Inspered by 'A Lullaby For A Stormy Night' by Vienna Teng.
I curled myself up tighter in my duvet, wishing for today to go quicker
I curled myself up tighter in my duvet, wishing for today to go quicker. My older brother sighed from somewhere by my feet, sat on the edge of my bed. I knew I should get up. Put on a brave face. Leon and Sora had. They were in the same situation as I was. Exactly 10 years since mom had left. Drove to the cliff and kept on going. Leaving Leon, Sora and myself here, in this care home which we had been in since that day. Dad had left us soon after I was born, one to many kids to pay for, not enough money for his beer. The care home itself is pretty cool, owned by Rufus Shinra, who is really cool, kinda like a dad to all of us I have awesome mates, my oldest brother as a worker here, as well as his fiancé Cloud. Sora moved out not long ago, he is now living with Riku in his apartment, but he still visits us everyday, and if he can't, he still calls to say 'Hi'.
So back to today, Leon stood and sighed, moving to my curled up form and resting his hand on my shoulder in a comforting kind of way.
"C'mon 'lette, you need to get up, we need to go see mom."
So Leon left me dwell in my thoughts for a moment. I knew they wouldn't go without me, but I didn't want us to be annoyed at each other when seeing mom, so I dragged myself out of the warmth and pulled on some jeans and my favourite orange top. Mom never liked black, so I didn't see the point in wearing it to go see her, and I never got the idea of wearing black to visit cemeteries, made everything more depressing to me.
So, all piling into Rufus's car we went to visit mom. It felt as if we had been driving for hours. It always did. Axel, Roxas and I (The Permanents as Rufus had kindly dubbed us) crammed into the back seats, Leon, Sora and Riku in the middle seats and Rufus and Cloud in the front. Christmas and this day, all of us went to visit. Axel and Roxas both knew mom when she was with us, Riku and Cloud to give moral support to my brothers.
Normally, I would visit mom with Axel and Roxy every month, on the first day, but we couldn't this week, its exam time in school.
When we arrived we all walked to the bench a few meters away from mom. Leon and Cloud went first, sitting by her, talking. They were probably telling her all the plans for the wedding. They placed a few roses by her and wandered back over to us. Sora and Riku went next, there wasn't any set order to see her, we all just went by age normally, oldest to youngest in the family. Riku stood behind Sora, his hands resting on his shoulders, I smiled to myself, it wouldn't be long till Sora came here all excited, telling mom that Riku has proposed, I knew he was going to, I helped him choose the ring.
Then it was my turn. I stood from sitting next to Axel who gave me a quick hug as I went over to the white marble headstone which for the last 10 years had been my mom.
I sat down on front of her with my legs crossed under me and looked at the sun faded photograph of mom. Her long brown hair tied up with her usual pink bow, the locket we had all saved up to get her resting lightly between her collarbones. Even in the photograph you could see the spark in her eye.
We will never know why she did this. Took herself from us, from everyone. Over the years I have hated her, longed for her to come back. Now I just miss her.
If there was something happening to mom to make her do this, I have come to accept her decision.
I lay down in front of her, my hands behind my head as a pillow between the cold grass.
"Hey, mom."
It felt good to be talking to her again. When she was here, she always listened. She helped Leon when he first thought of a guy as more than a friend, helped Sora whenever he and Riku fell out, and me when Axel moved to his dads for a while.
She always listened.
"So you heard about Leon and Cloud? Everyone's really excited and happy for them. Oh and Sora moved out, he is living with Riku now, though he still comes and visits most days, calls whenever the cant come round. So it's just me, Ax and Roxy now. Rufus keeps joking that he is never going to get rid of us Gainsborough's. Oh, and sorry I couldn't come this month, I had exams and stuff on, but I think I did good, so that's a plus. In the car, on the way here, Rufus had the radio on, guess what was on? Your lullaby. I hadn't heard it in ages. Made me smile to think that other people could hear your favourite song. We think Axel is gonna leave us for a bit, his brother came to visit from Traverse Town. Rox and me don't want him to go, home would be too quiet without him. Who would set fire to the dinner on purpose…?"
I wiped the tears from my cheek with the back of my hand and sat up, facing mom again I lightly traced the words engraved into the cold marble.
Aerith Gainsborough
…and some day you'll know,
that nature is so,
the same rain that draws you near me,
falls on river and land,
on forests and sand,
makes the beautiful world that you see,
in the morning…
15th August 1959 – 2nd May 2008
I stood up and quickly wiped my eyes again, removing all the tears.
"Bye mom, I'll be here next month to see you. Love you mom."
As I walked back towards the bench where everyone was sat, Rufus passed me with a few roses for mom.
He put his hand on my shoulder on the way past, a sign of comfort.
Axel and Roxas sat either side of me as we waited for Rufus, Axel holding my hand lightly. Riku was leaning against the back of the bench with Sora in his arms, his head resting on the silver teens shoulder. Leon and Cloud sat on the grass, Cloud between my brothers bent knees.
This was my family. All of them here, we had plans us 3 'Permanents'. Never to split. Not for long anyway, we should always be together. Axel and Roxas as a couple, me, making sure everything ran smoothly for us.
''Though Aerith is gone, we all still love her, so she will never really disappear. So long as one of us has memories of her, of her smile, of her laugh, she will live on.''
Rufas smiled as he said these words, ruffling my hair in the way he knows annoys me. He took a last look at mom's grave and nodded, his way of a farewell. The guys stood slowly and followed, each saying a brief goodbye to mom.
''Bye, mom. I'll be back next month, and I'll tell you all about the plans for Prom. Love you, mom.''
I smiled and wiped my eyes again, running to catch up with my family. The ones I loved.
I was bored, and inspired. It doesn't happen very often.
R&R?
xx