Disclaimer: I own none of the characters mentioned in this story. That honor belongs soley to Brenda Hampton.
Ashley stared blankly at her ceiling, her mind pondering everything she'd witnessed these past few days. A week ago she was sitting with her family at dinner as they talked happily about normal family topics. Now she was alone in her room thinking about how her father had just walked out on them and her fifteen-year-old sister was pregnant. Funny how things could change so much in just a week.
She remembered her dad telling her that now was the time to grow up a little and realize that things can sometimes just happen. She didn't want to grow up just yet though, not anymore anyway. If growing up meant facing pain and heartbreak like her mother and sister were, then what was the point? Being thirteen didn't seem so bad anymore after seeing what it really meant to be "grown up."
There were footsteps coming towards her door, and she could tell just by the sound that it was her mother. She'd seen her in Amy's room coming up the stairs, but she didn't care to find out what they were talking about. She didn't want to join them. She didn't want to hear of the sorrow and heartbreak that they were feeling. She was feeling her own sorrow and heartbreak. She didn't need to heave the burden of theirs also.
Anne knocked gently on the door, not waiting for a reply before entering the bedroom of her youngest daughter. Ashley said nothing as she sat at the edge of her bed much like she had done with Amy a few moments prior. She took in her daughter's innocent features, remembering again that no matter what was going on in their lives, at the end of the day Ashley was only a thirteen-year-old girl.
"That was quite the confrontation you had with your father yesterday," said Anne, brushing back a strand of Ashley's wavy brown hair from her eye. Ashley shrugged, turning away from her mother.
"You want to talk about it?" asked Anne and Ashley couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped her lips. What was there to talk about? Her father had left her mother and his family for another woman.
"Ashley, do you know that your father and I love you very much and that this separation were going through has nothing to do with you or Amy?" asked her mother, her tone soft and concerned.
Isn't that what her father had told her just moments before abandoning them? How could it not have something to do with them? Who would leave just for the sake of leaving? Who would abandon their family just because they wanted to? It didn't make sense. Her mother was perfect. She was smart and kind and beautiful. Why would anybody leave her?
"Oh Love, I wish you would talk to me and tell me what's going on in that mind of yours," said Anne gently, and Ashley closed her eyes, wishing her mother would just leave. Couldn't she tell she didn't want to talk about this?
After a few moments of silence Anne caved in, allowing Ashley the space she needed to gather her thoughts on everything. She gently placed a blanket over Ashley, placing a kiss to her daughter's hair.
"I love you Ashley," she whispered, stepping out of the room and closing the door, waiting for a brief moment before retreating back to her own room for the night.
Ashley waited until she heard her mother's door close before curling into the blanket, tears making their way to her eyes for the first time since her father had left. Her family really was falling apart, and for the first time she began to realize that her family would never go back to normal again.
