I Miss You

‘Hi Mom, I miss you’
In the kitchen a mother was crying, it seemed like it was the only thing she’d been doing tonight. Ever since her daughter announced she would leave that night.

‘Mom! I’m going now!’ A young girl shouted up the stairs to her mother who was in her bedroom as usual.
She didn’t hear reply. She aimed her eyes at the ground and wiped away a tear.
It would be years until she would see her mother again, and she couldn’t even respond to her message.
‘Bye then’ she whispered, not loud enough for her mother to hear and she walked to the door. Just before opening it she heard a few thumps behind her and saw her mother standing close behind her.
Her eyes were wet and she had bags under them from all the sleepless nights that she’d had.
‘Please’ her mother begged her and the girl shook her head. ‘Don’t leave me’ the mother continued pleading. The girl looked at her mother with angry green eyes. ‘You never gave a shit about me, and now, when it’s already too late you want me to stay?’ she shouted angrily and tore away from her mother.
She picked up her bags and slammed the door behind her...

She knew she’d been a terrible mother. Ever since her husband had left her for a younger woman she had been. The only thing that made her feel better was alcohol. Lot’s of alcohol.
She’d completely neglected her daughter. She never came to any school plays that her only child had been in. She didn’t once ask if she was doing okay at school, if she had lots of friends or maybe even a boyfriend.
And now her daughter had moved in with her grandmother.
For the first time in ages she didn’t want to drink. She walked into the kitchen and saw her cell phone. The battery had died, it had probably already been turned off for months. Now she finally plugged it in to recharge.
There were three messages. 2 from her friends, asking if she was okay, but the messages were 3 months old.
The third message was new, it made her freeze and break into crying once again.
‘Hi mom, I miss you’