There Is No Place Like Home

~ Part Two ~

I wanted to open my eyes. I wanted to see if they really left, if they were truly gone. But I refused to open my eyes. I felt safe yet at the same time I felt like I was in danger. I kept my eyes sealed shut with my arms locked around my head and my body curled tight. I waited for a whisper or a growl. I waited with bated breath as I kept my senses on high alert. My entire body was shaking. I couldn't tell if it was because of the fear or the adrenaline or maybe even both. As time went on my body slowly started to relax, while my breathing started to return to normal.

Then I felt that there was something wrong. The more I relaxed, the more my body started to become numb. I thought it was the after effect of the adrenaline rush, but my mind started to slow down. Each thought that went through my head became slow as if I were dragging it through tar. I slowly opened my eyes but all I could see was darkness. I thought my eyes were still closed but I could feel myself blink. When I tried to move my arms, sharp pain shot through them.

I clenched my teeth in order to mute my groan as I continued to try to move. For every shock of pain my mind began to clear. I started to hear voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying though. The voices sounded muffled and unclear, as if I was submerged in water. The more I moved the sharper the voices became. I could hear my mom. Her voice echoed within the darkness.

"Wha...alri..." She sounded scared and heartbroken.

'What happened to mom? Is she alright?' I tried to focus on her voice but the more I tried the more her voice faded away.

"Mo...m...mom..." My voice was weak as I tried to call her, "...mom!" I tried to yell for her hoping that she could hear me. But no matter how hard I yelled or how loud I cried for her, my voice always echoed back. "Mom..." I began to cry. Mom couldn't hear me, but I could hear her. She was crying but I couldn't go to her.

It hurt. It hurt everywhere. My body felt like it was on fire and my heart felt like someone was crushing it.

"Why?" My voice echoed within the darkness. "Why can't I see her? Why can't I help her?"

"Why do you want to help her?" A sweet voice echoed back for the first time. I looked around to see who spoke. "Why do you want to go back to her? Even after everything that has happened, why would you want to even go back?" The voice spoke behind me. I turned around to see the little girl from the rainbow playground.

She still wore her white with yellow floral embroidery dress that had a yellow silk ribbon tied into a bow around her waist, but she no longer held her baby blue rabbit doll. Instead she was holding a doll that was wearing a blue and white dress with ruby red shoes. The doll had her brown hair braided into two low ponytails that were each tied with a white ribbon. Her brown eyes were looking at me with a beautiful fake smile.

"What do you mean?" I forced myself to look away from the doll and speak to the little girl. "Who are you?"

"I am everything and anything, yet I am nothing. What am I?" She let out a giggle as she tilted her head. "Why do you want to go back? Back to the woman who chose someone else over you. Why?"

"It's because she's my mom." I clenched my fists. "If I go back and apologize to her, everything can go back to the way they were."

"Would that really work though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know that you're gonna be a big sister?" She looked at me with a big smile.

"What?" I stopped moving. "...no. No! No that can't be! She-she would have told me! You...you must be lying! You're a liar!"

"Me? A liar?" The smile that she wore faded. Her face became emotionless. My instincts were telling me to shut up and run, but I couldn't move. "My dear, I am anything but a liar. Here. I'll show you."