The Cabin

Everyone: New Year's day.

Aaron Whitmore

Mom was returning to us. Slowly, but surely, mom was coming back. The "sighting" of Layla sparked my mom out of her waking coma. My mom still spends her days at the windows and sleeps in the recliner near the front door, but she has a renewed sense of purpose. Mom had seen Layla with someone else. Layla was not on her own. Knowing this fact, no matter how reassuring or frightening, it was an improvement. If Layla had decided not to come home, then at least she was with someone she trusted. However, if this other person was the reason Layla couldn't return, then I feel as though I will never see my sister again. Mom, Dad, and I waited by the windows day and night for two days after Christmas. What if we live a life where we can only see a glimpse of Layla on Holidays?

Mom was on a broth diet since she went so long without eating. Soon, we get to introduce soft things to her diet as well. As boring as it sounds, this is an exciting development in the Whitmore household. It wasn't the exciting news we wanted, but I'll take any progress at this point. I remember the look on Sebastian's face when my mom actively started trying to eat. It was a weight lifted off everyone's shoulders. 

My dad still calls the lead detective three times a day. No new leads have surfaced in a few days. After mom had "seen" Layla we called the police. Officers scoured the neighborhood for a few hours after the fact and turned up nothing. No one besides my mom had seen Layla. Layla's lead detective had a lot of patience for my family, but I fear that the Christmas day "sighting" used up whatever patience we had remaining.

To take us out of our funk, I suggested that we hold a family movie night. We were to get a movie theater stand worth of candy and we would eat popcorn until we were stuffed. My parents were reluctant to this idea. Having fun in any capacity felt wrong. I suggested that we watch Layla's favorite movie. This connection to Layla was the only way my parents agreed. I ran to the store and bought one bag of nearly every candy. I bought two big bags of already-made popcorn. My mom had a bad habit of believing she knew the secret to making the perfect popcorn. In my entire life, I have never seen my mom execute her perfect popcorn flawlessly. She managed to get a decent batch several years ago, but mostly we just got burned popcorn that set off the smoke detectors. Because my mom couldn't eat too much, I got her soups. 

I was having a decent day until I began checking out. The cashier did the polite thing and asked if I was hosting a party. With the amount of popcorn and candy I was getting, I should be throwing a party of 10+ people. I should have agreed. I should have lied. Instead, I was honest in the fact that this was all for a small family movie night. The cashier looked at me for a few seconds longer and then something must have clicked. The cashier became more somber and whispered "Oh, it's you" When I didn't react to this comment the cashier leaned in closer and said, "I pray for your sister's return every day. Maybe someday soon, you can have a family movie night that is complete."

Although I knew this came from good intentions, somehow my chest tightened at this. Although I was intentionally ignoring our missing member, being reminded that our family movie night wasn't complete just felt like a punch to the gut. I knew the logistics when I planned this night, but recognizing that a chair would be empty tonight was tough. I gave the cashier a fake half-smile and then proceeded to pay. I walked out to my car and felt that I was losing the ability to breathe.

My throat felt like it was beginning to tighten. I climbed into the driver's seat and set the grocery bags on the seat next to me. My eyes felt puffy so I began to rub them. Soon I felt a gush of wet cover my hands. I was crying. I am crying in a grocery store parking lot. then I processed a bit more and realized I was just a brother who missed his sister.

I returned home after I got my tears out. I needed to be strong for my parents. They are already worrying about their daughter, I can't be another thing they need to worry about. I was trying to unload my grocery haul when Sebastian called.