The Kingdom in the forest

Hell Week

Monday

Saturday's meeting with the board of directives of Forester Inc. was anything but pleasant. Mae did not want to take over her mother's company but her mother seemed convinced that she was old enough to own the multi- million dollar conglomerate. Her mother had forgotten a fact: Mae was only fifteen. The decision was made that if push came to shove the company would go to her uncle Eugene, her mother's eldest brother.

All these thoughts were drifting in and out of Mae's head as she stared at her appearance in the hallway mirror. She was never one to focus to much on the future for she believed that one must focus on the present, but as she looked at her mother touching up her make-up in a different mirror she could not help but wonder what would happen to her if she lost her mother to the ravaging grips of cancer. It ran in their family and they had hoped it would skip a generation but it didn't.

"come on Macy we can't be late for your performance. You are after all the leading lady in tonight's ballet."

Her mother had forgotten another fact: Mae's name was not Macy.

Tuesday

" Dr. Spencer welcome to my home," Mae's mother said cheerily. The doctor entered the house and looked around with a frown on his face. Arrangements were made the previous day to have him deem the house fit for her mother to live in. Mae approached him to welcome him but instead asked if he was alright.

" Yes, but the purpose of my visit was to ensure that the house was welcoming enough, that it would be able to sustain your mother during her illness but we seem to have a problem."

" Doctor what problem could we possibly have? I have a lovely home, it's very spacious and comfortable and tidy." Her mother said in disbelief.

" Well you see Ms.Forester the larger your home, the more there is to forget. For example you may forget where the kitchen is. As your memory continues to decline you can easily get lost and injure yourself, if not supervised."

" Oh, nonsense Spencer, I certainly won't forget the appearance of my own home and I will always be supervised,my daughter Macy here would stay home from work and take care of me,"She said to her old friend.

Mae looked at her mother with disbelief, her mother forgot another fact: she was just a student.

******

" AHHH, WHERE AM I !!! "
" SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE. "

Mae flew up suddenly hearing the screams of her mother. But she was too slow, crashing and glass breaking could be heard from her mother's room. She rushed out of the room with lightening speed, tripping over a pair of ballet slippers that lay near the door. Upon entering her mother's room she saw her screaming and crying.

" Who are you? I don't know who you are? Get out of my house." Her mother shouted aiming a heeled shoe at her head.

" Mom it's me Mae, your daughter. Put down the shoe I just want to help you."

" Daughter? I don't have a daughter. And even if I did her name would be Macy." She said pointedly.

" Now get out of my house intruder ." She said hurtling the other heeled shoe at Mae's head.

Mae ran out of the house swiftly and took the house phone on the way. She quickly dialed a number and held the phone firmly to her ear.

" Hello uncle Spencer, this is Mae ,mother has gone mad."

Wednesday

Mae's mother had forgotten a series of basic facts so quickly that it simply frightened her .

" Doctor it's quit scary how fast her memory is deteriorating, is this normal?" She asked worriedly.

" Well, no Mae it is quit alarming what is happening to your mother. We have never seen this before."

Mae sighed as she looked at her mother through the observation window. The night before, the ambulance came swiftly to their home and took her mother away, kicking and screaming to an asylum. She had no time to explain to them that she had cancer in her brain. Doctor Spencer arrived soon after and decided that it might be best for her mother to stay at the asylum, in pleasant isolation. Mae knew that her mother wouldn't last long since that first Saturday night that she called her a maid. But what would happen to her? Mae's closest relative was her uncle Eugene but her mother told her a while back that she did not trust Eugene with her child. So what then? Mae started to think about her father. She had never meet him and her mother almost never even mentioned him, but what if he would become her legal guardian?
Mae never liked casting judgments on persons but if her mother never spoke of him he must be trouble.

" Mae, come here a moment." She walked over to the doctor as he squatted in front of her. He took her hands in his. He looked into her large hazel eyes and saw her mature façade slowly crumbling.

" I'd like to talk to you as a friend not a doctor."
" Okay go ahead." She said.

" It would be a miracle if your mother lasts another week. Most patients who reach this stage of memory loss die within the next 48 hours. I'm not tellng you this to scare you but to make you aware."

He sighed deeper as though he had worse news to bear.

" When your mother met with me when she had just found out, she had written her will, stating that all her physical assets would belong to you, and -"

" -and what Doctor ? What else could she possibly have given me?The love of a mother? That is something she never gave to me and would have already been gone. What of more value could she give to me?" She said cutting him off. A helpless look of despair came across her face.

" -and your legal guardian would be your father. "

Mae was taken a back, And turned to look at her mother, someone who she then realized she never really knew.

" M-my father? But Doctor that does not make any sense. My mother always spoke about a woman never needing a husband to carry on with her life. She never spoke of him, even when I asked. I always assumed that because of this he was a bad person."

" Not a bad person just not someone your mother was not compatible with." He said knowingly. He stood and smoothed down her hair that had become ruffled due to stressed fingers.

" Did you know him Doctor?" She asked.
" I do." He answered.

" He was a good guy ,just not good enough for your mother."

When Mae turned back to looking at her mother she had seen that her mother had fallen fast asleep slouched in the recliner.

Thursday

12 hours. It took twelve hours for her mother to die. Twelve minutes for her to find out. Twelve minutes for her to get ready and call a cab.
Mae rushed into the asylum quickly holding her jacket close to her, she ran past the receptionist's desk ignoring her shouts that she should not be here. I should be here my mother is dead. Mae ran to her mother's room and stopped in her tracks . There she was, her once lively mother, filled with fierce fire in her eyes laid there on the stiff bed, lifeless. She could not cry, she had to stay strong not for anybody but for herself. Her mother would have wanted her to be strong .