Forget me lots (Completed)

10. Dawn🌿

It's Saturday and everything bothers me for no apparent reason. I know I'm caving fast, bending inwards into my darkest corner. My erratic thoughts scattering in the blizzard building inside my rib cage. I know the cold is not good for my ferny transition, no leaves can endure its icy kiss. I know it and my roots know it. They tsk in defeat. I was supposed to be blooming leaf after leaf so I can once and for all be chlorophyllic and ready to mingle with the earth underneath my bare feet.

I look around me. The unkempt backyard has become a universe, and I want to join its constellation. If I get the other plants to like me, maybe they can share secrets about how my dad is rooting under his earthy bed. I take a few temptative steps toward the tallest oak tree in the yard and lay a hand over its rickety crust. It crumples beneath my touch and cascades in a powdery dance to meet my toes.

Is this how it feels to be old and wise? That you stand tall against all storms until one day you collapse at the tiniest of touch?

"I'm neither old nor wise, but I can relate to you, oak," I croak, pressing my cheek against the warm and alive trunk.

"Dawn, baby. What are you doing outside and barefoot? You will worsen the cramps." Mom thinks she's coming to the rescue when she really is interrupting an important conversation. I was befriending the oak, maybe getting him to spill some tea on my dad's radio silence for the past hours.

"Sorry, Mom. Felt like getting some fresh air, that's all." I lift the corners of my mouth in a temptative smile. I earn one of her trademark frowns in return. She's never bought my fake grins. Damn it, I never learn.

"Why don't you go back inside? You still look pale, and considering how wet you came home yesterday, the least I want is to have you running a fever." She closes the distance between us and wraps an arm over my shoulders. We walk in silence back inside where I earn a sloppy kiss from Bree and a quick hug from Tommy—he still defends his poo theory.

"I'm taking the kids to the Mall for a birthday present before dropping them at the party. Wanna come?" There's hope in her cadence and my heart shatters because I can't reciprocate. I'm so deep in my pitch black corner, that I see no easy way out.

"I'd rather stay in bed and rest a bit more."

She nods and as she makes her way out of the house. I know what her slumped shoulders carry, the weight of a broken daughter.

There's silence in the house and in my head. Daddy is quiet and I'm growing weary. I try summoning him. I want to find out whether River's meddling has something to do with his longer absences.

Dad... if this is about the boy in the lake... We aren't even friends. He hasn't spoken to me again. I—I won't be friends with him if you don't want me to.

I hold my breath, but he remains quiet. Maybe Dad needs time to process what happened at the lake. Maybe it has nothing to do with me wanting to be friends with the watery boy. Yeah. My plan scared him and so he needs a little time. That's all. I shouldn't worry too much. I should think of something else, or nothing at all.