Life Through a Lense

Chapter Five

"This isn't fair of me to ask you," my mom said.

I sat up groggily. She hadn't been in good shape for the last couple weeks so I'd been rotating nights between the hospital and home. Ivy was old enough to survive at home. She was a better cook than I was.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

The only way I could describe the look on her face was defeat. The flame in her eyes were slowly dying out, not fighting to burn anymore. This was the first time I knew in my heart that my mom didn't have much time left.

"Promise me you'll take care of Ivy," she said.

"Mom, she's fine," I said groggily.

"I mean after I die."

That woke me up. I sat up in the uncomfortable recliner chair.

"Well she's going to be like seventy before you die. I think she should be able to take care of herself by then."

"Promise me."

For the first time I knew that this was one battle my mom wasn't going to win.

***

I woke up in a cold sweat. Of all my memories, that was the one that seemed to wander through my dreams at least once a week.

Groaning, I rolled over to look at my alarm clock. Shit! It was almost noon. I was supposed to meet Chris in ten minutes at a place that was at least twenty minutes away, problem more with lunchtime traffic. I trundled awkwardly out of bed. After only taking two steps, my feet tangled with my boots I had kicked off last night, my face meeting with the floor with a loud thump.

"Everything okay in there?" Ivy called out from the living room.

Wait, it was almost noon. Wasn't she supposed to be in school? Maybe it was the weekend. No, last night Michelle had been complaining about how she had to skip church because of work, so yesterday was Sunday which meant it was Monday. Unless there was some sort of school holiday I didn't know about?

"I'm fine," I called back, jumping up.

Pulling out a pair of black leggings from my dirty laundry that looked clean enough, I slipped into those. Then I found a blue shirt, one of the last clean clothing items. I should really do some laundry. Deciding not to bother make up, I just threw my hair up into a bun. I hadn't taken a shower in...two days? I spotted a scarf and put it on just to make it look like I had put at least a minimal amount of effort into my appearance.