Four Broken Pieces ✓

Five

"Mom I'm home," I called out as I shut the front door behind me. I knew I still had a ridiculous smile on my face but I couldn't help it. Troy had exceeded all of my expectations and he'd behaved beautifully. He'd just dropped me off and all I wanted to do was go up to my room and call him.

"Hi sweetie, how was you date," asked my Mom as she came down the stairs, her hair up in a tight topknot. She was wearing formal attire I realized and my eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"Mom why are you in formal attire," I asked, my eyes widening. Perhaps she'd found a job somewhere.

"I have the best news darling," she announced and that gleam returned to her eyes. My heart dropped to my stomach and any vestiges of happiness I'd retained after my date gave way to panic and anxiety. I almost wanted to shut my ears and bolt up the stairs, if only to end this perfect day on a good note. But she was already blocking the stairs without meaning to.

"What, what is it mom," I asked, trying to sound excited and failing miserably. She looked from me to the coffee table and I noticed a piece of paper on it. I didn't think I'd have the strength to go and read it and I simply stayed rooted to my spot. My mother huffed out a breath in annoyance and picked up the letter to read it out loud herself.

"Congratulations! We've selected your daughter as a full time model at our company, Satin and Lace. We'll be expecting her arrival to work first thing tomorrow morning," my mom read out in a bright cheery voice. I'd zoned out at the words full time model and it finally hit me then. Hit me like a punch to my stomach that knocked the breath out of me. It was a reality check I realized. She'd take my future away from me just like that. That one letter had officially sealed my fate. When I'd agreed to try this new era, I hadn't even realized what I'd been signing up for. It wasn't even her fault because in the end, I hadn't even put up a tough fight.

"Isn't this perfect," my mom said with the glee of a five year old and I looked up at her with tears in my eyes. At that moment, I didn't see her as my mother. I finally saw her for the woman she'd always been, a manipulator who'd hidden behind a mask of sweet words and fake tears to win me over. And I'd fallen for it. Every. Single. Time.

"No, no it's not perfect. God why can't you just let me live my life," I asked in a broken voice and my mom immediately stopped smiling. She came closer, her hands extending to pull me into an embrace. No, this time I wouldn't fall for her act, never again. This was my life and it would be my choice on how I would live it.

"I love you and if you ever loved me, you would've stopped this a long time ago," I said loud and clear. My voice was colder than I'd ever heard it and before the ice reached my heart, I ran past her and up the stairs to my bedroom, to my haven away from this mess that followed me like my own shadow. I shut the door behind me and bolted it for good measure before crumpling against it, sinking to the floor in a hurricane of sobs. My chest was heaving and I could barely breath as sob after sob wracked my body. How had my day gone from something so beautiful to this in a matter of seconds? Why oh why couldn't I have gotten that letter tomorrow? Was I so bad that I didn't deserve one good day? I curled into a ball, the hard floor pressing into my ribs making my whole body ache.

"Roe?"

For a second the voice registered as my mother's and I curled into a tighter ball. Then it hit that the voice was masculine and came from someone right before me. I didn't want to look up to whoever it was. I didn't need anyone to see me like this.

But that person came closer until shoes came into my line of blurred sight. Nike's. A more painful sob ripped out of me as I realized who it was. I didn't care in that moment how he'd gotten here or what he was doing here in the first place. I only wanted to see that smile and feel those strong arms keep me together before I shattered to pieces. I looked up at him slowly but instead of that smile I only saw tears and confusion.