The Eternal Flower

After her shift ends at the Cranberry Cafe, Amber heads over to her locker to grab her things. She huffs out a sigh, it was a long day of work but she was able to get out ten minutes early. With this extra time, she'd be able to walk a little slower going home. Ever since she got this part-time job at the cafe her mom has been very strict about Amber getting home on time. It was less than a 15-minute walk to her house from the cafe, but her mom didn't want Amber staying out when it got dark. But now it was spring and the days were lighter for longer periods of time outside. After she has her things gathered, she heads out the back entrance. Outside reminded Amber of a snake shedding its skin. All the snow was beginning to melt revealing the bright colors of spring underneath. It was quite a beautiful sight.

Amber never really wanted to get this job at the cafe, but her mom insisted. They needed the money, so it was a short argument between them. It was hard for Amber especially since she was only fifteen, but she liked that she felt needed. That she was helping the family. After her father lost his job he's been struggling to get another one. So now all the money depended on Amber and her mom. This was also another reason Amber's mom wanted her home on time. Without a job, her father has started to spend more and more time at the local bar. Amber has noticed that he seems to be drunk a lot more often, and he isn't nice when he is. If Amber isn't home when he is, he get as mad. One time Amber didn't come home before her father and he got really angry. So angry in fact that he hit her mom. After that, Amber always makes sure to get there before him. This extra time helps too so there's no way her father could get there before her.

As she walks home, Amber admires the view of her neighborhood. There's still those few patches of snow that are stubbornly holding on. The leaves are starting to change, and people are out walking dogs, taking a run. A gust of air blew in stinging her nose and making her eyes water. She hitched up her backpack and walked a little faster, getting a bad feeling. It was colder outside than she thought it was. Amber made it home a few minutes later and went through the front door. She dropped her bag and called out to her mom. There was no response. She called out again, getting worried until she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. But the person who came down wasn't her mom but her father. Amber's eyes grew wide and she sucked in a breath. Why was he home so early?

There was a beer can in his hand, and his face was flushed. He dropped the can, and some of the liquid spilled onto the floor. It seemed like her feet became frozen to the floor, she tried to move but couldn't. Her father glared at her and pushed her out of his way to get to the kitchen. Her heart started to beat really fast and finally managed to ask him where her mother was. He didn't answer her. Amber became very scared, she didn't know what to do. She looked up to the staircase and finally managed to move her feet to get there. Her footsteps hurried up the stairs as she got closer to her parent's bedroom. The door was closed and there was no sound coming from the room. Tears pooled in her eyes as she tentatively got closer. She didn't know what she was going to see and hoped that her mother was all right.

She creaked open the door and gasped. Her mother was strewn across the bed, the sheets and her clothes a mess. She rushed over to her mother and tried to shake her awake. She was breathing, but unconscious. There were bruises and cuts over her arms and chest, and her cheek was red and starting to puff up. Amber sank to the floor and tried to mask her sobs. How could this happen? This was all her fault, if only she had gotten home sooner. Downstairs, the front door slammed open and shut. Her father had left. Amber pounded the floor and screamed out, cursing her father. Why had life come to this? It wasn't fair.

After a few minutes, once she was able to gather herself, she got up. She went to the bathroom and wet a cloth. She came back to her mother and put the cloth to her cuts and on her forehead. It was only recently that her father got violent. Before he would just get mad and yell at them, but now it was getting more physical. And every day it was getting worse. Even Amber has been victim to his punches before, but her mother always got it worse. It was becoming harder to cover them up. After she washed down her mother's cuts, she went in bed and lay down with her. She curled up next to her mother feeling comforted by her beating heart. Amber wanted to wait and be with her when she woke up.

It took a while, but her mother finally regained consciousness again. Amber got up, and couldn't contain herself. She hugged her mother tight and sobbed into her shoulder. She told her that this was all her fault. Her mother winced and gently got Amber off of her. She looked at her strong and beautiful daughter. She told Amber that this was not her fault, she couldn't have known when he was coming home. But no matter how many reassurances her mother gave her Amber didn't believe any of them. As her mother got up to change, Amber blurted out that they should leave. They should leave and never look back. There was no reason for them to stay. They had enough money. Her mother looked at her horrified, she couldn't believe that her daughter would say such a thing. They could never do that because her father would get better and he'd find a job soon. Amber couldn't listen to her mother, she was talking nonsense. She continued to beg her mother to leave, there was no use staying with him.

Just then the bedroom door slammed open. Amber jumped and turned to see her father standing in the doorway. Amber's heart leaped out of her chest and wondered how much he had heard. Her mother came up behind her and put her hands on her shoulder. He slowly walked forward and got up close to Amber's face. She started to shake as he looked at her up and down, hoping that he wouldn't notice. He spit in her face and that's when all hell broke loose.

He grabbed Amber by the arms and threw her across the room. He came towards her screaming about how she would want to leave him. He accused her of hiding the money she was making and threatened to kill them both. When he got close he pulled back his arm about to punch Amber when her mother threw herself on top of him. Everything was happening so fast that Amber didn't process that her mom was telling her to run. Run away as fast as she could. Amber got up and rushed out of her house, the screams of her mother drowning out her crying. She ran down the sidewalk not knowing what to do when she suddenly tripped and fell. Her jeans ripped and the palms of her hands scraped open. She lay there crying and unable to get up. There seemed to be no one in sight anymore. She was all alone.

Whether it was a calling or fate, she got up slowly. And in front of her was a flower peeking out from a pile of snow in full bloom. She thought she was dreaming, there was no way that this was possible. Flowers shouldn't be blooming so soon, and especially in the snow. She got closer to the flower and started to dig the snow around it away so she could get a closer look. The petals seemed to possess every single color in the rainbow, including some she couldn't even name. It sparkled in the moonlight. Amber was completely mesmerized. As she dug more, she got to where the stem was planted in the ground and picked it out. She noticed then that there was a piece of paper attached to the stem of the flower. Curious, Amber turned it over to see if anything was written on it. There on that piece of paper were three words written in simple handwriting: make a wish.

Amber turned around from where she was. Lights were turning on in the other houses, and she could hear the faint screaming and yelling from her parents down the street. It was at that moment that she was so desperate to help her mother, she didn't even care if it was real or not. She grabbed that flower tight and read those words on the paper again: make a wish. So she did.