Lorelie walked into her house, smelling pancakes. After such a miserable night, breakfast was just what she needed. She heard her brother and her daughter talking in the kitchen.
"Mommy?" Karmalore called. Lore wandered in and hugged the little girl where she sat working on her school work. She picked a bite of syruppy pancake off the girl's plate and sat beside her, looking at her school work. She reached to take it with one hand while licking the syrup off the fingers of her other hand. "Let me check your work, Sweetheart" But Karma snatched it away without looking. "Mommy, It's Common. You can't fix these problems. You wouldn't recognize the mistakes"
Lore's brother, Haven, poked Karma in the arm and scowled at her. Karma just shrugged. Lore put her face in her hands and stared off dully, stung. "I've got the whole day to myself, Little Girl. How about you stay home today and we'll go somewhere fun" Just you and I?"
Karma put her pen down and looked at her mother, her violet eyes studying the woman like a bug. Lore hated when she did that. She felt a pressure in her head and was about to tell her to quit when the child spoke.
"Not a chance. You saw Hawk. I told you he wasn't dead." She paused, filing through Lore's thoughts like they were pieces of paper. "Only he isn't in love with you anymore. And he's going to avoid you. " She frowned. "No, if we went anywhere you'd only talk about him" She looked back at her papers. Lore and Haven both stayed silent.
"Karma, you know I hate it when you pry into my personal thoughts..." She said wearily, then she plastered on a smile. "Besides, we can plan your birthday party! With all the time threads you've encountered lately, its so hard to believe you're eight years old already! I want to celebrate how grown up you are. Its my privilage as a mother. It'll be fun, Honey"
Haven groaned and covered his eyes and Lore almost heard her daughter's neck squeak as she turned slowly to study her. The room cooled down and Karma's expression was hateful.
"Had you been here a little more, instead of off having your little 'adventures', Mother" You'd know I already planned it." The girl said softly, her voice icy. "In fact, had you made time for anyone else in your life...you wouldn't be so upset and miserable all the time. But you wander in and out of everyones life at will. You can't just show up and expect people to wait for you!" She stood , up and handed Lore another piece of paper, then walked to the door. "I'm going to class now. You have the itenerary for my party but I don't want you there, Mommy. You don't care about the effort it takes to love anyone so you lose all the privilages of love. " She walked out the door and slammed it.
Lorelie felt tears brimming in her eyes and she looked at Haven, expecting sympathy.
"You're always gone, Lori. She needs her mother. I'm sorry."
She stood slowly and studied the paper, her daughters neat, perfect hand. 'Karma's 10th Party' It said in bright red letters.
How much time had she lost' And was it too late to make it up to the ones she loved?
