It puzzled her mind as to why such a forgiving mother could do such an unforgiving thing. Her mother’s words ‘family is important Nina remember that’ played over and over in her head like a cassette stuck in a cassette player. She wondered why and how her mother could leave them like this.
His work was his excuse. He always found a reason to avoid spending time with her. He would buy Nina toys to try hide that he was a distant father. He was working later now, trying to avoid Nina and her mother. Her parents caught more often than before, their voices rising, her mother’s piercing loud yelling waking her up at night, but she pretended like it didn’t bother her. Her bond with her mother was still strong and was growing stronger. Her mother was her mentor, the one who was always there for her, from dance concerts to pulling out her loose teeth, there was nothing like their mother-daughter bond.
Nina stood there staring. The empty draws of her mother’s wardrobe staring back at the empty space in her heart. She’d left that morning while Nina was sleeping and her dad was at work. Nina’s body froze, she couldn’t bring herself to comprehend why this had happened. Why did she leave me? She thought. How could she leave us like this? Nina understood that her parents weren’t happy but she couldn’t understand why she would leave them like this, and especially on the morning of Nina’s first day of high school.
Nina grabbed her phone and tried to call her, but there was no answer. Nina fell on her bed and started to cry. She woke to the sound of the garbage truck collecting their rubbish. She quickly sat up when she realised she had fallen asleep. As she checked her phone, the time took her by surprise as she realised she was a going to be late for school.
Nina stood in the kitchen coming to a realisation that she didn’t know how to make lunch. Her eyes filled with tears as she realised her mum was no longer there for her, but she quickly wiped them away. She was determined to do this on her own. Nina had watched her mum make lunch before and she knew it wasn’t too difficult. She grabbed some fruit and food for a sandwich and made herself lunch.
As Nina opened the front door she squealed in pain...
