6 a way out.

For a while I kept up with the new status quo. Taking care of some things around here and there around the house, working in the weekends.

With the extra income I was saving up, I finally had some money in the bank. Not a lot, but more than a few housand dollars. The pleasure I felt from seeing actual growth in my bank account gave me the chills.

What was I going to do with the money? Maybe I could buy some games. Or maybe I could buy something big. It was nice to have options, which was something I didn't much have much of.

A few weeks in, on a Thursday, I was shopping at the mall with my mom. We were at the Jcpenney. She was strolling around a cart with a pile of stacked clothes. I threw a pair of shorts and a retro looking t-shirt on the to basket of the cart, just so my mom wasn't the only one shopping.

She and I were getting along much better. She smiled more, and her laughter returned. Her cold self melted away in the warmth of her returning love.

I walked beside her, talking about work and things we always used to talk about. It felt just like it used to be. The sensation of nostalgia, hearing my mother talk about my dad and her past with him, raised the hairs on my arm.

She went over with me to the back of the store to the clearance isle. Racks and racks of skirt's, shirts and dresses were all lined across each other against the wall.

My mother began sifting through all the of the clothes as I waited by the bench near the dressing room. I tapped my shoes rhythmically, waiting for mom to make her final selections.

That's when I heard one of the dressing room doors close shut and someone step out. It was Stevie, my boss from work. She had clothes tugged tightly in her arms. They looked wrinkled in her grip. She probably tried them all on.

She noticed me and came to my side. Her aura was as pleasant us usual.

"Hi, boss." I said. She was used to me calling her boss. It was easier than calling her Stevie. I mean, she was my boss after all.

She closed her eyes in delight. "Good to see you, Jackson." She lifted up her arm with all her clothes flung over it, showing me her preferences and style. "I didn't take you as someone who bought ladies clothes."

I wagged my finger like a teacher correcting her student. "You'd be surprised. I'm full of surprises." I cleared my throat authoritatively. "Actually, I was just helping and accompanying my mom."

That's when mom, not seeing my boss, yelled out my name. "Sander? What do you think of this?!" She wanted my opinion, of course.

Stevie shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I don't want you to keep your mother waiting."

"Nah, it's fine. She's always like that. I have a hard time telling her which one looks better, whenever she tries on some clothes. I really don't think my opinion matters much anyways."

Stevie rubbed my shoulder and squeezed it. I felt a knot under her fingers giving me pain, but I ignored it. For a moment, I forgot she had a man's grip, that's for sure.

She then said "When it comes to picking between options, don't over think it. Sometimes-" she hit her chest with her fist, causing a thump to sound. "Sometimes you need to go with your gut."

I squinted my eyes and closed my lips in reflection. "My gut, huh?" I looked up at her. "What if I don't or I can't trust my gut?"

"Then you have to learn to. Otherwise you'll be stuck for the rest of your life."

I couldn't put my finger on it, but she had a point. It wasn't just her pride or demeanor, it was what she said that struck me hard.

"See you Saturday!" She left with a skip, as if she weren't quirky enough.

I followed my mom's voice over to where she wat at. She pulled out two dresses in front of me, showing them off for my judging.

One was a red dress with pink leaves on the edges of the skirt. The other was pure white with blue outlines on the seams.

I didn't have a specific opinion on either of them. But I remembered: go with your gut. And that's what I did.

"That one."

She lifted up the red dress.

"This?" she asked, setting the other on top of the racks.

"Mhm. That one will look nice on you."

We shopped for hours at the mall. She even checked out Hot topic and the game store. She looked like a fish out of water, but supportive none the less.

In the end I ended up with just two bags of clothes, games and other small stuff while my mom nearly bought the whole store.

The car ride home felt like an eternity. The minutes dragged, not because time had actually slowed down. It was because my mind was going one hundred miles an hour.

The streetlights blurred with the speed of the vehicle. All I could hear was the quiet swooshes and air being cut. The AC was brisk, my mom was attentive on the road, and I was lost in thought.

I knew I had to do something with myself. Anything. No way could I work a part time job my whole life. I needed more than that.

But that would only be achievable if I regularly practiced doing one thing; going with my gut.

The next day I made a call over to Dixie's. I was bored and had nothing to do. Last week, while I was busy working, Stevie mentioned to me that they'd be short on Friday.

Normally I wouldn't even bother and just shrug it off. But I thought that the extra money would be good, and I had nothing planned that day anyway.

"Looks like you're finally taking me up on picking up some days, huh?" she joked. She was in disbelief that I had called her and not the other way around. This was a first.

I laughed it off. "There's a first time for everything."

"Hey, that works. Be here tomorrow."

"Tomorrow it is "

I hung up the phone, plugged it back into the wall charger, and sat on my rolling computer chair in front of my desk. The room was lit up by a measly desk lamp.

It had a yellow hue to the light, making it hard to distinguish between details. As I put my phone away, the light on the bulb died and the room turned pitch black. The only light came from the crack of the bottom of my door.

I went towards it and headed to the kitchen. I grabbed a new bulb from the utility closet and replaced the dead one.

Unlike the last bulb that was barely strong enough for to see your own feet in front of you, the new one brightened up the room up entirely. What was once obscured now was as clear as day.

It was a new light for a new day.