Finding the Wisest

Chapter Three

She sighed heavily as she stood in front of the door, ready to go and face the raging hulk - er - her mother.

Maya opened the door tentatively and walked in, her mother was sitting in the sofa and looking at the television.
The same place that Maya had left her.
She cleared her throat loudly but that didn't give her a reaction from her mother.

"Mom, I'm back from the park"
No answer.
Realization came hurtling towards her.
Her mother was ignoring her.
'Ohhh so that's how we're going to play it' Maya hissed, low under her breath. She stomped her way to the kitchen cupboard, grabbed a canned drink and some biscuits and made her way to her room.
She closed it with a loud bang and switched her TV on.
She didn't think she wanted to be in the same space as her mom if she was going to get ignored for just going to the park for some fresh air.

                                 X

It was sunlight again that woke Maya up and she groaned. Why couldn't it rain one of these days? That would be nice.
She sat up, feeling slightly dizzy and then, like a flash, she remembered.
Today was the supposed day of her father's death, the reason why her mom had been behaving weird lately.
Or something like that.

An annoyed sound escaped from Maya as she remembered how her mother had ignored her yesterday. Well...she had ignored her back too.
And that wasn't the point.
Besides, she didn't start the whole ignoring fiasco, that was all Lily Ford.
Maybe she had stopped being childish? There was only one way to find out.

As much as she complained about it in her mind, she didn't like fighting with her mom.
They rarely fought and that's why Maya was so aggravated about the situation. It was an anomaly!

She courageously got out of the room and made her way to the living room, shuffling her feet noisily and hoping that it would cause her mother to say something.

Not a word. She said nothing.
The only thing she did was look at Maya and tell her to go back in and wear the black watch she had left behind on purpose.
But that wasn't what she was looking for.
She was looking for conversation.

Maya came back from her room, hungry and determined.... The smell wafting from the kitchen distracted her though.
Pancakes?
No, not Pancakes, Waffles.

She made her way to the kitchen table and saw a plate of waffles and next to it, written in beautiful cursive was a note
'for Lily Ford only'

Maya stepped back in shock, how petty was this?!
She turned and frowned at her mom and she was finally given an answer.
"Well you're going to college my dear, you should really learn to be preparing your own breakfast. "
"Mom! That's not fair"
"Preparing your own breakfast or going to college?" She paused with a smile "It can't be going to college. I thought that's what you wanted?"
And that shut Maya up. She wouldn't play her mother's games.

She walked to the cupboard in the kitchen and pulled the nearest cereal box out.
She poured it menacingly into a bowl and then added some milk while muttering angrily. After having her breakfast, she went back to her room to use her phone for a while, flipping from one app to the next.

Something was building up inside of her, a burning curiosity.
She found that she could stand it no longer so she made her way to the living room where her mother was seated cross legged on the sofa.

"So mom"
Maya began cheerfully, whistling a popular ad tune as if nothing was going on.

"Is it truly Dad's anniversary?"
She turned and gave her mother a look as the elderly woman began to shift slightly in her seat.

Mrs. Lily Ford, mother of Maya, cleared her throat and replied
"Yes"
"I'm sorry, you must miss him... What happened to him?"
"He.... died"
Maya blinked.
Well of course he died. But how?
That's what she wanted to know. She thought about it for a while, maybe her mother wouldn't want to tell her how he died.

"Okay, if you won't answer me that then tell me how he was at least, so I can have an idea of him."
And then her mother smiled, it was faint but it was there.
"Oh your father... so reserved but so funny.. and wise. He was tall and thin with brown hair that turned grey."
She sighed sadly then turned to look at her
"He loved you so much. I miss him"

The two of them sat in silence for a while.
Her mother lost in thought and Maya digesting her mother's words and the cereal she had just eaten.

Even minutes after, when Maya had taken her phone and gone back to look at things on Instagram, her mother still had that far away look in her eye and then she made up her mind. Her gaze hardened.

"Maya dear, I'm off to the park. I'll be back in about an hour"
And then Lily Ford was up and moving, going to her room and coming out with different clothes more suited for the colder weather outside. Finally she snatched the green watch on the mantle and was out of the door in a breeze.

"Oh so she gets to go to the park and I don't. " Maya whispered darkly. She chuckled sourly and shrugged , in a few months she would be able to do what she wanted. More or less.

After some seconds when she had gotten over it, she shrugged, changed the channel and set about to watch an episode of America's Next Top Model which had just started to show.

                                X

3 hours and 6 episodes later, Lily Ford hadn't come back home.
Maya had started to worry when she called and realized her mother had left her phone in the house.

There was leftover pasta, so after scarfing that down quickly she ran to her room to get her jacket and her old sneakers.
Of course she had to eat, she didn't know how far into the park her mother had gone. Her stomach had to be full first. Precautions, precautions.

Before she left the house she looked inside, round at everything and then closed the door firmly. She was considering whether to lock it or not but then remembered her mother had a spare key hidden in a plant outside somewhere.

With that knowledge comforting her she locked the doors and walked quickly to her destination, the park.
She was certain she'd see her mother there, on a park bench somewhere.
Maybe she had lost track of time or something.

She got there in no time and she started strolling around the place, searching for just a glimpse of her mother. She looked everywhere.
Everywhere.
She looked and looked and looked but couldn't find her mother.
She sat on a bench after almost half an hour of searching. She had called her mother many times too, hoping that maybe she'd be in the house.
She had lost her mother....or... her mother had lost herself. One of the two.
She shook her head to try to rid herself of that strange thought, her mother was somewhere safe , if not at home already.

She got up and decided to look again one more time before she'd go back home.
She left the main part and headed towards where the trees were gathered close to each other.
The more she walked, the more she felt a pull to keep moving, to keep moving.

And then, right at the base of the largest tree there was her mother's green watch.
It was just lying on the floor.

Maya's heart increased its pace.
She had found the watch. That meant her mother wasn't home, that means she had been here... Was she maybe in trouble?

Maybe her mother wasn't home but No matter what... She at least had to take the watch back home and put it on the mantle. The woman would freak if she appeared home and couldn't find her precious green watch.
She bent to pick up the watch and the moment she touched it, the place began to spin.
She held onto the watch tightly as she experienced wave after wave of nauseating spins.
It seemed like it went on forever and just when she felt like she would finally throw up, it all stopped for about a millisecond.
And then came the fall.

She free fell for a little under 10 seconds until finally she landed, face first into dirt, her hand which was closed loosely around her mother's green watch fell open and the watch dropped onto the ground. She turned, spitting sand out of her mouth and she looked upwards.
Yes, same blue skies. Same trees. Kind of

But as she sat up and took a good look around, she realized then that she was not in the park. She was somewhere else totally different.