DING DONG!

I rushed to open the door for my mother. She just stood there gazing at the plants by the side of the building until she noticed me standing there.
"Come in." I said awkwardly. I mean, honestly, how was I supposed to greet the mother who had left us all alone in this house to raise ourselves? It took everything I had not to say something harsh. She had the nerve to try and act like she was sorry.

"Oh-I'm sorry, I just got distracted…" she said as she chuckled softly. Her blonde hair was curled and draped over the shoulder of her flower printed dress. She wore a white cardigan over it along with a pair of black flats. She reminded me of Prim with their pale skin, blue eyes and blonde hair, whereas I on the other hand, looked like my father. I had his brown hair and brown eyes, along with olive skin.

She walked into the living room and stared at the pictures of us on the wall, just one big happy family. She held a picture of me holding Prim when we were younger. Prim had on the largest smile I'd ever seen. I looked down at her with a genuine smile on my face. She looked over at another picture, this one of her and my father. He wrapped his large arms around her as she laughed. This was one of their happier times together, before he left her.

Before my father had left, they had fought a lot. Some days I could hear them yelling over bills and other times about silly things like leaving the toilet seat up or about who was gonna cook dinner. I'm not sure what really sent him over the edge. But I know that the love he'd had for my mom had seemed to disappear. As if she was a different person, not the woman he'd fallen in love with.

One day I came home from school to find my mom sobbing on the couch. When I asked my mother what was wrong she'd simply replied "He left," and once she'd said that I knew things really were serious. I realized that our lives were going to change drastically.

After my dad left, my mother became very different, moody and constantly angry. She would never yell at us before, but after my dad left she started to yell at us constantly. She would yell at us if our rooms weren't clean, if we put too much syrup on our pancakes, if we hadn't brushed our hair before bed. She would find ways to take her anger out on us, no matter how stupid. It began to take a toll on Prim and on me. The negative energy in our house made us often feel very gloomy and depressed. Prim would cry herself to sleep at night, hoping and praying that our dad would come back.

Looking back on it, I think this may have been the reason our mom left also. She started to resent us for reminding her of our father, and tried to blame their marital issues on us, claiming we placed stress on them. She couldn't stand to even look at photos of him, so she tried to hide them and even burn some. And after a while she told our dad to stop visiting us, that he was "unwelcome in this household." She would tell us that our dad didn't deserve to see us after causing us so much pain, that he was better off with his new girlfriend, Jessica.

But little did she know, she also helped to contribute to our pain. In fact, she was the biggest source of our pain. Not only did she prevent us from seeing our father after he left, she did the same thing. Except she left us all alone, with no one to care for us, to make sure we were fed and had clothes to wear for school.

I was never sure what had made my mother decide to leave…Was it because of me and Prim? Had she started to resent us? Or did she feel as if her life would be better if she started over, without us, without all of those dark memories? These questions would keep me up late at night, would haunt my dreams. It made me feel insecure…like I wasn't good enough. But then, I realized that she was the one who had made a mistake. She chose to leave behind two independent, strong, young girls. She gave that up, and there was no turning back…

"Why don't we go upstairs so you can see Prim?" I suggested. I led her upstairs as if she were a guest who might get lost.

"I would like that." she replied calmly. She followed behind me until we reached the door to Prim's room, where she lied down on the bed, a towel on her forehead.

"M-Mom," Prim stammered nervously. Our mother stood next to her, reaching for Prim's hand. Despite everything our mom put us through, Prim willingly held her hand. Prim had always been better at forgiving, while it took me a lot longer to trust and forgive people again.

"How are you?" our mom said, tears cascading down her rosy cheeks.

"I'm feeling a little better. But I just feel tired all the time. I feel like I have a never-ending cold." Prim said.

"You'll get better, sweetie, I promise." my mother said, her lips curving into a sad smile.

But some promises you just can't keep…

AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I tried to make it a little longer for you guys. Please write reviews and tell me how you feel about the story so far, what you think will happen, what you did/didn't like, etc... Thanks!

~Derinique