You Will Be Found (A Lumity AU)

Coming Home

Chapter 8

Luz barely made it to the restaurant before she was supposed to start her shift. Quietly entering through the back door, she punched in and grabbed her dirty white apron from a hook on the wall. When she made it into the back room where she worked, there were already multiple bins of dirty dishes next to the sink. Luz sighed, but rolled up her sleeves and got to work. It hurt to scrub, as her arm was still in pretty bad shape. After a few minutes, a familiar voice spoke from the doorway.

"Hey, kid. How are you? Whoa, what happened to your face?" Luz smiled a little and looked up. There stood her boss, Edalyn Clawthorne. But everyone just called her Eda. She was a tall woman in her mid-forties with very pale skin and a wild mane of gray hair. She always wore red. Whether it was a dress or a blouse, it was her signature color. Today she wore the dress. Eda was an old friend of Camila Noceda, Luz's mom. She had always been like a second mother to Luz, and was the only person other than her mother that Luz felt comfortable talking to consistently.

"Hey, Eda. I'm fine, and it's nothing I can't handle." She said, avoiding eye contact with Eda, but the woman didn't take it personally. Forgetting to ask Eda how she was, Luz turned back to the dishes. Eda walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Luz flinched slightly, and she pulled her hand back.

"Alright, kid. I'll leave you alone for now, but I will find out eventually. Also, we're probably going to get a big rush tonight, so be prepared." Luz nodded, still focusing on her task. Eda sighed, but left the room. Luz worked very hard at this job, even though she hated scrubbing dishes. Her and her mom needed the money. All of Luz's paychecks went into paying for rent, utilities, groceries, and family debt, as did her mother's. When her father died, he had left Luz and her mother in an ocean of debt.

He had been taking loans from the bank he couldn't pay back, buying things with credit that they couldn't afford. He basically destroyed any potential future their family could've had. But regardless of his bad decisions, he had only tried to make Luz and her mother happy. Every choice he had made had been in the interest of his family, and no matter what, Luz would never stop loving him, even if his decisions had been destructive.

Before she knew it, three hours had passed. Eda hadn't lied, there was a big rush, that meant lots of dishes. Her fingers were wrinkled, and her clothes were soaked and covered in food stains. Eda came in and offered her a break, but Luz refused. She didn't have enough money to pay for her food, even though got fifty percent off. Jared always stole her extra cash. This meant Luz had to work as much as she could in order to make enough money for her mom to buy groceries this week.

By the time Luz left that night, her arms were tired and sore from so much scrubbing and lifting. Her stomach grumbled, and she realized that she hadn't eaten anything except for a couple of apples since lunch on Monday. It was now Wednesday. She had only made ten dollars in cash today, so she had to spend it fast if she didn't want it stolen by Jared, and it had to be on something really cheap so she would have money left over. This was because he always beat her if she had nothing to give him.

Luz made her way to the gas station food mart where she grabbed a cup of ramen. Luckily, the gas station had a microwave where she could heat up her food, as the one in her and her mom's apartment barely worked. She paid for the ramen, heated it up, and quickly wolfed it down.

"Woah, you must be hungry, kid." The manager said from behind her. Luz didn't acknowledge him, only focused on the food. Once finished, she tossed the cup away, and walked out of the food mart. It was dark outside, and very cold. Her hoodie was still soaked from work, so that wasn't terribly helpful. The bandages on her arm were falling off, exposing the wound to the freezing air. At least her apartment was only two miles away. Luz slowly trudged back to her home, cradling her wounded arm close to her chest.

By the time she made it back to her apartment, Jared and his friends were nowhere to be found. She sighed in relief, they had probably gone home when they realized she wasn't coming home anytime soon, and they didn't want to freeze while waiting. She went up to her floor and noticed a light from under the door of her apartment. She froze. Did Jared break into her apartment? Her breathing started to speed up and she slowly unlocked the door.

Immediately the sweet smell of cinnamon filled her nose. A warm glow filled the apartment, and Luz saw her mother sitting on their tattered couch reading a worn paperback. She was still in her scrubs. Camila heard Luz enter and looked up.

"iLuz! iPor fin estás en casa! I got the night off and I wanted to see you." She closed her book and walked up to her daughter, enveloping her in a tight hug. Luz tensed up before she relaxed and wrapped her arms around her mom. She buried her face in her mom's shoulder, tears running down her face. She breathed in the smell of cinnamon, the familiar scent calming her.

"Te extrañe, mamá." Luz whispered. When they pulled back, Camila got a good look at Luz's face.

"Mija! What happened to your face?" She said a little too loudly. Luz flinched at her mother's volume, but stayed silent. Camila quickly realized this and took a deep breath. They stood in silence for a moment, before Luz spoke.

"It's nothing, Mamá." Camila, knowing she wouldn't be able to get any information out of her stubborn daughter, sighed and sat back down on the couch. Luz followed and sat down beside her, placing her head on her mom's shoulder. They sat like that for what must've been an hour before Camila spoke.

"Do you want to play a song together?" Luz quickly sat up, a smile on her face. She nodded excitedly. She quickly strode into the other room and grabbed her father's guitar. Camila's face flashed a sad expression at the sight of the instrument. But it passed as quickly as it came. Luz sat down and tuned the guitar to where she wanted it. Then she strummed a C chord. Camila immediately knew what song this was and smiled. They started to sing together.

Won't you be good to yourself

Don't you feel like coming home

It'll be good

It'll be like coming home

Blend all your days into weeks

Keep all your thoughts to yourself

It'll be good

It'll be like coming home

Because you need a place to stay

And I've been feeling dead since you went away

You better believe what I tell you 'cause you're coming home

Won't you bring light to my day

Won't you be somebody new

It'll be good

It'll be like coming home

And tell me that you wanna be

With nobody else but me

It'll be good

It'll be like coming home

Because you need a place to stay

And I've been feeling dead since you went away

You better believe what I tell you 'cause you're coming home

But oh, its not a joke

It's got a butler, and a maid, and a stove

It's nothing new

It's up to you

And when I feel it

I hope you feel it too

Did you hear it

Yeah I heard it

And I think shes coming home to me

La la la la la la la

The two of them smiled as Luz strummed the last chord. Whenever her mom was around, Luz was home.