Chapter 18: Mom?

Although we're a relatively small town, our central library is on the larger side. This allowed us to book one of the private study rooms to work on our project and also not get paint anywhere near the books. Walking into the air-conditioned building caused goosebumps to appear on my arms. Today was on the warmer side with summer approaching soon. I gave a small smile and waved to Mrs. Robinson, the librarian on duty currently, and headed to the private rooms. We had been booking them once a week for the last few weeks after we officially decided what our project would be.

We were nearly done. Just a few finishing touches that we decided to add individually as a way to stand out next to each other. Reaching our room for the day, I headed inside to wait for Vincent, it was clear I was the first to arrive. This gave me time to set up the paints and tarp. Vincent took the actual canvas home last week since I didn't have the car and didn't want to risk it getting damaged on my way home.

After setting out all the paints and placing down the tarps, I opened up my sketchbook and worked on my own small addition. I've been tweaking this design all week but it never seemed to look right. It was either too detailed or too plain. I know I'm being too picky about it but I couldn't help it. I wanted it to be as perfect as possible.

"Something on your mind?"

Startled, I jumped and looked for the source of the voice. Vincent was leaning against the doorway of the room. "Jerk! You scared me."

"Sorry about that." Walking into the room, he closed the door and pulled up a chair across from me. "Hey."

"Hi." I knew my face was probably bright red but could you blame me?

"How's your break from prison going?" There was a playful smile on his face.

I thought back over the last few days, everything was still fuzzy to me. Thinking about it hurts my head. "It's been fine. Went to the mall yesterday."

"Oh? We were there too. Ryder and me. I didn't see you." He began pulling out his own art supplies and laying them out.

"Really? Maybe we missed each other. I mean unless you were in Victoria's Secret too." I bit back a laugh, at the look on his face. It is possible we just missed each other. The mall isn't that big, sure, but we probably weren't there at the same time. Most likely.

Vincent coughed out a laugh, before replying. "Possibly, I only went so Ryder would leave me alone."

I rolled my eyes, I've learned he's never outwardly affectionate to his siblings. "Be nice. I'm sure brotherly bonding was fun. I always have a good time when Ivy and I go."

"Of course, you're both thick as thieves. And clearly the stores you both went to didn't consist of weights and gym equipment."

"Well.." I don't remember what stores we went to yesterday. I just said Victoria's Secret because Ivy always makes us stop in there when we're at the mall. Before I could reply my phone began ringing. "Sorry, it's my mom. Give me a minute." He nodded as I stood up.

Accepting the call, I step out of the room and into the common area. "Mom?"

"Aurora, hunny, where are you? I've called the house a million times!" She yelled almost instantly.

"Is something wrong?" My mom never yelled at me. Ever. She didn't yell period.

"Aurora, where are you? I need you to tell me." She ignored my question completely.

"Mom… you're starting to worry me." Something is wrong. I know it is.

"Hunny, please, just tell me where you are." She was pleading with me.

"I'm at the library mom. What's going on?" I moved to sit down at one of the tables, I didn't want to freak out.

"Aurora, I need you to get home now." This was a demand. My mother doesn't make demands.

"What why?" I look over at the clock on the wall.. I've been out for an hour. At most.

"I'll explain later but you need to get home. Now!" She was serious.

"Okay okay, I just… mom, please is everything alright?" My anxiety was through the roof. I just needed to know she was okay.

"Aurora, I'm sor--" The noises in her background began to drown out her voice.

"Hello? Mom? I can't hear you," my voice was shaking, I was scared. I heard screaming and yelling but I couldn't make out the voices. I kept calling out to my mother to bring her attention back to me but she either wasn't listening or didn't have her phone anymore. I was going to scream into the phone, damned if I'm in a library or not, something is wrong.

Before I could make a sound the most horrendous sound came through the phone, a single note on a frequency set to the highest pitch. It was so loud and deafening that I dropped my phone. My ear felt like it was bleeding from the sound alone, then as quickly as it came it was over. I grabbed my phone from the floor and called out to my mother again.

Nothing. Just silence.

I ended the call and dialed her back. The first two times her phone rang until voicemail. The third time I was sent straight to voicemail, and again the fourth and fifth time. I was panicking. What the fuck just happened.

As quickly as I could I ran back to the room, bursting through the door I grabbed my bag, and my book and sloppily threw my art supplies in. "Aurora? What's going on?" I could hear Vincent but I couldn't stop. My mom. She needed me. She was in trouble. She was hurt. "Aurora. Aurora. Aurora!"

My bag fell from my hands and I was met with a pretty shade of amber. Vincent.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

I tried to speak. Really I did. But the words lodge themselves into my throat. Instead, tears fell from my eyes, like a dam finally giving way. I couldn't contain the gut-wrenching sobs that spilled from me.

It took one look into his eyes, seeing the concern and worry to break me down. At some point, we went from standing face-to-face to him holding me while I cried. I didn't know how much time passed but the tears stopped falling. "I… I'm sorry, I don't know why…" my voice was shaking and hoarse from all the crying.

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

I mustered up a small smile to show my gratitude before pushing myself to stand. My legs felt weak but I needed to get home. "I have to go…" I felt bad knowing I was bailing and our project was due soon.

"No worries, uh, do you need a ride? You seem kinda out of it."

"I.. please? That would be great."

"Yeah, let me grab my stuff. " He moved faster than I did, placing all the supplies he brought into his duffle bag. Grabbing my own bag in the process I headed to the door.

Quickly we both headed out of the library. Not stopping until we reached his jeep. I looked over at my car a few parking spaces over, knowing I needed to come back for it before hopping inside.

"Where to?" He asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

"Salem Lane. 1317 Salem Lane." My voice was small even to my own ears but from the small nod of his head, I assume he heard me.

We fell into silence after that. Not uncomfortable but also not comforting at all. Every few minutes or so he would glance in my direction with concern readable on his face. He didn't trust me to drive. Hell, he probably didn't trust me to be alone. He was subtle about it but I could tell that was the reason he offered to take me home. I can't blame him. Hearing my mother sound so afraid, I lost it.

I spent the entire ride staring out the window, trying to distract myself from thinking the worst and before long we were pulling up to the front of my house.

Everything looked the same as I left it. But something was off. I couldn't quite place my finger on it but something wasn't sitting well with me. I wasn't going to waste time thinking about it. I unbuckled myself and grabbed my bag, "thank you so much, Vincent. I know this wasn't what we planned for today."

"It wasn't a problem Aurora. Just make sure your mom is okay."

"I will. Thanks again." I jogged away from the jeep and up to my porch. Grabbing my keys and unlocking the door I took a deep breath before walking inside.

It was quiet. Almost eerie. After locking the door, I dropped my bag by the door and pulled out my phone to dial my mom again.

"Hello. Little one."