I didn't know what to do.
Mother wasn't supposed to cry.
She was the person who fixed things.
The person who always knew what to do.
The person who stayed calm when everyone else fell apart.
Yet here she was.
Shaking in my arms.
Crying so hard she could barely breathe.
And for the first time since I was a little girl, I felt afraid.
Truly afraid.
Because if Mother didn't know how to save us…
Then perhaps nobody did.
I tightened my arms around her.
"It's going to be alright." I whispered.
The words sounded empty.
Even to me.
Mother gave a broken laugh.
"No, darling."
My heart shattered.
She had never spoken like that before.
Never.
Not once in my entire life.
Mother had always believed there was a solution.
Always.
Yet now she looked exhausted.
Defeated.
As though she had been fighting some invisible battle for years and had finally run out of strength.
Slowly her crying eased.
She pulled away from me and wiped at her face.
