Eleven o’clock, her heart beats faster as she listens to it worriedly. She grasps the pillow on her chest and listens to the sound of her heavy breathing.
She gets up from the couch and checks if anyone is at her gate, she checks her phone for missed calls and messages.
Past one in the morning and still nothing, she wants to go out and look for her daughter but she doesn't know where to start.
Her teacher says she left early after school. She tries calling her daughter's friends but none of them are picking up their phone.
She doesn't know if she should call the cops and phone in for missing person. Three in the morning, and she's on the verge of tears.
Her hands shake as she tries to prepare some coffee. She thinks of all the chores set for the day but can't stop worrying.
She goes to her little son's room and embraces him worriedly. She is about to break when someone knocks at the door.
Her face turns white, she doesn't know if it's her daughter or the police coming to tell her about a possible incident.
She hears her daughter yelling for someone to open the door. She trembles with relief and anger.
As she opens the door "Where have you been? You had me so worried you didn't even tell me where or what you were going to do!?"
Her daughter yells at her "With my friends! I don't have to tell you everything! If i told you, you wouldn't have let me!"
Her eyes flare up “I almost died worrying about you and that's your reason? What if something bad happened to you?"
Her daughter walks towards her room ignoring her.
She grabs her hand with anger "You don't know what you just put me through because you don't know what it means to be a mother yet, but someday you will."
Her daughter breaks loose with irritation. "You don't own me, stop treating me like a kid, I'm not!"
Her mother slaps her " You think you have the world on your shoulders, you think your father would be proud of you?!"
Her daughter shouts "If he were alive he'd be here to protect me from you!" She rushes to her room and slams the door.
Her mother breathes painfully but with a little relief "At least she's safe, she whispers".
She looks at the clock and it's already past four. She hasn't slept a wink.
She cooks breakfast and says "Thank goodness it's Saturday."
She cleans up a bit though with a heavy heart.
Six in the morning and her boss asks her to come to work.
She says she isn't feeling well but her boss reminds her of how bad she has been performing recently.
She hasn't been getting any good sleep ever since her daughter started her rebellious ways. She would come to work every other night worried, tired with little sleep and full of heartache.
She tries to take a short nap but it isn't enough. She gets ready for another day of work as a cashier and she has to look good doing it.
She enters the store and by ten in the morning hundreds of people with hundreds of items in their shopping carts have passed her by.
She hasn't eaten, just had coffee, she uses her lunchtime for a nap and at five in the afternoon she is completely worn out.
She comes home to the sound of loud music and her daughter won't even tune it down so she can sleep.
Her daughter's boyfriend is smoking in the living room and her son won't stop bugging her about a toy he wants.
The following week, her teenage daughter comes home crying, her boyfriend has left her and she's pregnant.
Her mother breaks down not knowing what to do.
She momentarily holds back her anger and tells her everything will be ok and whispers "Lord help us".
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