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She was seeing someone...
That explained why she was acting so strange today.
She ended the call and I emerged from the hall, fixing the bandana around my hair. "Who was that?" I asked.
She jumped at the sound of my voice before plastering a smile on her face. "No one...umm, just a friend."
"Right." I smiled, sitting on the couch. "I didn't know you got down like that mom."
"Excuse me?"
I picked up the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table, before sitting on the couch. "Nothing." I smiled sweetly. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure." She walked towards the television, picking up the remote beside it.
"The door at the end of the hall...what's behind it?" She froze at my question, making my smile falter. "I think I'm old enough to know, right?"
"You'll find out soon." She stood up straight, avoiding my eyes as she sat beside me on the couch.
"That's ominous. Is it that bad?"
She pointed at the television. "Watch." I looked towards the tv, a shaky camera angle being pointed out of a window to a circular table. Kids were yelling, wearing birthday hats as they ate snacks and bickered.
"What's this?"
"Queen!" A voice called in the video. The camera shifted to a stairwell where I walked down in a yellow dress that I didn't seem to be a fan of. "Happy birthday, sweetheart!" I recognized my mother's voice as she began singing and I smiled to myself. "How does thirteen feel?"
"The same." I shrugged.
"Do you want to go out and hang out with your friends?"
"They're not my friends."
"You were always such a lonely child." My mother said, tearing her eyes away from the TV. "Weren't you?"
"I guess," I said lowly.
"Well...Sebastian is here," my mother teased, earning a small smile from me.
"Where?"
"He's outside."
I watched my younger self practically run outside to go see him and I sighed. Young love. Gross. If only I knew then how much he'd change. It was like I was watching a movie of my life where I was meeting him all over again, and I wanted to scream at myself to run back into my room and lock the door.
