Kissing You That Friday Night

My father always told me that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I always took that as, when times get rough, you (being the stronger person) leave the situation before it gets out of hand. After seeing Aiden and Jen kiss, nothing about the dance or Friday night mattered to me anymore. Everything was taken care of and the project was over and delt with, so Aiden had no reason to come over anymore, but the pain I felt in my stomach was almost identical to what I had felt the night before my mother passed away...
We had just gotten home from the hospital when the doctor refused to give her the heart transplant. We all tramped into the house, yelling and screaming that the doctor was a loonatic for not giving my mother the heart. My father and I knew her condition was bad. My mother could luckily still walk and had been told it'd be good for her heart if she tried to do things on her own, to strengthen what little energy she had in her heart. My mother didn't yell, she didn't scream, she didn't even look upset. She just walked into the house and went to her room like she normally did. My father had just gotten a phone call when she turned the corner to the bedroom. He was ot of the house in seconds, yelling into the reciever. I decided I would go talk to my mother who had had little interaction with anyone lately. She was usually sleeping.
"Hey, Mom," I said as I knocked on her somewhat open door, waiting for a response to let me know I could enter.
"Laila, darling. Come in," I heard her voice from behind the door.
She was laying in bed with two pillows propping her head up. The tv was on on the other side of the room and a bible was on the nightstand next to her. The sight made me sad. Seeing my mother praying more than usual just showed me that she felt as though she needed more prayer because she knew she would pass soon. My mother had never been afraid of death. She always told me to embrace the life I have and to let it go when it were to end. I had more understanding of it now.
"Mom, how are you feeling?" I asked as I sat on the edge of her bed and placed the back of my hand on her forehead. Since the heart disease, my mother had often felt very constipated and weak. She was drinking a lot of water and claiming to always either feel very cold or dangerously hot. Before she could answer I blurted out another question,"do you need anything? I can get you whatever you need, just say the word."
My mother laughed and closed her eyes that were turned up on the ends from smiling,"Sweetie, I'm feeling fine. I don't need anything."
I knew she didn't feel well, but I nodded my head. She didn't look well at all, her face was pale and her eyes were dark. Her dark hair was greasy and plastered to the sides of her face. My mother was a gorgeous woman. I full head of lucious dark curls, a winning smile and brilliant blue eyes. She was also very petite and slender. Now she was more slender than ever before. Usually weighing it at about 125 lbs, she now weighed only 105. She hadn't eaten much lately, usually only consuming something soft like yogurt or a smoothie. Possibly soup.
"You could do one thing for me though," she began and looked up at me.
"Yeah, sure, anything," I jolted up from the bed waiting for her request.
"Help me up so I can go pee," she said and began to laugh.
I laughed too.
I re-read the two previous entries I had written that were part of the letter. When I read about my mother's locket, I quickly got up out of my swivel chair and bolted down the hallway to my dad's room. My dad had kept my mother's jewelry box since she passed away. He could never seem to get rid of her stuff.
When I got to his room, I made my way over to the dresser where the jewelry box sat. I ran my hand over the wooden lid. It was a dark color, almost black, with silver inscription at the top left hand corner, just like I had remembered: Karen, my love. This jewelry box was made just for you, with your favorite song inside --- Gary <3. My dad had made a special order for my mother to recieve this jewelry box on my fifth christmas.
I opened the box carefully, as I did the song "I Left My Heart In Sanfrancisco" began to lightly play. I smiled and lifted up one of my mother's old necklaces. It was the one I gave her when I was four. It was made with macaroni noodles and colorful beads. I giggled when I had a flashback of her wearing it to work on day with her pin stripe pencil skirt and white blouse. I then searched through the rest of the jewelry to find the locket. When I noticed it wasn't in there, I placed a hand over my mouth. Where could it be?
I made my way into the kitchen to find my dad to ask him if he had put her locket somewhere else. When I got to the kitchen, the aroma of pizza filled my nostrils and my stomach imidiatly growled. I saw Laura's back, she was facing the stove, tapping her foot, waiting for the last few minutes on the oven until the pizza was ready.
"Hey, Laura, have you seen my dad?" I asked.
She turned around," he went to the store to pick up some icecream for after dinner," she said and faced me.
I almsot said 'okay' until I noticed what was dangling around her neck. My mother's locket...