She was my mom

When Lynn arrived home, it was quiet. The lights were off and it scared her. She turned the living room lights on and saw her mom lying on the floor unconscious.

"mom!" she exclaimed as she sat beside her, shaking her furiously "mom! wake up!"

With her constantly shaking her, Daphne woke up. Her eyes were red, her lips turned into a tight line, her heart was racing. Lynn tried to grab her hand but she pushed it away in fear. Lynn began worrying "mom? What happened?"

Daphne turned her head to Lynn and said "don't you know it's...unhealthy to question someone who had just had a freaky trance"

"you had it again?"

"yeah" Daphne heavily answered as she stood up and did a series of stretches. She then walked to the kitchen. As Lynn stood, the living room door opened with her dad walking in. He seemed to have sobered up.

"welcome back" she greeted

"where's your mother?" Joel asked without responding to the greeting.

"in.. the kitchen" she replied and went to her room. After a while, her parent's quarrels had began again. Not minding their tones, they were heard in the neighbourhood. Lynn sighed and wished all this wasn't happening. She suddenly had evil thoughts running in her mind 'run away from this house. just run away but where would i go?'

As she was deeply vagrant, she was alarmed when her phone ran. "great timing" she answered the call and a keen voice at the other side of the call startled her more.

"Lynn~!" Marcie shrieked

"what is it, miss loud?"

"I'm sorry. Well i couldn't wait for tomorrow to tell you the good news. Mom has agreed!"

"you're seriously serious"

"yeah" Marcie nodded even though Lynn couldn't see her.

"that's amazing. Let me tell him"

"wait Lynn. She hasn't yet talked to the human resource manager, maybe Monday"

"i can't wait. As I'm talking to you now, they're quarrelling again"

"it's all going to end now, hmm"

"what would i do without you?" Lynn sighed

With slight scorn in her tone, Marcie replied "practically and technically nothing"

"silly girl, goodnight" Lynn chucked and hang up as soon as Marcie replied "same"

A sudden torrent of anger ran through her body because of her parent's altercation. She tried to cover her ears with the pillows but it was of no use. She could still get their exasperating voices. Alas, she gave up. She tucked herself in bed and dosed off.

The following morning, Lynn arouse earlier than she usually does. It was 5am. She decided that for the first time in forever she'd jog. 'maybe even for 2 hours' she thought. She fitted herself in her tracksuit and swiftly passed by her parent's bedroom. She then opened the living room door which had a squeaky sound.

When she was out, she scanned the neighbourhood and saw their neighbour, Mrs Kremlin, giving her husband, who was going for work, a peck. Mr Kremlin then got into his car and drove away. 'how I wish my parents still had that kind of love' she scoffed. Finally snapping out of her thoughts, Lynn began jogging.

While doing so she decided to reminisce the cause of her parent's situation. She had just completed high school when her dad had been sacked as a bank manager. By then, her mom wasn't working so it led her to start doing part time jobs.

"why don't you look for another job if you really want me to stop doing these jobs?" Daphne asked her husband.

"do you think i don't try?" Joel replied angrily

Being a 17 year old teen, Lynn thought everything would be fine and that she would go to university. But they had been reduced. From a Palace to a shabby compound.

Without her realising it, it was already 7am. She decided not to go home yet but the public flower garden which she loved so much. She spent an hour or more there and then reverted home. As she drew closer, she was shocked with what she saw.

Half of the neighbourhood had gathered in the yard. Some police officers were coming in and out of the house. There were police lines that said "do not cross"

Then, a familiar figure walked toward her. It was Marcie. Her eyes were pooling with tears. Her body was quaking. She then threw her arms around Lynn's neck and cried on her shoulder. "she didn't deserve it"

Lynn understood everything. The police, the neighbours, Marcie's crying and mentioning 'she'.

"i want to see her" Lynn mumbled. Marcie let her go. As she wanted to enter, an officer stopped her. "this is a crime scene ma'am you can't enter"

"she was my mom" she gritted

"i understand but right now you can't"

Lynn forced her way in but the officer grabbed her. She only saw a glimpse of her mother's corpse

"no!! no!!" Lynn wailed. As the officer put her down to stand, she collapsed.