Reputation| l.h au|

thirty one

Luke's mother had come home again and he could hear her cry in her bedroom, probably holding onto an alcohol bottle. It pained Luke that she wouldn't just let him help her. All he wanted was for her to be okay again, but it felt like she didn't want to be okay.

He was standing in the kitchen, making some late snacks when he heard footsteps and he turned around. He couldn't even say anything before his mother wrapped her arms around his waist, sobbing into his shoulder. He was confused because he hadn't gotten a hug from her in so long. Sighing, Luke put his arms around her too.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked her, but only got more sobbing as an answer. It pained him, it really did, but he didn't know what to do. Whenever he tried helping, she just got mad. So when she didn't answer, he stayed quiet, not sure what to do or say other than hug her back.

She smelled alcohol and it was obvious that she was drunk. "Why did he leave us?" Liz sobbed, hiccuping later. Luke sighed. "I don't know.". Liz just started angrily crying and hitting Luke's chest, telling him she was a failure, stupid and worthless. Luke stood there, trying to stay strong, but wanted so badly to run away with Rosa then and there. His chest hurt, but he let his mother let out her emotions.

She fell to the ground, sobbing more and Luke stared at his shaky hands. He hadn't even noticed. His heart ached and he felt tears threatening to spill down his cheeks too, but he stayed still, not saying anything. The sound of his mother's sobs making the pain in his chest worse.

"I have a problem!" Liz shouted, hitting the ground. Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "I need help." she mumbled, putting her hands over her mouth. "Oh god, Luke. You were right!" she cried. Luke frowned, sitting down beside her on the kitchen floor. "I'm a terrible mother! I haven't even been a mother!". 

After half an hour, Liz stared at Luke. "We need to call the rehab tomorrow, I'm so sorry for everything I've done! I shouldn't have pushed you away." she stressed, wrapping her arms around Luke again. He felt numb and confused. Was she agreeing to what he had asked her for so many years? "You sure?" Luke stuttered, his voice cracking at the end. 

He couldn't keep the tears in anymore. He didn't know if he was crying because he was relieved or if he was crying because he was so tired. "I'm sure. I'm so sorry for everything, Luke. I have been a terrible mother and I love you so much. I'm gonna change, I'm gonna stop this. We will call rehab tomorrow." she explained, tears falling down her own face.

That's how Luke and his mother ended up crying the whole night. And even though they were both crying, Luke felt for once that everything would be okay for once. Maybe his mother would get better? She had listened to him this time and Luke couldn't be more happy.

*
The next day was stressful for Luke. He had been calling a rehab the doctors had recommended. It was five hours away from the house and Luke was kind of sad because he couldn't visit her all the time, but his mother told him she would call him. 

The rehab wanted her to come as quick as possible, already having heard about her. So she had started packing everything she needed while Luke was trying to help, but she told him to relax. He would drive her to the rehab even though she told him he didn't have to, but he wanted. He needed to help out with something.

It took some hours of packing, but when she was done, they both walked into the car. Luke had gotten multipy calls from Rosa, but he decided to talk to her later. She would understand, right? He needed to think about his mother first so he turned off his phone, putting his whole attention on his mother. She had finally accepted that she needed help and Luke couldn't be happier than he was now.

His mother was asleep during the whole ride and he knew she needed the rest. Luke kind of envied her, he wanted sleep too, but told himself that this was important. His mother's health was  more important. He was really tired from the lack of sleep last night, but was drinking as much coffee he could. It would have been selfish if he didn't drive her to the rehab and even though he needed sleep, it had to wait. He needed to do this for her.