Momma Mills

11

Regina was in the shower and you waited for her in your own room. You decided to spend your time wisely and began tidying your room: you started by opening the window and let some fresh hair enter the room, you made your bed, put away your school books and threw away some snack packs.

You opened the backpack you had the time you sneaked out and while rummaging through it your fingers touched the cover of something. It almost seemed like...an album?

You slapped yourself internally for forgetting about something so important such as the photo album Zelena gave you.

The album cover was a light blue and the corners were worn out, but the photos were well kept. You opened it and the first thing you saw wamrned your heart: it was a pic of a very little Zelena holding a even littler Gina. You recognized the first immediately because her hair was as red as it was now.

You kept browsing the photos and they both looked so beautiful together, so close and they seemed to love each other very much...you couldn't understand what went wrong.

You heard steps approching, so you hid the album under your pillow and waited for your mom to enter.

"Hi sweetie" Regina said as she opened the door.

"Hi Gina" you responded and waved at her, which made her giggle.

She walked in front of your mirror and fixed her hair with her hands. You just looked at her, getting lost in her beauty like always, but then you remembered that you needed to talk to her.

You know that it was risky, but you knew it was the right thing to do.

"Gina, can I ask you a question?" you started and she nodded and gave you a "of course" as a response.

"What happened between you and Zelena?". You weren't expecting an answer, much less an explanation, but Regina surprised you.

She sighed, turned around and came closer to your bee, sitting next to you.

"Well, y/n you know, people don't always think in the same way" she began, but then stopped and sighed again, like she was really thinking about what to say to you.

"We didn't always live here" and she looked around your room as she said that sentence. You wanted to ask where they used to live, but you stopped yourself. You knew that if you interupted her there were high chances that she would stop telling you what happened. "We're we used to live we were both highly respected and our lives were just...less complicated, let's say". You didn't quite understand what she meant with that sentence, but you kept listening to her. "Then, we moved here, but our lives changed drastically" she stopped again and gulped, fidgeting with her fingers a little. "Well, actually only hers changed, mine remained practically the same. Zelena is mad because of that".

She looked at you in the eyes, waiting for a response.

"Oh" is that all you could say. You felt bad for Zelena, but you still couldn't understand why she was so mad at her sister. For sure it couldn't have been all her fault.

Regina smiled sadly and caressed your cheek.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, changing the subject completely. "Kinda" you responded with a smile and Regina's next sentence made you forget Zelena immediately. "What about McDonald's?".

Your eyes widened in surprise and Regina laughed at you.

"Put your shoes on, so we can go"

You practically jumped off the bed and hugged her tightly.

*****

"Mommy, I don't feel well" you said to Regina as you placed your hand on your stomach.

Instead of taking your hamburgers home, you decided to go to the harbor and eat while watching the ocean. Once you've finished, you've gone for a walk.