back the fluffy blankets, watching her take her robe off and hang it on the post at the foot of her bed, climbing in.

"Come here" She smiled again as he was pulling the blankets upon her, "let's read something" 

"Ok" Spencer yawned, he should get to bed, he does have school tomorrow but, he would never pass up reading with his mom. He grabbed a book from the pile gathered on her bedside table, the white cover held a tree trunk across the top, above the words East of Eden written under it.

"Good choice" Diana smiles again, moving her arm so her son could curl up to her side, his glasses becoming skewed as he adjusted himself. He fixed them before relaxing into her embrace, his own eyes landing on the now open book. His mother's voice started, the soft sound filling the room and lulling Spencer into what he could only explain as the feeling of yellow in his chest.