Come Back To Me

Olivia (Present day)

I was in a deep sleep when I woke up to someone jumping on me and screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!” Since birth AJ, my son and daily alarm clock, hasn’t known the meaning of the phrase, let’s sleep in. Waking up at 7:30 am on a Saturday is not my idea of a good time, but this kid has no shame. When he was a baby, I remember begging the moon goddess that I'd get to sleep in one day. I just needed one day, that’s it but that day hasn’t come yet- though I'm still holding out hope that it will. My little man always woke up right before the sun. My saving grace is he went to bed most nights by 9 pm and I followed shortly after, at 9:30 pm. Last night was not one of those nights. It was a one more story kind of night that turned into 13 or 14. My lack of sleep hardly ever gets to me though. How can it be when I have the happiest little boy in the whole world waking me up every day. Plus, today was a special day. Today marks the anniversary of when we moved to this town and it also happens to be 1 week from Ajs birthday. Aj had begun jumping from the bed onto my side and back onto the bed like it was a trampoline. “Alright. Alright. I’m up.” I reached up and grabbed him as he jumped from the bed towards me and brought him down beside me, tickling him. His laughter filled the room and I swear it made the sun shine brighter through my curtains. “No more mommy.” he pleaded between giggles. “Truce?” I held my pinky finger up and he interlocked his with mine. I laid back and rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them. “Mom… breakfast.?” His impatience made me chuckle.

“Sure, baby. What would you like for breakfast?” I asked, as if I didn’t know he was going to say waffles. He hopped out of bed, grabbed my hand, and put all his strength into pulling me out of bed. Cutting him some slack, I got up and allowed him to drag me to the kitchen. I turned Pandora on and got to work making Aj his waffles as California Love by Tupac filled the void in the kitchen.

Sitting at the table with Aj and watching him scarf down his waffles brought back memories of when I first got here. Eating at the diner with Darcie was one of the first things I did after getting off of that bus. I could feel Aj’s little kicks after every mouthful of chocolate chip waffle and I knew that everything was going to be okay. He didn’t even know it but he was making everything better already. Darcie and I spent most of that day exploring after we dropped off our belongings at where we’d each be staying. It turns out that Darcie was way more organized than I was. She’d already planned her move for months before actually purchasing her bus ticket. She had an apartment and everything waiting for her. Since we were basically in the city she didn’t bother with a car. Darcie and I became fast friends and remained that way to this day. We went on a job hunt together and found jobs at different retail stores in the mall. When my hotel room was broken into while I was out and all my money was taken, she was there to offer me a place to stay. She helped me through everything and then months later when my water broke she went with me to the hospital to have Aj. I eventually got my own place but Darcie came over every night to have dinner with us and hang out. Lately we’ve been seeing less and less of each other and it’s been harder to get in contact with her. When I do talk to her our conversations are short and nowhere near sweet. I’ve been meaning to find out what’s going on. The sound of a metal fork scraping across my plate brought me out of my thoughts. I looked down to see Aj trying to take a piece of my waffle off my plate. He realized he was caught and stopped mid-mission and held still as if he didn’t move, I wouldn’t see him. I laughed and cut up some of my waffle and gave it to him.

When we were done eating I put on power rangers and let him watch t.v. while I took a quick shower. We had a day at the zoo then the park planned. I knew he'd want to get to the park in time so we could catch the dancers in the town square. Since he could stand and walk on his own, he's loved going to watch those dancers. I got changed and walked out to see Aj dancing around to the powers rangers theme song. He was so energetic without even trying and I'm starved for coffee so I can get my much needed caffeine boost. "Come on buddy! Time to get ready to go." I turned off the t.v. and held up the outfit I picked for him for his approval. Not that I needed it, he was such a little boy, not caring what he wore. He's so young that I can take advantage of dressing him to match me. I finished helping him put on his black and red flannel and tie his sneakers laces. We grabbed our coats and headed out to start our day.

I sat on the bench in the town square, drinking my white chocolate mocha and watching Aj dance with a group of freestylers. He was really enjoying himself, jumping around as they danced around him. I can’t say how happy I am to be able to sit down. At the zoo Aj was so wired that we were practically running from exhibit to exhibit. When we got to the wolves he stopped and stared at them for a long time. It was as if he knew that he was like them on some level. I always hoped that I'd have more time before Aj started to show some werewolf traits but it’s already started. I dodged a bullet last week when his day care worker said that he must have super hearing and sight because he could hear the conversation she had with the principal from across the playground. He must have really been focusing on them to be able to hear that and normally that would be impressive but.. It was terrifying. I didn’t know what to say so I laughed and said “Yeah it seems like he does.” Not the best coverup but in that moment it was all I had. A notification beeped through on my phone and I set my cup down to check it. As soon as I unlocked my phone a strong wind blew and knocked my cup over. Coffee splashed out towards me and I jumped up to avoid getting covered in it. Aj took that as my way of saying I was coming to dance and immediately started calling for me. His voice carried over to where I was standing and a lot of faces turned to look at me. Oh no. I smiled and shook my head. "I'll just watch from here baby," I said back praying he'd accept that. My hopes were quickly crushed. He called out for me again and when I didn't move fast enough, he walked over and grabbed my hand. "Like this mommy!" He started dancing. I smiled and laughed. His energy is infectious and I couldn't help but dance with him. Soon we were both dancing and singing to the music. Not caring about who was watching and definitely not knowing that our lives were about to be shaken to their core.