I came home the morning after spending the night with Raina and the first thing I did was check on Mum.
The house was unusually quiet.
Sunlight slipped through the hallway windows as I walked toward her room. I slowed once I reached the doorway.
She was asleep.
Her breathing was light and steady, one hand resting over the blanket while the television played quietly in the background. A half-finished glass of water sat beside her medication on the bedside table.
Good.
She took it.
I stayed there for a few seconds longer than I needed to. Sometimes I still checked to make sure her chest was moving.
It was stupid probably, but after everything with her health these past few month, fear had a way of staying inside you permanently.
I started turning to leave quietly when her voice stopped me.
"Ethan?"
I looked back immediately. "Yeah mum?"
"You're here?" she asked sleepily. "You didn't go to work today?"
Right.
The lie.
