Sweetheart (A Juke Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3: "You need to be strong."

Hey guys! Welcome back to Sweetheart! I'm gonna try to post once a week, but with the end of the school year right around the corner, school will be a priority over writing/publishing.

TW: DEATH, DEPRESSION (I suggest you skip this chapter if you need to.)

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The next few months went by way too fast. Julie's mother's health decreased daily. Eventually ending up with the right side of her body swollen. She looked dreadful, and you could tell that her time was coming soon. Instead of dying in a hospital, she wanted to go at home with her loved ones around her. So, each night, Julie and the rest of her family would take turns staying by her. Tonight was Julie's night.

As she walked into the room, she could see her mother peacefully sleeping. Julie made her way to the edge of the bed, and slowly wrapped her hand around her mothers. She could hear the even breaths and tried to match them. After sitting there for a while, her mother started to stir. She woke up, frantically breathing. One look at Julie and she was back to normal.

"Bad dream?" Julie questioned her mother.

"Yeah. Something like that."

Julie's mom squeezed her hand in a reassuring way. A beat of silence passed before her mother spoke.

"Julie, you need to be strong. I love you, I'll always love you, and I'll always be there for you."

With tears stinging Julie's eyes, she nodded at her mother.

"I love you too, mom."

Her mother smiled and sighed softly before letting the world take her over. She had died. Just like that. Hand in hand with her daughter.

Another round of tears made their way down Julie's face before she thought to call for her dad.

The night passed by in a blur. Julie hardly remembers anything after that. All she knows is that this morning she woke up beside Carlos in her father's bed. The pain of losing her mother right in front of her was unbearable. She no longer could cry, and she no longer could feel emotion. A dark state of depression washed over her. She was nobody to herself anymore. The days drug on, the nights were even longer. Although, Julie could hardly tell the difference anymore. She never slept. Nightmares of her mother's passing haunted her dreams. She never ate. She couldn't bring herself to. Life in general was fogged.

Julie stayed home from school until she legally couldn't miss any more days. Her teachers excused her from every assignment out of pure pity. The worst part about her mother's passing was that Julie couldn't bring herself to play music again. She couldn't even go out to the garage. Music class was miserable, but it was too late to switch out.

The only thing that kept her grounded was Flynn, her father, and Carlos. Julie would do exactly as her mother told her. She would be strong. So, she buried her feeling of emptiness and stepped in as the mother around her house. She kept her dad on track with appointments, Carlos' baseball games, and she made dinner. If Julie could distract herself with service for her family members, she didn't have to think about her own problems.

That worked until her dad realized what she was doing. He called a therapist and made her go. Don't get her wrong, she liked the idea of talking to Dr. Turner, it really helped relieve stress. The only problem was the things Dr. Turner would say.

"How does that make you feel?"

"Let's talk about it."

"It's just you and me here."

It was those words that drove Julie crazy.

It had now been a year since the passing of her mother, and she was still in the same place she was a year ago. She couldn't sing or play the piano without being overwhelmed with the memory of her mother. It was almost unbearable. Ms. Harrison had been doing her best to keep Julie in the music program this year, but she was running out of time. If Julie didn't perform on Wednesday, she was going to be kicked out of the music program and replaced.

When Wednesday came, she was so scared. Waiting for her name to be called during class was nerve wracking. Of course, she tried to listen to everyone else, but it was just too hard.

"Okay, we have one last performance, Julie," Ms. Harrison said while staring right at her.

Julie slowly got up from her seat and made her way to the piano. She opened her music book, sat down and rested her fingertips to the keys. She glanced up at Ms. Harrison, and found words of encouragement coming from the teacher's mouth.

"Take your time."

One last deep breath and Julie tried with all her might to play. She was stopped by the painful memory of playing with her mother. Jerking her hands back from the piano keys, Julie stood from the piano, apologized to Ms. Harrison, and ran out of the room. Julie heard the sarcastic voice of Carrie followed by Flynn's on her way out.

"Is this when we clap?"

"Watch it, Carrie."

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Sorry for the pain I might have caused. Things gets better soon, I promise! As always, Constructive criticism is appreciated. I love your comments, keep them coming! See ya next week! (hopefully)