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It took me another pounding headache to the senses before, eventually, for once, I decided that my body had indeed taken enough abuse from my poor, rash, debatably suicidal convictions.

Do you wish me to hold you?" asked a rather abashed Ash, constantly squirming her hands about, at a total loss of what to do with them.  "I worry that you will…"

"Well, I\'m sure you know I definitely wouldn\'t mind that," I said out loud,  more air than words leaving with my breath. "So the real question is - can you?"

The lingering faint blush on her face, combined with the fact that I made it all the way to the front door untouched pretty much answered that question for her.

I made it in, shambling, fingers gliding across the walls for support, and the first thing I was greeted with was noise - the familial kind too.

Starting from anywhere in the house, it was only a few short paces to the kitchen, and as such, it was easy to hear every cling and clang of someone making a commotion inside. Had a few silent midnight snacks that went not so silent thanks to the acoustics of the walls.

But in this case, instead of the usual noises, I heard voices. A loud, brash one coming off as demanding and annoyed, and speaking back to the vocal intensity, was a more gentler, soft-spoken voice, one I had to strain to even hear.

"Fine! Be that way! Keep saying that you love us! Keep repeating that lie! You\'re doing a really good job showing it, aren\'t you?!"

Sammy suddenly came barging, nearly bashing into me. She looked pissed. More than her usual shade of pissed too… so much so that she barely acknowledged mine and Ash\'s presence, making a beeline straight for the stairs.

A moment later, the booming echo of a door slamming shut mildly shook the portraits on the walls, crooking one even… a picture of her, a younger her, in a far better mood, with Mom directly behind her, her smile the happiest I\'ve ever seen it. First day of high school, if I remember right.

I rounded the corner where Sammy emerged from, quietly as I could, and managed to catch a rare sight of Mom sitting alone on the kitchen table, for a change, absent of her smile. 

Her unmoving fingers wrapped around her mug, a sullen stare watching the swirl of steam slowly rising from the rims. Then, to my panic, a brief, quickly waning panic… I heard her cough.

Quickly, she tried to stifle it, raising a hand to her lips, and that was when she finally noticed me lurking beneath the doorway.

Upon catching sight of me, her gloom was gone, and her smile made a return. Like a flick of a switch…

She saw the worry flashing in my eyes, and was just as quick to reassure, "Not to worry, it\'s just a -"

"Cough, right…" I said, moving closer and taking a seat across from her. "Then again, that\'s how it always starts, doesn\'t it?"

Once again, she was quick to wave it off. "It\'s just a little stress..."

"Ah, so that was the thing that nearly ran me over just now," I said, a daft, dumb look on my face. "Strange… stress looks an awful lot like Sammy, doesn\'t it?" 

"Oh…" Her smile then went strain. "I dearly wish you didn\'t have to hear that."

"Unfortunately, I didn\'t, not all of it anyway," I admitted. "And even more unfortunate, you\'re not gonna say what the hell you two were arguing about are you?"

Her face pretty much says it all.

"Care for some breakfast, dear?"

Yeah, I thought as much…

"No thanks," I politely declined. "Already ate."

"Already ate?" She repeated, quizzically questioned. "And just who… ah, that\'s right, forgive me, you keep leaving my mind! I\'m so sorry!"

Mom stifled a chuckle at her answer staring directly at her in the form of a pointy-eared figure standing by in the distance, doing her utmost to avoid any attention to herself, to no avail, that is.

Pulling the chair out beside her, Mom gestured forward. "Please, have a seat, Ash. There\'s no need for any professional courtesy around here."

"Truly, you are too kind, yet alas…" Ash responded, mustering a nervous smile. "I much rather if I - "

"Still too reserved, are we? Very well, there\'s no rush," Mom shot her a sly look. "But a young, beautiful maiden such as yourself… if you don\'t mind sharing, is this your first time experiencing - " 

"I also would rather not say…" Ash instantly responded, drawing a little further away, and brightening that twinkle in my Mom\'s eyes.

"Don\'t tease her," I interjected before she could do or say anymore. "If you don\'t mind, I\'m really keen to know just what went on between you and - !"

I was interrupted too, except no one actually spoke. Instead, I felt my jaw tightly clench, felt my head pounding and throbbing, the tablecloth wrinkling as my rigid fingers dug deep into the fabric.

The only thing I could focus on was the pain, coming, passing… then finally, going. I looked up, and Mom was staring, her cheery expression long faded. 

"You\'re wasting so much," She said quietly. "You shouldn\'t do that. Please, don\'t do that."

"And what choice do I have, huh?" I asked, drawing my eyes straight towards hers. "What choice did you give me?" 

She didn\'t have anything to say that. Quietly, she just looked on, as I tried to catch what little breath I could with what little energy I still had. Then, through blurred sight, I saw her slender hand slowly coming into my vision, before resting lightly atop of my hand. 

I let out an exhale. "You\'re doing - "

"Be silent," Her voice went low, and her eyes were closed. "This will only take a moment." 

"You\'re doing magic." 

"I am."

"You said you can\'t." 

"For you, this much…" She fluttered open her eyelids, my face reflecting back in her dark tender gaze. "I can…" 

And true to her words, the next moment after, I felt the throbbing stop, the pain dissipate. It didn\'t feel like I was carrying a bag of rocks over both shoulders anymore. 

By all right, I should be thankful to her, grateful for what she just did, and yet…

"Why did you do that?" I asked, quickly pulling my hand away from hers. "Why? After everything you said, did? Why would you do that?"

"Why did you think I did that?"

"No, I don\'t know, that\'s why I\'m asking," I said. I could feel my voice rising, and with it, my anger too. "You can\'t bear to see me in pain? Can\'t see your son hurting? Well, I\'m hurting, Mom. I\'m still hurting. Did you think that actually helped me? Do you know what would really help me instead?!" 

She coughed, louder, harder, the strain in her eyes apparent as she did her best to contain it, a hand covering her lips, yet she couldn\'t. It persisted on and on, the sound of her discomfort bouncing across the walls. 

Seeing that, hearing that, I felt my rage dwindle. I didn\'t feel like shouting anymore. I leaned back against my seat, just listening. Ash threw me a look of concern, and I gave her one back to be calm. It\'ll pass soon.

They always do.

"Your sister… and now you too…" Mom said, slowly recovering, her usual sweet, gentle voice now coarse and rough, yet in spite of it, she still managed to smile. "I guess stress comes in many shapes and sizes, don\'t they?" 

"Go to bed, then" I advised, tossing my glance elsewhere. "It\'s only going to get worse."

"Later," Mom took a sip from her mug, and cleared her throat. "There\'s a matter I need to tend to first." 

"Which is?" 

"You." 

I blinked, finding myself gazing back at her again.

"Well, not you specifically," She continued. "Harry was his name, wasn\'t it? Did you put him in the barn?"

I blinked again. "Why do you want to know?"

She must have heard the rousing suspicion in my tone, because suddenly she slightly raised her arms in the air. 

"No more tricks, no more lies, I don\'t plan on doing anything to him that you don\'t wish me to do," spoke her voice firmly and sincerely. "It\'s just, dear, if you don\'t let me see him, you\'ll completely lose your chance to save him… and then you\'ll have another problem on your hands instead, an even bigger problem at that." 

I heard her speak, listened to her finish, and at once, I felt alarm bells ringing inside me, and I shot out of my seat in an instant. "You mean he\'s - ?"

"Yes, his soul is almost completely taken over, his time has finally run dry," Mom nonchalantly said. "That is unless… I do something about it before it happens, that is." 

"You?" I asked, my disbelief loud and clear. "You\'d just kill him straight away, won\'t you?"

"Mmm," She mused. "If I had it my way, that is what I would do, yes. But just this once, this instance… I won\'t. I\'ll help. Just like you wanted." 

I still couldn\'t believe what I was hearing. I sputtered, "Why?"

"I\'m not too sure, really," She confessed, sighing… before slightly tilting her gaze upwards to the ceiling.. "Maybe I just want to release a little stress, after all."