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John Dory laid his bed, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, the room was quiet with the only faint noise he could hear was Spruce’s snoring across from his side of their shared bedroom. Though it was muffled with a blanket that the young trolling knew Spruce covered himself up since he first fell asleep hours ago. The soft winds that rustled the troll tree’s leaves outside their pod seeped into the room from a small window just above John Dory’s bedside, weaving into the room a subtle lullaby to put any troll on their side of the tree to sleep for the night.
It was nice….
But John Dory couldn’t sleep. Despite the peaceful stillness that was around him, he tossed and turned in his bed for hours, his thoughts kept from drifting back to his dreams. His head always circled back to his mom, Aster, when he tried to go back to sleep. John was worried about his mom as she still wasn’t back home tonight. Grandma was here with them and while John liked having grandma take care of them, it just felt wrong , for their mom to be absent from the pod and instead off on her tour around the tree. Now John knew that the tour was important for his mom and that it made her happy to perform for all the trolls with Trollstice coming again soon.
But the tour ended a week ago and she still wasn't home
Usually his mom’s tours only lasted for two weeks and even then his mom would rush back home when her tours ended, but now it was nearing four since she first left them and their soon to hatch sibling with grandma.
That was what had been keeping John Dory up for the past few nights.
‘Maybe she extended her tour?’ was the thought he came to these past nights. Along with occasionally looking out from his window, hoping to see if any of his mom’s poppers released into the sky to start her show, the lights shaped like flowers then burned out as the music played but every time John looked, there would be nothing. Even now, John got up from his back to look out of the window, laying his head on his arms that rested on the windowsill, and the curtain completely sidelined for a clear. With furrowed eyebrows he watched intently through the window for a short while, looking upwards to the higher branches where his mom always performed and once again met with an empty sky and no lights in the distance.
John Dory sighed as he slumped his head to his arms, looking down instead at the branches below their pod. It was getting harder to be okay without his mom being here with him and Spruce. Their Grandma was here, but it just wasn’t the same.
When John needed to take care of something grandma couldn’t because she was getting older he thought back to what his mom would do to get it done. Those thoughts mostly came to the young troll when he took care of the egg that sat in the nursery of their pod covered in blankets and toys to keep it warm since grandma’s hair couldn’t nest as well as it used to. And John being only six, his hair wasn't big enough for the egg. When the egg moved for attention, John would try to remember what his mom did. Did she talk with Spruce’s egg, did she just cuddle with him, or did she do something else? He couldn’t remember well, since he was only three when Spruce’s egg detached and hatched.
He really wished his mom would be back soon since the egg was close to hatching, and she had to be here by then right? She was there when he hatched, she was there when Spruce hatched, so she’ll be here when their new sibling would hatch won’t she?
John thought about this, his heart became heavy and his nerves about his mom returned to him.
But what if she didn’t come back?
No—no, John told himself firmly in his head when that stupid question appeared in his head. His mom was going to get back soon, and if she wasn’t it just meant she was just going to make her tour last longer then she’ll be here when their new sibling hatches. She promised. As John’s thoughts circled around about his mom and the egg, he started to drift back in time to when he and Spruce even found out about the egg in the first place. It happened maybe about 2 months ago? John Dory didn’t really remember all that well, with how busy things got after, with his mom organizing her last minute tour but he did remember how weird that day ended up being.
His mom had gently shaken him awake that day. “John, sweetie wake up,” she whispered, brushing her thumb on the side of his face, as John Dory stirred and grumbled, his blanket that wrapped around him loosened a bit, as he slowly opened his eyes. His mom sat at the edge of his bed, looking down at him with tired eyes though she still had a smile on her face.
“John get up, I need to tell you something” She murmured, pulling down John’s blanket a little as he started to move off his side. He soon sat up leaning against the frame of his bed, slouching a bit as he rubbed his eyes still a bit groggy from sleep.
“What is it mom..?” He mumbled tiredly, his eyes half open as he glanced towards his mom who had reached out to the window just above the other side of his bed and opened the curtain letting some of the morning light in.
John hadn’t known if it was earlier than when his mom usually woke him up but when he saw how faint the lights were outside, he knew that it was too early.
“I’m going somewhere today and I need you to take care of Spruce for me today sweetie” her voice came through, John perked up at what she had said. His lingering grogginess from before now went away a little, his mom scooted closer to him at the frame of his bed. Seating at his side, tucking a stray strand of his bed hair behind his ear.
“Can you do that for me?” she murmured, as she ran her fingers to smooth out any remaining stray ends of his hair back in place. Something she always did.
“Yeah can…” John croaked out, as he slid his blanket off his legs and shifted to the side of his bed, right beside his mom, “..But where are you going?” He asked looking up to his mom.
“ Oh , it –it’s just I need to visit someone important today dear..” She blurted out, her head turned away a bit and her hand went up to her hair. His mom’s hair was down again, though it was still quite poofy, with the downward swirl at the end of it leaning to her side. Fiddling with the deep blue that faded into leaf green at the ends, she smoothed out any strands like what she had done to his hair just a few seconds ago, as if she was covering something. Her face furrowed as if she thought back on something, looking nervous..?
Weird
"And I might be gone for a while, so if I’m not back after lunch take Spruce and go to your grandma Rosiepuff’s pod,” She added, turning her head back to him and continued with “Stay with her until I can pick my two boys up after I finish my visit okay John?” She stated, her face returned back to her usual smile but it didn’t reach up to her eyes like before.
John Dory nodded at his mom, about to stand up from the side of his bed. Only for him to yelp out when he was lifted up and whirled around. His mom giggled as she twirled him off the bed.
“ Momm..! ” John wailed in surprise as he sunk into his mom’s hold, his hand clutched to the sleeve of her coat, his eyes closed shut out as she swung him around. Before bringing him closer to her chest and wrapping him in a hug. John’s head against her shoulder and her hand at the back of his head, still kept up from the floor. John huffed and slightly turned his head away from his mom grumbling against her shoulder. But all this did was make his mom’s smile grow a little wider, clearly amused at his reaction. Though she smoothed it out before he could've noticed, as she knew if she had laughed–John would’ve thrown a small fit in her arms.
Instead she breathed a soft hum and snuggled him closer. Her thumb brushing against his cheek in a playful attempt to shape his pout to a smile to no avail. Strangely her hold of him tightened a bit as after this, her eyes shifted from him to the opened window above his bed that let the early morning seep in. When John looked up, her eyes were distant and fully focused to the window or was it outside? He tilted his head confused a bit at this, he didn’t like that . But before he could ask her anything, her hold loosened and he was placed back to the floor.
“Okay that’s enough, I need to get this meetup over with as soon as possible,” She chirped out as she let John Dory back down, he had wanted to ask her more about the meeting and why she seemed weird but she spoke before he could.
“I already made breakfast and some lunch on the log earlier for you and Spruce, sweetpea,” She said as she turned from him to make her way to Spruce’s side of the room, who was still deep asleep and bundled up in his blanket. His mom knelt to him, then placed a small kiss to his cheek which earned her a sleepy grunt from the three year old, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Pulling back, she straightened her back and smoothed out her coat, removing any wrinkle or dust that could've been on it, ‘making it look perfect’ as his mom always said before. And with that she left the bedroom with John Dory trailing behind like a little shadow only to stop at the front door of their pod as she left for her meeting.
John watched as his mom’s figure slowly faded to the leaves and branches of the troll tree leaving him alone to their quiet pod to look after Spruce until she would get back to them later.
And John Dory did as he was told, Spruce had woken up not long after he had finished eating. He and Spruce played around the pod, small wooden toys of bugs or flowers accompanied them. Occasionally John had to clean something up when he and Spruce got carried away. He had fun but he wanted his mom to be back soon and it showed with how he would sometimes look at the clock to see if the arrow was going to hit the letter ‘lunch time’ soon but John ignored this in favor of distracting his brother from questions of where their mom was.
He didn’t know
All he knew was that she was at a meeting and would be back by lunch
That was all he needed to know
So he waited for her open the door of their pod with a bright smile on her face
And he waited
And waited
And waited…
But there was nothing by the time he and Spruce had finished the lunch she had prepared for them in the morning. John had wanted to wait a little longer thinking maybe she was taking the long path back to their pod but her instructions for him came back to him.
They needed to get to their grandma’s pod until she could pick them up again.
‘Spruce needed to have his afternoon nap anyways and he was having a hard time getting him to settle down. Grandma would be able to help,’ He thought as he packed a couple of snacks to bring over to a small shoulder pack. Along with that John Dory had grabbed his and little brother’s shoulder capes that were lined with fur as it was still a little cold outside. And their grandma’s pod was a few branches away and he couldn’t just swing there with his hair as much as he wanted too, since Spruce was still learning how to use his hair. John clipped on Spruce’s cape around him while his brother idly swung his legs on the coach and when he settled the pack on his shoulder, they went out to get to their grandma’s pod.
He held his brother’s hand as they made their trek through the branch pathways of the tree. He and Spruce had talked when they first started walking but they had to stop for a bit when they reached the ladders that led to the lower branches. John was careful when they had to take the ladders down since their grandma’s pod was about two branches down from theirs and Spruce was still a bit scared of them. Not that he wasn’t as well since they were old and would sometimes creek suddenly if any troll stepped on them too hard. Throughout the rest of the walk, he noticed colors of the leaves of the trolls had begun to regain their bright colors again now that spring was soon. John was happy about it since it meant he and Spruce could play around outside again but it also meant that trollstice was going to be soon. And their mom would be busy again with her concerts.
Usually that meant their dad would be the one to keep them company but– well this year was going to be different..
Last trollstice made that clear to him
John remembered how his mom was like after
She kept crying for days and just the way she couldn’t smile even just a little was… scary
He didn’t know what to do to make his mom smile again when it happened
But he should've known right?
He always made her smile when she was sa—
“JD?” Spruce mumbled with a small tug at his hand, his brother stared up at him “Are we staying over with grandma again?” he muttered, before he rubbed his eyes sleepily. They were almost to her pod by then.
John paused for a second at his brother’s sudden question that snapped him out of his thoughts and only shook his head, “No Spruce I told you earlier were only staying with grandma for like an hour or something like that then mom will get us,” He said his tone was a bit forced and he hoped his brother didn’t notice it. The rest of their conversation died down when they both spotted their grandma pod, a new macrame decoration visible just above the door.
Soon enough they were inside, taking their fur capes off. John Dory was about to call out to their grandma who was probably in the kitchen, that the two of them were here. But his ears perked up at the sound of his brother yawning. He looked behind him to see Bruce swaying a bit, looking as if he was about to fall over, he smiled at him.
“Hey Spruce,” He started, getting the attention of his brother who had already started to doze off, ”Remember dad’s old bedroom we always stayed in when mom and dad wanted a night? Why don’t you go rest up there and I’ll go tell grandma we're here?”
“Mm.. okay” Spruce grumbled before toddling away to another part of the hallway that would lead to the familiar room, his footsteps barely heard by John with him still being so small .
And when he was about to find their grandma who was likely in the kitchen, further in the hallways faint as it was, he heard a noise that came from the living room of their grandma’s pod. John Dory frowned a bit. Grandma rarely had visitors over.
From what he could see, the living room door was cracked open allowing the noise to come out to be muffled. Cautiously, he stepped forward to see what the noise was.
Was someone crying?
John Dory tensed up a bit, he had stopped right in front of the cracked door, the sounds of soft crying clearly heard to him now. His mouth had tightened a bit with brows furrowed a little in thought for a moment. It sounded familiar.
Worried if it was grandma who was crying, he approached closer to the door, despite his head telling him not to, he hesitated for a moment, lingering his hand on the cracked door. John took a deep breath before he cracked open the door wider to peek through to the living room.
The shadows of the couches and the table in the room made things seem to tower over to him as he quietly entered the space. The crying soon became sobs as he moved closer, his ears drooped down at the change, he really didn’t like it. Careful to put himself behind the furniture, crouched down slightly, the frame of the couch hiding him from view but he was able to see who else was in the room.
What he saw made him freeze.
His mom was there
At the center of the room sitting the coach was his grandma and mom, he’d recognized her hair anywhere. She was still wearing her coat from the morning but her hair had become a mess, its previous curl at the end seemed wilted. Split strands out all over as she had tumbled in one of the leaf piles of the tree. She was hunched over her arms resting on her lap while her hands covered her mouth tightly. His grandma was sitting next to her as she placed both her hands to his mom’s shoulders as if to keep her steady or comfort her. She was saying something but his mom was shaking like a scared animal as another sob came from her, coughing up, and grandma’s attempt to comfort her being forgotten.
Again
Mom was sad again…
John watched as his mom continued to fall apart and grandma trying the best she could to help her to calm down but it wasn’t working, it was worse than what she was like after trollstice. She kept mumbling things under her breath and John caught on a few of them between her sobs.
“What was I thinki— why did I do it? ”
“He–hic –What would he think of me now?”
John Dory, tense and scared still behind the coach near the door at the scene and he considered running to their dad’s old bedroom with Spruce but he looked on the scene again and his chest churned. Slowly he had steeled himself to at least stand up from his hiding place, still letting the frame of the coach hide him a little and called out in a faint hesitant whisper:
“Mom?”
Despite John himself barely hearing himself, his grandma’s ears flickered towards his direction and turned to him with a small gasp, probably not having expected him to be at the pod already let alone be inside the room, while his mom seemed for a moment to freeze up mid sob to look up towards him. Eyes bloodshot and wide, while the soft purple eyes she had—now it just looked as if they belonged to some other troll with how the shadows of her hair made them nearly look pitch black in his view.
At the sight, John Dory stepped back a bit, scared with how creepy that expression his mom had when she looked up at him. “S– sweetie I– ” she rasped as she saw him take a step from her, out of her initial shock at him.
Yet on instinct despite the small fear in his chest at his mom’s voice he stepped forward to his mom, wanting to come up with a hug for her. But before he could do anything, in a blur grandma was in front of him on one knee with a firm hand on his shoulder while her other arm was cupped on to something.
“Johnny dear, give her some space,” Grandma had murmured softly to him, her firm hand still on his shoulder that stopped him from taking another step.
John Dory had wanted to protest at this, wanting to go to his mom to see what was wrong but one look at his grandma’s face made him stop. The way her mouth seemed tight, her eyebrows being knitted down, and the dark eyebags that deepened her stern expression at him.
“Okay..” he whispered, his eyes darting to the floor.
“Let’s go to the hallway John,” She said, prompting herself off her one knee and standing up straight. She placed her free hand to his back and guided him to the doorway then his grandma paused for a moment and turned her head to look back at his mom who was still seated on the couch. He did the same, glancing over his shoulder.
“Aster dear..” she said before giving her a small smile but John noticed it still had some strain from her earlier expression at him at the corners, “Why don’t you drink the tea I made for us so you can calm down a little, yes?” She suggested and that was when John Dory noticed two tea cups that still had some steam coming up were placed on the small table just in front of his mom.
His mom had just nodded, her gaze was on the floor and she had placed her hands to rest on top of her lap now. Though John could see the way her hands were still shaking a little. He wasn’t able to see more when he felt the weight of his grandma’s hand at his back gently pushing him to move forward to the hallway. As they stepped out and Grandma had closed the door to the living room, was when John had looked up to his grandma and noticed what was cupped on her other arm.
It was an egg
The shell was a light teal color, the same as his and Spruce’s skin with green wavy lines that went all around while the tuft of hair that poked out on top was a bright yellow and it was wrapped up in a blanket.
Did the egg make mom upset?
John’s face scrunched up a bit at the thought, and his grandma had noticed his expression right away as she turned around to face him from the door.
“Grandma who’s egg is that? Is it why mom was crying?” He asked quickly, going on his tippy toes to look closer at the bundled egg she held, as if that would give me the answer to why the egg would make his mom cry.
Grandma raised her eyebrow at his question, the edges of her face still a bit weary but at her grandson’s sudden questions it had softened a little. She was quiet for a second looking between the egg in her arm and John who was still trying to make himself taller to look at the egg.
Then she kneeled down to the floor, shifting the bundled egg from one of her arms to both of them, cradling them. John had come closer, his scrunched up expression still there as he looked down to the egg.
“Johnny, this is your moms’ it detached a while ago,” She explained with a soft sigh. “Looks like you and Spruce are going to be big brothers together now,” She said with a fond smile as she watched John Dory’s expression turn from scrunched up to wide eyed.
Then blinking for a few times.
“Wait… really? ” He beamed, his ears perked back up, his smile spreading to his eyes shining with excitement and he leaned closer to look at the egg again but this time happily.
“Can I hold them grandma?” He asked eagerly, his arms outstretched, his grandma laughed a little and carefully shifted the bundled egg from her arms to Johns’.
The weight of the egg slightly made his arms shake a little being it was half his height but his grandma had quickly supported him, making sure John held the egg tight to his chest. That was when he realized that the tuft of bright yellow hair on the egg, there were also faint leaf green streaks peeking through at the roots, it was the same color as his moms’. John could feel when the egg was properly placed in his arms how warm it was. He imagined that his and Spruce’s eggs were probably just as warm as theirs when mom would take them out of her hair. He could even feel the heartbeat in the egg a little too.
Thump thump thump
It went over and over again
John hugged the egg closer and at that moment wanted to run to Spruce to show off their new sibling to him. Also the fact that it was him who got to hold them first. He was already thinking of all the things he was going to teach Spruce about being a big brother! All the songs and games they could do— he couldn’t wait until they hatched and all of them could play together–!
“Wait…” John whispered looking back at the egg in arms again confused, “Why is mom crying then? We're getting a new sibling shouldn’t she be happy? ” he asked, his voice was small and his eyes glanced back up at the closed off door of the living room where his mom was still at. His ears dropped down a little.
Grandma sighed softly at him and she glanced too at the closed door behind her with a worried expression he rarely saw. She faced him back and her eyes landed back to him and her mouth opened but no words came out. She tried again but still there was nothing that came from her and she closed her mouth to a line. Then she looked at the bundled egg in his arms and her eyes held on something that John couldn’t exactly place. They looked like they wanted to sleep but at the same time they didn’t?
“Aster she–” Grandma started but quickly paused again, closing her eyes for a small breath and opened them again, her gaze now back at him “Your mom isn’t at the best place right now Johnny,” She said gently.
What?
John tilted his head at his grandma’s words, this confused more than he was before.
“But…” He mumbled before turning his head a couple of times around the hallway, “We're at your place grandma and it's one of the best places to be! Mom said so before!”
His grandma raised both her eyebrows at his words before letting out a small chuckle, she shook her head at him after. “No dear, not that kind of place.”
“Then what place?”
“What I mean is dear, is that… it isn't a physical type of place.” she murmured
John Dory was quiet for a moment looking down as thought about what his grandma had just said to him. Then he glanced over her shoulder where the closed door was, still there and even if it was quiet, John still felt he could hear his mom crying from earlier. It was bad and he hadn’t seen her cry like that since…
“Does… does it have something to do with dad going away?” He asked quietly as he looked away from his grandma, bringing the egg closer to him and nuzzling the tuft of its soft hair for comfort with the side of his face.
From the corner of his eye, his grandma’s ears had dripped down slightly and the corner of her mouth twitched a little at the mention of his dad. But quickly her face returned to a comforting smile and John wasn’t sure if he just imagined her face falling a little or not.
“Maybe… or maybe not” She said finally, and he turned his head to look towards her again, “But I’m sure she’ll be okay dear,” she said softly.
‘But will she be happy again?’ was what he wanted to ask but his grandma spoke before he could.
“And I should probably check up on her soon. So, how about you introduce your new sibling to Spruce? I bet he’ll be excited to know he’s a big brother now just like you. And you know I rarely lose a bet in anything!” She chimed in, laughing a bit at the end but it sounded a bit forced in John’s ear.
But he thought for a moment at his grandma’s suggestion, looking down at the bundled egg in his arms again, it did sound nice...
‘I guess I’ll have to take care of them for today.’
“Will mom still read us something before bed tonight? ” he questioned, it was something that she always did before she would leave with dad in the past and he hoped that maybe she would be happier if she did it. She always was before and with whatever made her upset today for her to cry, it would help wouldn’t it?
His grandma let out a small sigh at his question and ruffled his hair a little, “I’m sure she will, you know that she would never miss a chance to tell stories to you two and with little one now here, well… she wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she reassured him and it didn’t sound forced. So he smiled and nodded, then re-adjusted the bundled egg in his arms to keep it more secure.
And he went down the familiar hallway that led to his dad’s old bedroom. Careful not to run as normally would’ve before to keep the egg from falling. ‘Spruce probably fell asleep by now..’ he thought as he walked with a bit of a spring in his step but there was still something heavy in his chest that he couldn’t place. Without thought he looked back to where he and his grandma were just moments ago.
She was just standing in front of the closed door, one hand holding the handle but not opening it. She was looking down, eyes glued to the handle and her lips were again in a thin line, looking tense.
John didn’t think much of it then, after all he had seen a similar look on her when she and dad played rummy a couple of times before. Usually it was before his grandma would win and his dad would cry out in defeat. He remembered thinking then, that grandma would help mom get out of whatever ‘place’ she was in.
His mom had come to read to all of them that night just like grandma said she would, and she had a smile on her face again. She placed herself at the edge of the gigantic bed of their dad’s old room; snuggling him, Spruce, and the egg that he still held near his chest, her arms wrapped around all of them tight but warm. Spruce took it the best since he hadn’t seen their mom all day, climbing up to her hair after while his mom giggled and tried to take Spruce out, reasoning with him that she needed to incubate their new sibling for the night. Eventually, he came out and his mom put the egg back into her hair. She happily picked out one of the books on the shelves at the room’s corner. But still, he noticed the faded redness in her eye and the way it seemed heavier that night, like she stayed up working on another song but he didn’t say anything about how it bugged him, the whole day had been weird and he just wanted to know what made his mom upset.
So he'll just ask now that he had the chance too and by the time their mom read the book to them, Spruce had fallen asleep snuggled up on his side before their mom could finish the story. He was tired at that point too; the warm light in the room was comforting and the whispers of cold wind outside only made the night heavier but he managed to keep his eyes open. His mom’s voice had started to become muffled to him at some point too and his mom had placed his head back on the pillow, he was facing on his side o the bed with Spruce snuggled up against his chest while their mom had gotten up and started turning the flower shaped lights on the drawer beside the bed off. He looked up to her and asked:
"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Why were you sad earlier?"
His mom froze up, midway to turning one of the last two flower lights off, her shoulders were tense before her fingers curled up a little and she frowned, looking down to the drawer.
“Just a bad day dear…” She muttered, her voice a little sharp like she was angry about something. John never heard her voice like that before but still….was it just that? He wanted to know.
“Really? But you've had bad days before” he said, which was true his mom had those days where she was grumpy but never upset or sad like she was earlier. His mom was still looking down on the drawer but this time her eyes narrowed down a little. He continued
“You were more grumpy and dad always–”
“John please.” She hissed out and the sound of a click from one of the two last flower lights went out. He flinched, instinctively holding Spruce closer, his brother deep asleep only grumbling a little at the sudden movement. The shadows of the room, darker now with only one light left in the room. He saw his mother’s outline and the last light shined a little on her face, her lips were curled down and her eyes were shut tight.
Then she sighed, her shoulder slumping and she glanced at him again. “Let’s just leave this alone for now okay?” she whispered, flicking the last flower light off. The only bit of faint light left was from behind her in the hallway. Their mom reached out to the blanket on him and Spruce, before pulling it over their shoulders, tucking them in for the night.
“I love you”
“Love you too mom…”
His memory ended there. The morning after that… John couldn’t remember that well. The only thing he did seem to remember was; when their mom walked with them back to their pod, their new sibling’s bright yellow tuft of hair peeking out of their mom’s deep blue, he noticed how the red rings around his mom’s eye looked well— redder than last night. But he didn’t say anything about it, given how she got more upset or was it angry? When he tried to know more about the ‘bad day’ she had and she was actually smiling again when they were walking back to their pod.
So… whatever bad day or place as grandma told him she had, he thought it didn’t matter anymore. His mom was being happy again that time and asking more about what made her sad? It wasn’t worth it.
John Dory remembered then thinking that their mom was happy again, that she was out of whatever ‘place’ she was in earlier. That she wasn’t going back to it
That it was gone forever
But the image of all of them walking back to their pod, with his mom being happy faded away. The brightness of the morning light that was present on their path turned darker in his eyes. The warm sun rays shifted to the cool blue lights that came from the open window above his bed.
John blinked. The memory gone. Familiar shadows of his and Spruce's room started to come back to him pulling him back to the present; it was still the middle of the night and his mom still wasn’t home yet despite their new sibling was going to hatch soon. And no signs of mom anywhere.
…..
…….
………..
Was she still in this ‘place’ grandma told him about?
Did she have to go on this last-minute tour to get out of it again?
He didn’t know anymore. He shut his eyes closed, his heart heavy like when that day ended. John buried his head to his arms on the windowsill, tired. This was probably the longest time he had stayed up at night in the past since his mom went on her tour and it was going to show in the morning. Grandma was probably going to scold him about it.
“Wonder if mom is sleeping now?” John Dory muttered under his breath, raising his head out of his arms a little. Then he glanced over his shoulder to the other side of the dim bedroom, to Spruce’s side. His little brother, as deep of a sleeper he is, was still out cold. The blanket nearly covered him whole except for the tip of his purple hair peeking out at the end. He turned back to the window, simply staring ahead now.
He hoped wherever mom was staying in the upper branches, that she was sleeping soundly like Spruce was. Just like what dad would’ve wanted for her
He remembered when dad would sometimes argue with their mom just to get her to leave her table full of notebooks of unfinished songs she worked on. Mom would always insist that she wasn’t tired and that she loved seeing her fans happy. She would tell dad that he was being a worrywart. But in the end their dad would always win, getting her to take a break or worse–in her opinion– get him and Spruce on his side to push her to take a break. Then his mom would whine to their dad:
“Honey! Why did you turn my boys against me?!”
John Dory smiled a bit but his chest felt tight for some reason, then he felt a small sting at the corner of his eye and a small tear went on the windowsill below him. He turned away from the window and touched his cheek. Another tear was going down.
Right dad wasn’t here anymore…
He quickly wiped his face, he didn’t know what else do anymore when—
POP!
John jumped at the noise, he snapped his head back to the window, his hands catching to the windowsill. He looked up to the upper branches, where a small piece of the overlapping twigs and leaves left a clearing to look up into the sky.
And there it was, a shining flower burning then fading away, a popper went off signaling one of his mom’s concerts beginning for the night.
Oh
Oh
A warm relief went through him when another light popped into the sky, this time in the shape of an aster flower, a bright star yellow, that shared the name with his mom. John Dory smiled widely.
He was right!
Mom just extended her tour!
Mom extended her tour….
‘But that means she’ll be busy for longer now’ a voice commented at the back of his head. John shook his head, pushing down that voice out.
It didn’t matter now to him at that point as he continued to look out the window. Now leaning onto the windowsill fully from his bed. Watching the way the sparkling poppers came into the sky one after the other, each brighter than the last.
He’ll just wait until all of them are used up in the sky and he’ll go to sleep, maybe…
John Dory just hoped that his mom would be back at their pod smiling brightly one morning soon.