Released

I haven't ever met my mother. My father told me that she was sick whenever I asked. He told me that I couldn't see her because I would get infected. I believed him. When I turned fourteen, he said to me that she was getting better and that I could see her soon. It's been two years. I haven't seen her yet.

Today, dad told me that I could see her. He told me that she's been in an insane asylum ever since I was born. He said that he was sorry. I believed him. This time, it paid off. We left our small house about two hours ago and still aren't at the asylum. We only have about thirty more minutes.

"Mia," dad says, turning down the radio.

"Yes?" My voice sounds breathy, nervous. I turn away from him.

"Are you ok? We can go back if you don-"

I cut him off. "No. I want to see mom." I can see his reflection next to mine in the window.

"Ok, sweetie." He rubs my shoulder, but I shove him away. I don't want his comfort right now.

Staring out at the trees, I feel a sense of home. Our house is a cabin in the middle of the woods surrounded by plants. We were just on the highway, so the trees are a nice change of scenery. As we round the bend, a giant cliff comes into my view.

"Dad, what's this?" I finally look at him.

"The asylum is up there." We start driving up.

"What?" I'm shocked. An asylum on a cliff sounds like the stupidest idea ever.

"I know, it's crazy, right?" He chuckles.

"Yeah." We drive past a sign that says Aurora Valley Mental Asylum. It's sticking out from the ground, but leaning very far left.

My dad stops the car and turns to me. "Want to know why it's on a cliff?"

I shrug, but inside I'm curious.

"Because in the old days, they used to throw the craziest ones that they couldn't handle off of it!"

"Yeah, right." I get out of the car and walk to the entrance.

A doctor leads us down a white hallway and to a red door. He unlocks it and ushers us in. The first thing I see is a woman standing with her back to us. She turns to us, and I gasp. She looks like me.

"Mia," my dad says, "Meet your mother."

A tear rolls down her cheek, and she runs to me. She hugs me so tightly.

 "Mom," I whisper.

The doctor brings us out of the room and to a place where we sign her out. Dad says that we should go and look at the cliff, get mom some fresh air. So that's what we do. We walk over to the edge and stare out at the water.

"I'm sorry," Mom whispers. I can barely say 'what' before her hands are around my neck, and I'm gasping for air.