Queen for a Day

Ch.7: Don't trust goodbye's...

When mom got sick so suddenly, I didn't know what to think of it at first. I thought she would eventually get better, but over time, I soon realized that wasn't the case.

I barely got to talk to her. Dad always occupied most of my time with mom's duties, since she wasn't strong enough to do them herself. Most of these duties were simple, like sitting in on meetings, and performing sound checks for any upcoming concerts in the stadium. However, their was one task that I hated doing more than anything else: Patrol.

Once a day, I would travel around the city, making sure everything was in order and that nobody was fighting. Now this may sound easy, and quite frankly a bit stupid, but this surprisingly happens quite often.

Most of the time, the fight wasn't even about anything that important! I once had to separate two trolls who were fighting over a guitar pick...A GUITAR PICK! Can you believe it?! Two full-grown adult trolls were arguing over a hunk of plastic that was no bigger than the size of my thumb!

I don't know how mom was able to stay sane while dealing with this kind of crap! She was probably the calmest troll of all time. She knew how to resolve conflicts quickly and without any violence. She always knew EXACTLY what to do...

I wish I could've been more like her...

The only time I was available to see her was at night, but by that time, I was so worn out by the day's events that all I could think about was sleep. So...I made a compromise.

Since she was sick, she had been moved to a completely separate room, where she slept in a twin bed all by herself every night...well, almost every night.

I would drag myself out of bed every once in a while to go sleep in her room. I would jump onto her bed and snuggle up next to her, which was something I used to do frequently when I was still a toddler. But that was only if I had a bad dream. Now, I did it because I didn't want her to be alone.

Every time I asked, she'd happily let me snuggle. She'd then kiss me on the forehead and tell me, "Goodnight."

Then one night came that ended up being...different from the others.

It started off the same as every other time we snuggled. I hopped into her bed and fell asleep. However, halfway through the night I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Katie...wake up..."

I woke up immediately out of a deep sleep, startled. Mom put her hand over my mouth to stop me from shrieking in surprise.

"Shh...it's only me...kitten..." She took her hand away from my mouth.

A little context on why mom called me kitten...apparently when I was a baby, I used to make this weird purring noise when I slept, so she nicknamed me her "sleepy little kitten."

I sat up in bed, still a bit tired. "What is it mom?" I asked as I yawned. "You need something? Water, perhaps?"

"No..." she responded. "I need to tell you something...it's very important..."

"Can't it wait until morning? I'm very tired, and need enough energy to do patrol before 9 am..."

"No...I've waited long enough..." I could feel her cup my face in her trembling hands. I was starting to get worried. She normally never shook this much...

"Is...something wrong?..." I asked. I heard her sigh.

"I have to go soon...I just...wanted to tell you this before I left..." I heard her sniffling in the dark.

"I don't understand..."

"Don't talk...I need you...to listen to me...very carefully..." She was starting to have difficulty breathing.