Something Worth Living For (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The days seemed to blur into one as the day of wrecking crept closer. Allison still had no idea of how she would broach the subject of Eric with Chloe. It was a sensitive subject, one which Allison knew Chloe wanted so much to know about. But how was she to break the news?

This was the one question that kept echoing off the walls of her mind, the one that kept her tossing and turning at early hours of the morning, leaving her feeling haggard and grumpy the next day.

Work was a nightmare. Allison had always been the star nurse, the best at what she did. She was a firm believer that even though she never got to go to med school and become a doctor, she was at least able to become a nurse, which was the second best profession in her line of work, and that she would give it her all. She might not be the one making the calls when it came to saving peoples lives, but she got to help and that was enough for her.

Monday hadn’t been as bad as the two days that followed. She mostly tried her best to avoid Jared, who had an uncanny way for knowing when she was upset and right now, she was way beyond that. She barely saw him, only when she needed to work with him and of course, as soon as the patient left, she made sure that she wasn’t alone with him.

By Tuesday night, Allison’s nerves were so shot that she her heart hammered wildly against her chest and she was so worried that Chloe might actually be able to hear it from where she sat eating her dinner, next to Allison at the kitchen table. The air was filled with silence; all but the lonesome scrap of Chloe’s fork on the porcelain plate could be heard. Allison had lost her appetite, but waited patiently for her daughter to finish.

Chloe, clearly, hadn’t noticed the change in her mother’s mood, because she looked up at her and smiled, making Allison’s heart ache at the thought that in the next twenty four hours, she was either going to shatter Chloe’s world or make it whole. Allison desperately hoped that she would be filling the empty space in her heart.

That night Allison lay awake, tossing, turning, trying her best to get even an ounce of sleep, but yet again the dark, restful oblivion evaded her. Her eyes were bloodshot, while dark, heavy bags sagged beneath her once sparking brown eyes. It was hard to imagine that only a half week ago, she had been happy. She and Chloe finally seemed to be settling into some sort of routine, one that they both seemed to enjoy, only having it falling apart at the seams with one tug by Eric.

“Morning, momma.” Chloe chirped excitedly as she entered the kitchen that morning.

Allison was so fatigued, but managed a small smile of enthusiasm for her, “Hey my angel. You ready for your last day?”

Chloe nodded her head wildly as she chewed on her spoon full of cereal. Allison chugged down two cups of coffee, watching her carefully. If there was one good thing that came out of last night’s sleeplessness, was the fact that she finally knew what she was going to say.

Once they were both ready, Allison took Chloe to school. Kneeling down in front of the little dark haired girl, she straightened her t-shirt.

“So, I’ll be picking you up after school today, okay.”

“Okay, but aren’t you going to work?”

“Yes, but only until the afternoon. There’s something important I want to talk to you about.” Allison said carefully.

“What is it?” she asked sensing the importance in her mother’s voice.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that now.” Allison said, trying to play if off as a minor thing, “You just enjoy your day and I’ll see you later.”