The Broken Dream

Liam

Every night, I see her. Her midnight hair falls evenly to her lower back, her red dress outlining her body perfectly

Her face is always blurred though, but I can imagine that it's just as beautiful as the rest of her. She looks like she's dancing, but there is no music. In fact, there's no sound at all.
She stops dancing and turns to face me. I could tell that she was trying to tell me something, but I heard nothing.

I open my eyes and find myself laying in bed. The suns rays blinding me through my bedroom window. I really needed to buy some new curtains. My current ones have multiple holes and scratches in them from my cat, Sir Fluffles.

I sit up and rub my eyes. The dream I had wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I had the same dream every night for the past few months. Nothing about it has changed since then.

I stand up and walk over to my closet. I'm still a little disoriented from just barely waking up. After blinking my eyes several times and letting my disoriantaion fade away, I grab a white shirt and some blue skinny jeans and slip them on.

I head downstairs, following the warm smell of waffles from the kitchen. I found mom sitting at the dining table, already halfway done with her plate by the time I sit down with her.

"I thought you had the day off today." I say to her when I notice that she's dressed in her work clothes.
"I did, but I just got a call from the clinic this morning. Something happened and they need some extra people to come in today."

I sighed and began spinning my fork in between my fingers. My mom rarely gets any days off anymore. Ever since dad died, she's been working twice as hard. Her hard work is really taking a toll on her too. Her once youthful face now has worry lines and tired eyes. Her skin is more pale than it was in the past as well because she hardly has any time to hang out outside with me to do any birdwatching or cloud watching.
But even with all of her work and stress, she still manages to keep the brightest smile in the room even on the worst of days.

Today I was planning on taking her to her favorite restraunt. A chance to relax a bit and have some quality time together. But I guess that will have to wait.

I feel Sir Fluffles rubbing himself against my legs. He looks up at me, either feeling the same disappointment that I'm feeling or he's just begging for some of my waffle.

Not feeling hungry anymore, I toss Sir Fluffle the rest of my waffle and grab my backpack and yellow hoodie off the couch. I grab an apple out of the fridge for my lunch as well.

I wave goodbye to mom as I head out the door for school. On my way to the bus stop, I see my friend, Eric, just leaving his house.

"Hey, Eric!" I run up to him and walk by his side as we go to the bus stop.

"So are you taking your mom to dinner tonight?" Eric asked.

I sighed, "No, her boss called her this morning. Something happened and they need her at the clinic." I could tell that Eric felt bad, but he didn't say anything. I can't remember the last time mom and I actually spent some quality time together. Every time I plan something for us to do together, she gets called in for work.

After a few minutes of silence, we arrive at the bus stop and sit down on one of the benches. I feel one of Eric's hands on my shoulder. Eric smiled at me warmly, but his eyes looked worried.

I look away and stare up at the clouds, "I'll be fine." I said, "I'm used to it."

I look at my phone. The bus was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. I look both left and right, checking for any sign of the bus.

Nothing.

I sighed as Eric and I both stood up and began walking to school.