See You Soon - A Novella | ✓

Jimmy (Pennsylvania)

"Jim!" Cara screamed, running from the house and into his arms. "What the heck are you doing here? I thought you had shows all week."

"I did, but I pushed them back. I needed to come home, sissy," Jimmy said, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. But with Cara around, the weight lifted just a little.

When their dad had died, Cara was twelve. She was too young to understand what was happening, but that year, they not only lost their father, but their mother, too, to her depression. Jimmy became her care giver, and he wouldn't have traded it for the world.

Now that Cara was sixteen years old, she had become his best friend. He could tell her anything.

Except right now.

He couldn't tell her that he didn't plan on going back to New York except to record his last bit of music. After the CD was done, he was done, too. No amount of money was worth the pain that New York had brought into his life. The mines had started to sound like a tropical vacation compared to the hell New York had become.

"Well, OK, then. I made veggie lasagna and home-made garlic bread for dinner earlier, so if you want any, it's in the fridge," Cara said offhandedly.

"What are you, Sally Home-Maker?" Jimmy teased. Cara was a great cook, but much like him, she didn't like compliments.

"Very funny. Fine, you don't have to eat it," she said and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very mature," he said, following her into their childhood home, Cara going in first.

Jimmy stopped on the porch and looked over at Tess' house like he always had for twenty-four years. The lights were all out except the one on the porch. Jimmy remembered many a night after Tess had left for New York that the light had been on. Jimmy had always thought that it was just a time sensor light the Jones' had, but now he knew.

It was a beacon to bring their daughter home after so many years.

Jimmy walked into his house and saw his mother on the couch watching T.V. After the accident that took his father, she had never been able to completely shake the depression, but she had come back, could function a little bit more when she didn't have a bad bout.

She looked up from her program, "Hey, James. What are you doing here?"

She looked thinner than the last time he saw her about a month ago. He wondered if she was going into that bad spell again.

"Just needed a break, Mom. How are you?" Jimmy asked. When his mother looked away, turning back to the T.V. instead of answering, he knew this was going to be a bad one.

He turned to Cara who was waiting in the kitchen for him, a blank expression on her face. Oh, she knew.

Jimmy went to her, "Why didn't you tell me, Cara?"

"Tell you what, Jim?" Cara asked, still completely devoid of emotion.

"You know what. How many times have I called you in the past few weeks and asked how she was doing? How many times did you promise to tell me when Mom was going through another bout, so I could come home?"

He wasn't mad at Cara, nor scolding her, just more worried for her. No sixteen year old should have to take care of their depressed mother. Especially not when her big brother told her to call him when their mother was about to have another episode. That was his job.

"I'm fine, Jim. I can take care of her," Cara said, sounding so much older than she actually was.

"She's losing weight, Cara, and her mind isn't here right now. You know how much I do not want you to be around her when she gets too deep."