I was mad. Beyond mad. What was that word? … Ah yes, furious. I just couldn't believe how late Silver Spoon was. Normally, she’d arrive no later than one, which is right after school let out. But today, she was nowhere to be found. I had tried asking Featherweight, but it was clear that he was being just as useless as he always seems to be.
"Unfortunately, I haven't the slightest idea where she could be,” Featherweight replied. “All I know is what she told me earlier today, that she’d arrive later today than she normally would. Though, she didn’t explain why... but since she told Ms. Cheerilee beforehand, she wouldn't mind waiting."
I had asked nearly everyone in our group where Silver Spoon could be, and yet, none of them knew. It was starting to drive me crazy. Ever since we were little, we were always together. Always. I couldn't remember a time when we were apart for longer than a day or two. Obviously, this turned my current problem into something I despised. I was pacing in front of the library door when Featherweight walked up to me once more.
"I'm sorry, but… haven't you been here since last period? Why don't you go and wait for her somewhere else? Maybe read a book or something, y’know?" he asked, eyeing me in the face.
I glared at the boy.
"Go somewhere else?!” I growled. “If I do that, she’ll think that it's okay if she shows up late every day, and it's not. When she walks through that door, I'm gonna be giving her a piece of my mind."
Luckily for him, I didn't have to wait much longer, because right then, there was a knock at the door. Featherweight was about to open it, though I made quick to stop him.
"Wait,” I whispered. "Why don't we let Ms. Cheerilee open the door, and then see what she says to her?” I glanced back toward Featherweight. “Since she obviously doesn't seem to want me to know, let's see how she explains it to her!"
Featherweight looked concerned. "But… but that’d be eavesdropping, wouldn’t it? That's not right, Diamond Tiara. Why don't we just a- "
I grabbed his hand and dragged him behind the wall of books before he could finish. I pushed him behind the wall and clutched onto the bannister, so that I could see into the room without getting caught. Silently, I cleared my throat and proceeded to shout, "Ms. Cheerilee! Someone's at the dooorrr!" before ducking back down.
A loud groan was heard from the other room as she tiredly walked towards the door. Behind it was an exhausted-looking girl, and she instantly dropped the attitude.
"Silver Spoon! What took you so long? Is everything okay?" she asked, concerned for her student.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Silver Spoon sighed. "I just came to talk to Diamond Tiara really quick, but I guess she's not here." She took a quick glance around the room, likely waiting for me to appear out of nowhere, and seemed disappointed when I didn't.
I felt that all-too-familiar tug at my heartstrings. That god-forsaken instinct to run down there and give her a hug kicked in as well, but I reluctantly choked down the sympathy and continued to listen. I couldn't afford to show such weakness in front of anyone.
"I could call her here, if you want to talk to her."
She shook her head. "No, no. It's fine. I was… just going to tell her why I was late, that's all."
Cheerilee smiled. "Well, if you're in that big of a rush,” she began, “I could take the message for you. What is it that you wanted to tell her?"
I growled quietly. Why didn't she want to see me? Why didn't she run out and look for me? Didn't she care? Why didn't she put herself in my shoes?
"Maybe there was a personal issue or something, D.T. Maybe she was too nervous to tell you."
I whipped around, and he gulped. "Too nervous?” I asked, my voice dripping with derision. “How could she be too nervous when she just ran over there and told Ms. Cheerilee? A teacher over her best friend!” I hissed in the loudest possible whisper, and raised my fist in the air. "When I get my hands on her, I'll…"
"It's just… well… it's Mother's Day, and I want to go and talk to my mom before it gets too late… just… just tell her that I went to go see my mom. She'll understand."
So many feelings crashed into me at that one moment that I could have sworn I had gotten shot.
"Oh, that’s certainly no problem! Say ‘hi’ to your mom for me!" Ms. Cheerilee said with a smile.
"Yeah… I will. Bye," Silver Spoon replied curtly, and proceeded to leave.
"Aww, isn't that nice?" Featherweight gushed. "See, Diamond? There’s nothing bad at all! She just wanted to go and see her mom. Nothing to worry about—"
His voice trailed off when he faced me. My fist was still suspended in the air, shuddering violently. In fact, my entire body was trembling. My other hand clung tightly to the railing, as if to anchor myself. Slowly but surely, my other hand dropped numbly to my side. I felt like my insides were tearing each other apart. Mother's Day. My head drifted down to face the floor, eyes unmoving.
"Uh, Diamond Tiara? Are you okay?" he asked.
"S… S… She…. She…" I couldn't even form the sentence. My vision blurred as tears started flowing down my cheeks.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
I didn't answer.
"You're crying."
I was crying, a rare enough experience on its own. My knees went weak with misery, and I slid to the floor. At that moment, Ms. Cheerilee walked up the stairs.
"Oh, Diamond Tiara! You just missed your friend, she said she was going to—"
I didn't want to hear any more. I needed to get away. After I ran for what felt like forever, I headed outside, slamming the door behind me and slumping onto the ground. I sobbed violently, no longer caring what was going on around me. I didn't care about what Featherweight felt, or what Cheerilee would think. I slowly lost myself to the memory of that day, five years ago…
. . .
She was only six. I was a few months older than her. Her parents were very kind people, and her mother considered me to be another child of hers. Life was great. That was before the accident. It was Mother's Day, and it was a pretty special one too. She was just about to be promoted, so the celebration would only be between Silver Spoon, her mother, and myself.
"I can trust you girls to stay safe while you're out, right?" her father asked in the early morning on his way out. Her mother simply smiled.
“Don't worry dear, we'll be fine." She paused to ruffle Silver Spoon's hair and said, "Besides, you need a day out once in a while, don’t you?" I playfully shoved Silver Spoon behind her mother, and we laughed so hard that we nearly fell over.
"Oh, be nice you two," her mother jokingly scolded as we smeared pancake batter on her shirt.
The rest of the day was about just as fun as that moment. The three of us went bowling, saw a movie, and played in the park together. We also went shopping. There were dresses, toys, dolls… It was wonderful.
As we were walking around the park, some stranger appeared out of nowhere and demanded we give up our belongings. Silver Spoon’s mother put us behind her for our safety, and refused. The unknown stranger stabbed her, but before the stranger could hurt us, there were a bunch of loud noises, resulting in the stranger running away. Her mother clutched her chest and let out a scream of pain that made my blood run cold. We whipped around and saw her bleeding out on the grass. I didn't remember much after that, only that it was practically in slow-motion. We had shrieked and cried for help, asking people that were passing by to call the emergency number, to save her mother. After the screaming had stopped, I remembered her mother pulling us both close.
"Tell your father that I love him, okay?" she rasped, trying to soothe Silver Spoon’s crying. "And I love you girls too, you're the best daughters a mother could ever hope to have…"
Her body shuddered once, and then was still. I could remember the sirens in the background, Silver Spoon's painful cries, the tears running down her face… and I remembered that she had died before the paramedics arrived, due to blood loss.
. . .
I awoke from my nightmare, face down on the hard ground, crying hysterically. I was writhing weakly on the ground, my voice hoarse, and my eyes squeezed shut. That memory had haunted me my whole life. How could I have forgotten it now? On this very day? I winced in self-loathing, drowning my senses in misery. Only then did I remember her words.
I felt my body stiffen. Silver Spoon. How could I have been so insensitive, so cruel? How could I not have put myself in her shoes? I was her best friend— no, she was like a sister to me. She had loved her even more than I had. How could I act so upset? I recalled her words just a few minutes before.
"I want to go and talk to my mom before it gets too late…"
She must be at the cemetery. I quietly stood up and slowly started walking away from the school, trying to stop myself from shaking. One quick look up and it was clear that it would rain, so I ran back inside and grabbed an umbrella and walked towards the cemetery. The cemetery wasn't as far away as I had remembered. Before long, I was outside the steel gates. I pressed my face against the bars, looking for her. I noticed her dark gray backpack on the ground, and saw her sitting before a small stone. I could hear her mumbling to herself.
"I hope you're proud of me," she said slowly. "I've made all sorts of new friends at school. They're all so nice to me… I didn't think there were people like that left in the world." I could hear the smile in her voice. "I hope you're not mad at me for being so weak…" she continued. I took in a sharp breath. "Me and Diamond Tiara are still close as ever, though she's still her usual self. But she's my best friend and I could never leave her by herself. I wouldn't be able to stand it if she were alone. She's done so much for me…"
I had to force myself not to cry, but it was no easy feat. I could feel some drops of rain falling down from the sky, and so I quietly opened the gate and walked over to her. I paused right behind her and opened up the umbrella. She jumped when the umbrella opened, and looked shocked to find me standing behind her.
"D-Diamond Tiara? What are you doing here?"
I put my hand on her shoulder. "I… Ms. Cheerilee told me about you coming to see your mom, and I knew exactly where you’d be."
She smiled weakly. "I knew you'd figure it out," she mumbled, and then turned back to her mother's grave. "So," she continued, "this is it. I come here sometimes, before I arrive at school," she explained. "I… talk to her."
I sat down next to her. "You know," I said, "I haven't been here since the funeral." I turned away, ashamed. “So I've never… spoken to her before."
She pulled me closer. "Well, you're here, now. Say something. Wish her a happy Mother's Day."
I sighed. "Okay," I said. "Here goes nothing…"
I took a deep breath before I spoke.
"Hey… uh, Mom. I… I hope everything's going okay for you… in heaven. I'm sorry that I never came… to see you, but… I… I've been busy… and…" I struggled to find the right words. Silver Spoon put her hand on my back encouragingly.
"I… miss you, a lot. I know that I promised that I'd never forget, but… well, I didn't forget… I just didn't want… I didn't want to accept that you were dead. After you did die… I tried to force myself to believe that it didn't happen, like if you were out seeing the world or something. I thought that if I came here, then that would mean that I accepted that you were dead, and I was to blame… so I tried not to think about it. But, of course, that didn't work very well."
My breathing was funny for a minute. I would not cry. Not in front of her.
"So, that's my story… and if you really are watching us right now, I hope you saw all the crazy stuff we did." I grinned. "I think you'd like it."
Silver Spoon smiled.
"That was actually… kinda sweet."
I scoffed sarcastically. "Well,” I mused, “I guess everyone has to be a sappy pants once in their life, right?" I didn't know what to say after that, so I began reading the gravestone.
‘Here lies Rose Spoon… Beloved wife to Cloud Spoon, and beloved mother to Silver Spoon,’
I squinted. The writing seemed… off. She noticed my confused stare.
"What's the matter?"
I shook my head.
"I don't think the gravestone is written right. Wouldn't it just say Silver Spoon with a period instead of a comma?"
"Hm." Silver Spoon gave a half-hearted chuckle. As she reached forward, I noticed a small bush in front of the gravestone. After a quick glance around the cemetery, I saw that each gravestone had at least one bush surrounding it. She curled her hand over the top and pulled it away, revealing another line to the inscription. My jaw dropped.
‘Here lies Rose Spoon… Beloved wife to Cloud Spoon, and beloved mother to Silver Spoon...
…and Diamond Tiara.’
I could have fainted right there and then. Every single emotion in the world was running through me at the same time. I didn't know what to think. Her mom — her mother, had loved me enough to consider me her daughter, and it was well-known enough that it was placed on her grave. Several minutes of stunned silence suffocated the air around us until Silver Spoon said, "I think we've had enough surprises for one day." She helped me to my feet, nearly collapsing again.
"Yeah, I think we better go." I whispered.
I patted her- our mother's grave, and then put my arm around her, holding the umbrella above our heads. "I think Cheerilee had some cookies for us after tutoring was done!" I said, nudging her with my elbow.
She gave me a somber smile. "Yeah," she said. "I haven't eaten in hours."
Together, we made our way back to school, feeling closer than ever felt before.
Author's Note
My mother,
She wakes before me, sleeps after me.
She gets me ready fast and steady.
Sometimes I wonder if she is a robot.
Needs no pay, just our smiles,
Never takes rest, no matter cold or hot.
Never gets tired though she has a pile to do.
If there is a super hero, it's my mother.
I'm blessed to be blessed by her.
She scolds me and hugs me,
Makes me cry and makes me laugh.
Her touch is softer than fur.
She cares for everyone: me, my brother, and father.
If there is a super hero, it's my mother.
Mothers can die for their children,
But my mother loves me more than just that.
She is like the sweetest dove,
Sitting on a tree of love.
I am blessed that she is my mother.
If there is a super hero, it's my mother.
I know we can't always be together,
But no one can hold us apart.
She is my life,
She is my heart,
She is my mother,
She is my super hero.
Ritwik Shandilya
Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-mother-my-hero-2
