One Year of You and I

May 10th

Saturday, May 10th, 2014

Luke

  We don’t give enough credit to mothers. 

  I clearly love my mother. I tell her such every day before I go to school and as she heads to bed. It’s always been certain that that she is the most amazing woman to me, seeing as she’s raising two kids alone in a small apartment with an even smaller paycheck, but always manages to keep a smile on her face. I could only wish that I was as strong as she was. 

  After spending a few hours studying for the upcoming final exams, I made my way into the kitchen in order to find a snack. When I reached the doorway, I nearly slammed right into my mother, who was in the process of rushing out. 

 Her hair was falling out of a bun she had sloppily placed on her head. Her eyes were red-rimmed, underlined by purple circles, and her cheeks were streaked with tears. Her chest rose and fell heavily, unable to hide the fact that she had been bawling. 

  Nonetheless, once she regained her balance after having me nearly trample her, she wiped at her eyes and offered me a small smile. All I could do was stare at her. 

  “Sorry kiddie,” She said to me, her voice shaky, but still attempting to be upbeat. “Was just heading over to the bathroom. Do you need anything?” 

  “Um, no, I’m fine,” I said, my own voice gruff in the shock of seeing her in such a state. 

  With that, she scurried down the hall and turned into the bathroom, where I could hear the faucet being run. Cool water to splash her face with. It’s what she did when she was exhausted. 

  Looking into the kitchen, I could see that the table was filled with papers. Stepping towards them, I saw that they were all bills. Letting my eyes scan over them quickly, I came to the conclusion that nearly half of them were overdue. 

  By where she had sitting sat a pad and pen. Numerous calculations were noted down, giving her only negative numbers as answers. I knew that we were in debt, but I never knew that it was this bad. 

  I looked off into the hallway where my mother had escaped. She had still managed to smile for me. She had no idea how much that meant. 

  “Hey mom?” I called out. 

  The water stopped. “Yeah?” She called back. 

  “Could I go out somewhere?”
  “Sure.”  

Holly

   I had been standing in Olive’s room for about five minutes now. 

  I missed her.

  In the literal way. She had been gone in England for nearly a month now. Before she left, my mom had made her promise to call her every night, which she did. I got to talk to her a few times. She told me of how they saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and even a minor British celebrity walking on the streets. She spoke of how she got to ride a Double-Decker bus.

   I didn’t have Facebook, but my mother did. She showed me the pictures that Olive would post. Her and her friends standing in a telephone booth, speaking mockingly into the phone. The same group sipping tea and eating biscuits. A silly picture of them in their hotel room, wearing pajamas with their hair tied up, showing how of a good time they were having.

   Another image showed her on her phone, video chatting with none other than Sammy with a big smile on her face. The caption read I couldn’t miss anyone more than I miss this doofus <3 .