MEMORIES OF MOM
Cloud awake in his bedroom of the Seventh Heaven bar and a lonely feeling ached in his chest. He didn't understand why. Spring's weather perhaps? Whatever the reason, it made him curl up and pull the covers over his face. Why did he feel like crying? It couldn't be the weather.
He looked p at the calendar hanging above his head and noticed it was May 8th. So that explained it, it was Mother's Day and he was missing his mother. He sniffled without realizing and curled up in a helpless tight ball as if ashamed for feeling the way he did. Memories began to swarm through his head as he lied there alone. Since his father had left when he was still very young, his mother had to be both a mother and provider for Cloud.
Perhaps his earliest memories began when he was seven. His mother, Claudia, was hanging the laundry up to dry outside the house. Cloud had come out with her to enjoy the fresh air and tried catching some of the tiny bugs that crawled by their feet. He grabbed one of the sheets and covered himself up in them, pretending he was a ghost.
"OOOOO, I'm a ghost!" he giggled playfully. Of course, Claudia always played along even though she knew it was her son being silly.
"Oh, dear, it's a ghost! What ever shall I do?" she said as she playfully put her hand over her head in a dramatic kind of way.
"Mommy, it's only me!" Cloud giggled as he pulled the sheets off of him. Claudia smiled and knelt down beside her son, giving him a warm hug.
"Oh, Cloud, there you are! I'm saved!" she had said and then rubbed her nose to his and kissed it.
Another memory entered his head from when he was ten. The other kids were making fun of him again and he had run away to hide behind the house. Perhaps he just didn't want his mother to know that he was upset. He sat there crying silently and he heard some of the parents of the other children complain to Claudia about Cloud. The other children liked to lie to their parents and made up false stories about Cloud hitting and scaring them. It wasn't true!
"Cloud?" he heard his mother's voice as she peeked around the house. Cloud was startled a bit and tried to wipe away the tears from his eyes while also trying to hold in a whimper.
"I didn't hurt the other children, Mom! Honestly, I didn't!" he told her as he curled up in the corner. Claudia walked up to him and knelt down.
"Oh, Cloud. I know you didn't do anything wrong," she said. Cloud looked up at her through teary eyes.
"R-really?"
"Really," she smiled with a nod. "My Cloud is the sweetest boy I know. He would never try to hurt anyone."
Cloud couldn't contain his tears anymore and he held his mother close. He was so happy to hear that! She was always on his side, and the only person he could look up to as a friend. Claudia held her son close and stroked his spiky blond hair. "Dry those tears. There is no reason to cry anymore. I want to see you smile, after all. It's what clouds do when the sun comes out!"
Cloud couldn't help but chuckle a bit sadly at the memory. Claudia always found a way to make him smile. He wiped away a tear that had managed to find a way in his eye. He decided that today he would visit his mother's grave he had made himself. Although he didn't like going back to Niblehiem, today was an exception.
He got on his motorcycle and rode to the flower shop down the street. Since flowers were considered leisured items and never grew in Midgar, the flowers were artificial. Unfortunately, nothing could be done about getting real flowers. He then drove to Nibelhiem and walked up to where he had planted the grave, just outside its local cemetery.
He pulled away the weeds that had started to grow around the grave and placed the flowers on top of it. The gravestone read 'Claudia Strife' and including the birth date and year she had died. She had lived to be 33, and that was still a young age to Cloud. His eyes swelled up with tears again as he remembered the time when he was 14.
He had signed up for the SHINRA Army and was packing to leave for Midgar. Of course, he swore he was going to be a SOLDIER someday and he promised his mother he would come back and visit when he does. Claudia helped him pack and renaissance about the last 14 years she spent with him. Since this was her last day with her son being home, she wanted to cherish every moment. She told him stories about her childhood, or at least the ones she could remember.
When the time came for Cloud to depart, she told him to be careful and warned him about all that only a mother would over react about. She held Cloud close, doing her best not to cry. But neither one could hold back their tears.
"Good luck, Cloud. Grow big and strong," she said as she kissed his head. "I love you."
"Love you too, Mom. But I'll be fine. I promise," he smiled. He kissed her goodbye on her cheek and pulled away. Claudia waved goodbye as she smiled proudly, watching her son leave to become a man.
Cloud wrapped his arms around himself. Usually a man would mumble about his mother kissing and holding him, but today he wanted her to hold him again. He still could never forgive Sepiroth for killing her and burning down the village. Everything that was important to him was taken away, but his love for his mother would never disappear. Even if she was gone now, he knew she was watching over him proudly. Despite how the tears began to fall, he smiled as the memories of his mother came back to him.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO MOTHERS EVERYWHERE.