The Past:

"I'm home," Evelyn called, as unobtrusively as possible. Mom hated it when she made a racket coming through the front door after school, but she hated when Evelyn didn't announce herself even more.

She kicked off her slightly worn penny loafers and hung her coat on a peg by the door. The lights were out again. When she flipped the nearest switch, they blinked on obediently, illuminating the small, two-bedroom flat she'd lived in since she was six.

So the bill had been paid, then.

Which most likely meant that the lady of the house had gone out, possibly to the grocery store. It was the one errand she could always count on her mother to perform, as eating was the woman's main method of coping.

She had wondered aloud once why her mother didn't work like other parents she saw. Instead of explaining that they lived on a combination of welfare and her father's life insurance money, Mom had simply given her the silent treatment for a week, until Evelyn had been obliged to apologize for hurting her feelings. They never revisited the topic, which happened with pretty much everything they ever talked about.

Her entire life revolved around keeping her mother from getting upset as long as she could.

Evelyn quickly laid her homework out on the floor of her bedroom, planning to get started on it immediately, before changing her mind. Homework could be done by lamplight after Mom fell asleep. As she demanded all the lights be turned out after 8:00, the housework was what couldn't wait.

Her performance in school was suffering. Her teachers said she didn't focus enough, but she got so tired sometimes... Mom always huffed with disappointment when report cards came out, but what really hurt was the lack of surprise that accompanied it. Evey knew she wasn't smart, talented or special, but hearing the nonverbal confirmation of it every nine weeks was a hard blow every time.

Sighing a bit, Evelyn went to load laundry in the washing machine.

She usually did the brunt of the cleaning on weekends, but in addition to the laundry and dishes, she liked to vacuum at least every other day. Mom had a tendency to drop crumbs of food on her way to different areas of the house and if Evelyn wasn't careful, they were liable to have roaches again.

She hated cockroaches. They never had to worry about them before, back when they'd still had Serenity. The cat had been very good at catching stray bugs around the house, and for about five years, she'd been Evey's best and only friend in the world. Only three years ago, Serenity had been given away to some man her mother had found on Craigslist while Evey was at school.

"I'm sick of smelling cat shit and litter everywhere I go all the time!" She had screamed. They both knew that the cat simply reminded her too much of Dad. Serenity had been adopted by him shortly after they had married, after all. Evelyn didn't want to consider how many times her mother had probably considered getting rid of her as well. Perhaps the thought of that was what prompted her to speak out for the first time.

That was the first real, semi-adult argument they ever had. Evelyn had begged and pleaded with her mother to get the cat back, promised to take better care to clean up after her, but her mother hadn't even bothered to wait for her to finish speaking before she swept out of the room. As far as she'd been concerned the matter was done; conversation over.

It wasn't until Evelyn had threatened to run off and die in a gutter somewhere (in a fit of teenage melodrama that she rarely indulged in) rather than live with such a selfish bitch, that her mother's loud sobs could be heard coming from the other room.

Halting her tirade, she followed, stomach twisting in knots the way it always did when she upset her mother.

Mom's tears had run fast and hard, turning her already pudgy features swollen and red as she gasped for breath. Seeing that she had her daughter's attention, the miserable woman clutched at her in sudden, frightening desperation.

"Your father would hate me."

Even years later, Evelyn wasn't sure exactly how she should have taken this. The fact that her mother openly cared more about what her deceased husband thought of her than the life of her own child shouldn't have shocked her as much as it did when spoken out loud. It wasn't as if she had ever hidden her feelings on motherhood before.

Still, the girl found it hard not to burst into tears right along with her weeping parent. Surely there was some kind of instinctive love she shouldn't be missing from her mother. This wasn't normal, was it? It couldn't be. She focused on the philosophical quandary of this rather than let her emotions get the better of her.

It was difficult, but she decided that they couldn't BOTH fall apart.

And that was how she lived her life with her mother from that day on. Since they couldn't both be broken, Evelyn took care of the things that kept their living situation together as best she could. The house got cleaned, the lawn mowed, the mail and bills sorted, and the doors locked at night.

These things she could do. Time flowed more smoothly when she kept herself too busy to think, but when she stopped and took a breath, she couldn't help but wonder...

She wondered if someone would ever do something for her.

The Present:

Evey had the day off. She knew she should go out and buy some groceries to prepare for Wally to come over, but she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed just yet. The covers were warm and she was staring at the pretty electronic gadget lying beside her head. Unable to resist the temptation, she flipped it on and opened the file that stored photos yet again.

He was so handsome. Had she really kissed him? Had HE really kissed HER?

Her legs kicked involuntarily with the surge of joy she felt, and Ceres hissed as she narrowly avoided getting knocked off the bed.

"Sorry, girl." Evey tried to look sincere while still smiling goofily. The cat merely sniffed and stalked off to find a safer place to catch z's.

She spent a few more minutes admiring the picture on her new phone before deciding it was time to get ready for the day. It was a shame she didn't have many nice clothes, but Evey somehow didn't care as much as she normally would. Wally never said anything about her that wasn't complimentary, and he seemed to like her just the way she was, despite her being a nobody.

She dug out her one pair of jeans, before looking through her tops one-by-one to find something that made her look as pretty as she felt. The jeans themselves were worn and faded – like just about everything else she owned – but they showed her curvy figure in a way that was undeniably flattering. So much so that she normally felt self-conscious in them, but today they felt right.

Choosing a spring-green button-up and white tank top, she quickly changed before running a brush through her hair. In a rare turn of luck, she was delighted to find that it still retained it's smooth texture from the previous day's careful blow-dry.

She brushed her teeth next, and in a fit of adventurousness, braided her hair into pigtails on either side of her head.

They lasted a full minute before she undid them again, blushing. He would think she was a little kid if he saw her like that! She decided that one braid was more mature, and she had just finished the long plait down her back when there was a sturdy knock on her front door.

Her heart leapt into her throat. He was there already? True, they hadn't set an exact time, but she had assumed he would at least call to let her know he was on the way.

"One second, please!" She yelled, straightening up the bathroom and living room on her way to the door. She took a fortifying breath before pulling it open.

The man in the hall was a stranger. He wore the uniform of a police officer and on his shoulder, a small handheld radio blared static every few seconds. He looked surprised to see that someone was home.

An irrational pinprick of fear caused her to drop her gaze from his eyes, despite the fact that she knew she hadn't done anything wrong.

Because he seemed to be waiting for her to say something, Evey gave a halting greeting before asking if she could help him.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm looking for Miss Evelyn Young."

The pinprick got bigger. She wasn't even sure why she was feeling so much anxiety. The police had never had problems with her before. Did the other night's episode in the arcade have something to do with this?

"I'm Evelyn Young," she answered quietly. The officer looked at her closely, some kind of soft emotion in his eye before he finally spoke.

"I'm very sorry, Miss Young, but your mother passed away four days ago. We would have found you sooner, but it was difficult to find your contact information."

"Oh," she replied, more out of an automatic need to fill the silence than to make any sort of statement. If there was a more appropriate response to give, she couldn't think of one. In fact, all her thoughts seemed to have flown out of her head, save one.

She wondered why she didn't feel more sad.

Not knowing what else to say, she just waited dumbly for the officer to give more information. He obliged when it became clear there would be no sudden waterworks.

"It had been a little over a week when we found her. Miss Young, were you aware of any health problems your mother was experiencing?"

"No. We haven't spoken in-" she counted, and was shamed by her conclusion. "Ten months, sir. Since I graduated last June."

He wrote this down in a small notebook, though she was puzzled as to the purpose of this. As he scribbled, he spoke.

"It was a heart attack caused by congestive heart failure... Not uncommon for people her age and size."

A curious numb feeling suffused her limbs. Was it finally coming? The grief? Guilt?

She'd thought she had all the time in the world to reconnect with her mother, but fear and anxiety had always made her put it off; a distasteful chore to be tackled another day.

"I have some numbers and contacts listed here including the hospital morgue where they are holding her, ma'am. There's also the investigating officer's number and the number of the nearest mortuary if you need help making arrangements."

He said more, but Evey couldn't hear anything else. It was a shock when a pair of large hands suddenly clasped her shoulders in a tight, but gentle grip.

"Let's get you inside."

Wally – because of course he was there – lead her through the door, past the police officer, who obligingly handed him the contact information he'd prepared.

It was quiet for a moment.

Then there were arms around her and she couldn't breathe, but that was fine because Wally was there and everything would be okay.

Everything would be okay.

She clutched a hand in his shirt, dimly aware that she still wasn't crying. He said nothing, just holding her close.

Everything would be okay.

oOoOoOoOo

Author's Notes:

Another dark chapter. If it seems like the story is suffering from mood swings worse than a pubescent girl, I can only offer my assurance that it's (mostly) intentional? I am building to a character-defining moment, and the climax of this story. If the arcade incident was a pancake, than this chapter would be a heaping helping of syrup on top.

Also, sorry about the short length! I tried making the chapter longer, but anything else I added would just feel like padding. I'll see if I can make the next one a little longer to make up for it.

But yeah, sorry to have you guys wait almost eight months for such a downer of a chapter, but now that the little one is crawling and playing by himself for a little while during the days, I can maybe get another update out fairly soon.

Speaking of which, thank you SO much to everyone who offered their congratulations! I couldn't be prouder of my beautiful boy. He's healthy and getting bigger each day!

Angry? Disappointed? Worried with how the story is going to go? Leave a review! I love hearing what you guys think, and I still have room left in the story to adjust fire depending on your reactions. Shan't say more on that, though.

Until next time, m'dears!