Where The Wind Forgets To Hate

Synopsis

After six years embedded in a criminal syndicate, I was back on the streets, dragging my bad leg as I worked a late-night food cart. That was when my mom, Courtney Dixon, appeared out of nowhere, clutching the hand of a little boy I didn't recognize. She stared at me in disbelief. "When did you get back?" she murmured. "You vanished for six whole years. Why didn't you come home after you returned?" I didn't say a word. I just kept my face blank, rhythmically tossing the food in my skillet. I didn't pause until the order was boxed up and handed to my waiting customer. Only then did I silently pack up my station, gripping the handle of my cart as I limped away, ready to head back to my apartment. But Courtney wasn't going to let it go. Her voice broke as she shouted after me, "Do you really hate me that much? I looked for you for six years, and you won't even look at me? You won't even call me Mom?" My steps faltered for a fraction of a second, but I kept pushing the cart forward. She was wrong. I didn't hate her. After all, love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Gone was the little girl who had loved her mother with every fiber of her being and hated her with that same desperate passion. That girl had vanished on a stormy night years ago, right after her mother slapped her hard enough to bruise, as her mother screamed into the downpour that she was entitled to a new life, too.