Always Together✔️

Chapter: 5

The wooden panel creaks beneath my foot when I step on the front porch of the cabin house. The creaking sound slices, the otherwise calm atmosphere. The occasional chirping of the birds and rustling of the leaves, when the wind blows, feels like nature is playing music.

I reach the back pocket of my jeans shorts to retrieve the keys of the cabin. Balancing the bag of cleaning supplies and some grocery items in my one hand, with the other hand I unlock the door. 

The musty and damp air welcomes me. The floating dust particles are visible in the sunlight filtered inside the house through the slight opening of the curtains. 

Keeping the bags on the floor, I remove all the curtains and opened the windows for the ventilation. 

I look around while taking in each and every detail of the house. Nothing has changed in all these years, everything is just the way I have seen. 

A beautiful cozy home which should have been filled with the laugh and chatter of a happy family is quiet and silent. Sometimes, it seems this house also misses its owners. 

After cleaning the entire house, which takes around four hours, I change into a spare pair of clothes after taking a shower. Walking inside the master bedroom, I run my hand over the dresser. My eyes travel from one thing to another. This is the part of the house, where I feel like I am not alone. 

Everything in this room brings me closer to mom and dad. Their belongings are still kept in this room, just the way they had left. Some jewelry item and makeup accessories, of mom, are scattered on the dresser. Dad's shoes are placed on the side of the door as he has just now taken them off. The closet is filled with the mom and dad's clothes, if you open the closet you can almost feel their smell. However, that smell is now tainted with the dust.

Taking a deep breath, I pick up mom's empty perfume bottle. Bringing it closer to my nose, I inhale it. Trying to feel my mother's comforting smell, which I have never had a chance to actually experience in my life. Tears prick my eyes because there is hardly any smell left in that bottle.

"Mom, your things are also leaving me," I blink rapidly to dry my eyes, my throat constricts as I swallow.

I could have easily bought that perfume from the market, but that won't be the same. This was the one which my mother used.

I want to preserve every single memory of my parents, even if it is their smell. But, unfortunately, that is practically impossible.

Walking across the room, I stand in front of the wall on which beautiful memories proudly hang. My reflection falls on the photo frame in which my mom's smiling face is captured. It feels like she is smiling at me. 

Sometimes I just wish, even if it is just for once, my mom comes back to me. I want to keep my head in her lap and let go all the years of tears which are buried inside me. I have spent numerous nights crying myself to sleep, but just once I want to fall sleep in my mom's arms.

I run my fingers on the glass, a few more tears gathers in my eyes. 

I share a great resemblance with my mom, but I got my hair from my dad. We share the same smile, eyes, skin color... even I have a faint dimple on my left cheek just like her. The only difference is that my hair is black, and her hair was light brown. 

Quickly, I run my fingers under my eyes and turn away from her picture when my phone rings. Slight furrow forms between my brows when I see the name of the caller.

"Hey," Alec says, sounding hesitant.

"Hi," I quietly reply still puzzled. 

"I wanted to-" he pauses, then after a moment he asks, "Are you crying?"