𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 ☆ ᴛ. ᴛᴜʀɴᴇʀ

𝟓𝟐. 𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞

the door was unlocked, which was weird because her dad kept it locked at all times.

and the apartment was freezing cold, which was weird because her dad liked it warm.

and the kitchen was a mess, which was weird because her dad needed it clean.

and it smelt like cigarettes through the apartment, which was weird becuase her dad hated them.

and there was a woman, with dirty blonde and grey hair down her back that fell just past her neck. she looked abnormally skinny and pale. she looked like a corpse. and that was weird because she didn't recognize the woman.

vanessa and jaylen waited as the woman turned around. her face broke from its position into a pout as she ran into the siblings. her eyes filled up with tears while she wrapped her arms around the two of them.

"my loves!" she wept. "you guys have gotten so big! and i've missed all of your lives! i want to hear anything and everything about the both of you. i'm so grateful you two are still here to be with your father."

they were speechless. this was their mother.

and of course they were happy she was alive. but they didn't understand where she had been all of these years. it had been almost 20 years since they'd seen her.

"mom," jaylen began slowly. "where have you been?"

"oh i've been off working and doing trips, oh you know-" she trailed.

"why didn't you come back?" he said.

"well i thought you'd be okay with your father for a bit-"

"a bit?" he questioned, "it's been twenty years. you're supposed to be dead."

"dead?"

"your plane crashed. you're not supposed to be here."

"what are you talking about?" she stepped back from the two.

vanessa was quiet. she didn't know what to say or what to do.

and jaylen was the one who was so insistent on seeing her, and all he did was question her. he didn't seem excited, he didn't have much emotion to show. neither of them did.

"where is dad." he muttered.

"he's in the hospital-" she said.

"you left him there?" it was the first thing that ness said to her mom. and she sounded angry.

"oh ness, my beautiful girl. i've seen you on tv-" she placed her hand on her daughters cheek before vanessa grabbed it and removed it.

"are you serious right now?"

"i- i don't understand what's up with you two."

"you've been here for all these years and said nothing. suddenly dads fucked and you're just now pretending to care. jay might have come here to see you, but i need to see my dad." she said. "you're supposed to be dead. you're plane crashed years ago. you were missing. we accepted that after so many fucking years. but apparently you've just been hanging around like nothing happened."

"vanessa, i'm sorry. i really don't know what you're talking about." her mom grew more confused.

"i'm not playing this game."

"ness wait." jaylen grabbed her arm as she tried to walk back out the door. she shook it off and left despite his efforts.

as she left, she slammed the door behind her. her eyes filled with tears and her breaths were short and faint.

her shaky hands pulled her phone out of her bag. the whole thing didn't feel real. she called luce back the best she could.

hey did you forget something?

"uhm could y-you come back?" her voice broke.

ness what happened?

"please just come back."

it was all she said before hanging up the phone.

when she got outside, she began to follow the direction they left from.

her car pulled up and the blonde quickly hopped in to not disturb the already shitty traffic.

the two in the front seat turned to see the girl in the backseat, who at that point looked like she'd been crying for the past week.

"holy fuck ness what happened?" aaron asked bluntly.

"oh my god. are you okay?" luce said looking up through the rear view mirror, concerned.

all the blonde did was shake her head no towards the two.

"uhm" she cleared her throat, "my dead mom's, not dead." she barely got out.

"what the hell do you mean?" luciana continued.

"she died. uhm- a long time ago. but she's not actually dead. and she, and she just left us." vanessa explained. "and now my dads sick, and uhm, we didn't k-know."

"oh ness," luce sighed from the front seat. "i'm sorry hon."

"it's fine."

"no it's not, that's fucking crazy." aaron said.

"stay at our place tonight." luce suggested. "aaron will sleep on the couch."

"i will?"

"yes you will."

"guys it's fine. i'll try to get a flight back tonight." she said.

"nope. you'll stay the night. you can fly home in the morning." luce insisted from the front seat.

"seriously, i don't need to."

"nope. i've already decided."

a/n: sorry that this chapter is rlly short. i'm tired, i hate it, and i've decided to split it into two chapters.

also i promised lottie an update tonight so here it is.

i've got an idea for the next chapter so i hope this is okay for now.

i already know it doesn't make any sense. don't remind me