Mackenzie | √

Chapter 53

"Welcome back home, mom!" I hugged her, smiling.

"Thanks baby​, I'm so glad to be back," she smiled​ too, hugging me back.

"It's so great to have you back mom," Ryan said, coming from her room after going to drop her bags, Bambi behind him, smiling widely.

"Well, it feels great to be back," Mom said, flinging her arms around Bambi and Ryan. "Thanks so much for bringing me home."

"Wait," I looked at mom, surprised. "You knew they were the ones who paid for it?"

"Yep," she said, settling down on the couch.

"How? Doctor Colt said it was anonymous!" I said, confused.

"Yeah, I told her to tell you that," Mom smiled, playfully winking at Bambi and Ryan as they laughed and I just stared unbelievably at them.

"Something smells so good in here, did you make dinner?" Mom looked at me, wriggling her eyebrows with effort.

"Yeah, I did," I started walking to the kitchen, "It's your favorite, mom. Macaroni Casserole."

"Oh my days, I'm so staying for dinner," Bambi gushed and Ryan smiled, nodding big, "Me too!"

*

It had been an hour since Bambi and Ryan left, and now, I stood in mom's room, unpacking her things while she sat on her bed.

Dinner went extremely well. It was fun. I was glad mom enjoyed the meal as well as Bambi, and even if Ryan tried so hard to make me think the food was terrible, I knew he loved it. We had talked and laughed over our food, mom telling us about a particular nurse who freaked her out. Stupid Bambi and Ryan teasing me about Tanner in front of mom and I was so defenseless as I blushed like a total idiot, and of course, Bambi had a fair share on the teasing too, mom watched us, laughing and just shaking her head, and when she asked about Ryan's crush, Bambi and I wasted no time at all in telling her about Gabi.

"Thanks so much for dinner, MZ. I loved every bit of it. It was the perfect welcome dinner."

I chuckled, "No need to thank me mom. I loved it too."

"Those best friends of yours, though," mom laughed, shaking her head. "Aren't you just grateful you have people like that around you?"

"More than grateful, mom," I smiled, fixing her clothes into her wardrobe, then I let out a breath and sat beside her on the bed. "So, I asked Doctor Colt to come every two days. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, that's okay."

"She also said to call her if anything goes wrong."

"That's good too," she nodded, "I'm just glad to be back home, really. It's been months now."

I smiled, flinging my arms around her and buried my head into her neck. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, ba-"

And the lights went out.

I knew that would happen. I just didn't know when, but I didn't expect it to go off the first day mom came home.

*

I liked the rock. It was always here for me and so, I sat on it later that evening, staring into space with no tears falling down my eyes surprisingly. I wasn't worried about Mom at the moment. Doctor Colt had come over, talking to us about chemotherapy and its side effects, but why it was a good option. We finally decided she would undergo the treatment, and I was happy she didn't object. She eventually fell asleep shortly after Doctor Colt left, and I used the chance to get out to get some air and worry about the lights. They were very essential. It was what I had been worried about. Without those lights on, we were left without any form of heating and apart from the fact that we had a phone with a cord, our phones were dead.