Sunflower | h.s

37

Aaliyah Moreno

"See you soon hun." Raven says as she side hugs me before stepping back and closing my front gate. My mums car wasn't in the driveway so I guess she was out with Cayden, why so late I wasn't sure.

I walk up to my front door and wave goodbye to Raven before she proceeds to drive back home.

I unlock the door with my hands shaking lightly from the cold of the night air. It was as if that when I opened it, all the heat from inside of my house engulfed me. I rub the right side of my arm lightly as I step inside and lock the door behind me.

I know my mum wasn't home so I took the advantage and went to go take a shower. I run up the stairs and into my room where I am met with a cold draft coming in through my slightly open window. The sky was black, a dark black sky in which consisted of no stars because of the clouds that covered it. It was still raining, ever so lightly. I walk over to my window and open it a bit more to allow the sound of rain travel around my room as it echoes.

Why my mum was out with Cayden gone 11 I had no idea. She'd be home soon though.

-

I step out of the shower and take the pile of clothes from the corner of the bathroom and place them in my washing basket near my bedroom door. As I do that I hear the front door of our house open, indicating my mum was home.

I shove a black hoodie on and grey joggers before heading downstairs with my hair still a mess from the shower. As I head downstairs I hear my mum rush off into Cayden's room and lock it. I stood there frozen in slight shock before heading down the stairs. My mum has been acting really weird lately, I had no idea what was going on, but I was going to find out no matter what it was.

I head downstairs and knock lightly on Cayden's door.

"Yes dear." I hear my mums muffled voice say from the other side of the door.

"Mum can you unlock the door?" I shout slightly over Cayden's crying, meaning my mum was trying to get him to sleep.

"J- Just give me a minute." She stammered, making me all the more confused.

I decide to let it go over my head as I lean my back against the door in the wait for her to come out.

"Aaly honey, you should go to bed. It's quite late." She says

"Mum it feels like I haven't seen you in ages. It's like you don't want anything to do with me right now from how much you're ignoring me." I say back as my eyes start to get glossy and my throat becomes closed.

"Aaliyah don't think like that-"

"How am I supposed to feel when you barely speak to me. And when you do it's just small talk." I exclaim from the other side of the door, accidentally making Cayden cry louder.

"Aaly you're out with your friends half the time." She says, still in a softer tone.

"Mum, I have a curfew. I'm always back before it but you wouldn't know because you're always out and it ends up in me having to go to sleep without a hug from my own mum." I say.

With that being said, I feel the door that I was leaning on open a bit behind me making me fall backwards slightly. I take the sleeve of my hoodie and gently wipe the tear from under my eye away.

I quickly turn around where I'm met with my mum with her face buried deep into her hands as she cries the most heartbreaking sounds.

"Mum?" I ask in a softer tone as I try to remove her hands from her face. She held them tight a gain at her cheeks, making me have to use more force to remove them. I could feel her hands shaking immensely as Cayden lyes on his back and cried the worst I've ever heard him cry.