Going Under

Rosemary showed up as quickly as she could. She made Nickolas a bowl of cereal, and went up into his room. He would be staying more than one night this time, she knew. Once he was done with breakfast, Rosemary asked him to pick a few toys to bring along with them. Sure, she had toys at her house for him, but who knew how long she would have him this time?
He picked out his stuffed puppy, named Nickolas also, and his fire truck. Picking him up, she went into her daughter's bedroom. Carla lay passed out on the bed, a needle stuck in her arm. Fear immediately set in, making her set Nickolas down and gently push him from the room. Removing the needle, she found the rest of the drugs, and threw them in the trash, before bringing it out to the curb with the rest of the garbage bags. She got Nickolas's car seat from Carla's car before putting it in her car and putting him in it. It tore her apart to see her daughter having no responsibilities for her son...

"Nana! Look at this!" Nickolas ran up to Rosemary with an action figure of the Transformer Optimus Prime in one hand, his puppy under the other arm.

"I bought that for you!" She tried to smile, but couldn’t get Carla out of her head.

"Nana looks sad... why?" he asked, looking up at her, his blue eyes soft but serious.

"I'm okay, buddy. Just a lot on my mind." She said. "Why don’t you go play with your new toy?"

"Okay!" he smiled, running off. How could a little boy that sweet not be loved my his own mother?