𝐀 𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐄 [Returning]

[0] 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

Bold = "Talking"
Normal = Narration
Italic = "Thoughts"
ᴍɪɴɪ = "sᴍᴀʟʟ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴅɪᴀʟᴏɢᴜᴇ"

??? 𝐏𝐎𝐕
______________
11 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐

"He's such a good kid, isn't he?"
My mother pat my head gently with a proud grin on her face while she boasted to our neighbors.

She always talked so highly about me to someone whenever the chance presented itself. Almost as if I was her walking trophy.

Recently, I was ranked as the Fastest Runner in my grade school. It may not sound like an important achievement to most people, but my mother was very competitive and supportive of me. So, whenever I'd do good, she'd reward me with my favorite food or take me to go see a movie.

Even when I failed to do good, she didn't scold me. Only told me to do better than I had just done. She was a great mother.

For example:

There was this I lost my first soccer game. I was crying my eyes out because I actually did pretty bad that entire game. I know what you're thinking. It's just the first soccer game, why are you crying over it? Well, when you do good in other things, doing bad is actually really terrifying if you don't like being judged.

Though, I never got judged by her nor the rest of my family, unsurprisingly.

My mom crouched right there next to me, patting my back and giving me words of encouragement until I finally began to smile. Every time I did, she'd always say something like:

"There's that smile! Come now, let's get something for dinner. What're you feeling tonight?"

She would also rub the back of my neck to soothe me, and I can't lie it did just that.

Anyways, I guess you could consider it as one of those good everlasting memories you'd go back and reminisce about.

My father and siblings were just as nice as she was. My older sister would let me play on her game consoles whenever she was playing. Fortunately, it only took me 3 years to figure out I was given the dead controller.

All of this sounds like a promising and heartfelt story, right? Well, this is where it changes.

I slowly began to lose my hero, my mom. She changed a lot one day. She didn't leave the house as much, it became extremely rare to see her without a mask on in the house. It was almost like she was a celebrity or something along those lines. That didn't stop her from trying to spend time with me, but...

She was hurting an awful lot.

For example:

It was a pretty early Thursday morning and my older brother and sister just left for school. I was sick at the moment, and my dad was busy for work. So, there was practically no one to take care of me. I lied in my room, ready to waste my day away until my brother or sister came home until she walked in.

Like I always saw her since that day, she wore a cap and mask, but she wore clothes that were a bit more comfortable and not overly baggy.

"Hey, kiddo."
She greeted in a raspy tone while carrying a tray of soup and other necessities to ensure I felt better.