The Voice of Home

— Mom, I’m home!

Was it truly my voice?

I never realise what I say when I come home.

It’s not like it matters anyway.

— Sweet home. Sweet sweet home!

That voice was the only indicator I really was home.

My mother’s voice.

The voice I hear whenever I come home.

Home wouldn’t be home without her.

— Sweety is home! The baby bird came back to the nest.

— Yes, I’m home!

Mother.

I always thought of her with nostalgia.

I never met a sane version of her, but I always knew her love.

Pure and sweet love.

— Sweetie, I’m home!

— I know you’re home too.

— Honey, is he home?

— No, father’s not home.

He left... a long time ago.

Not through death, but through cowardness.

I was much younger.

In his mind, I must have been old enough to take care of myself and her.

Mother loves me, but can’t take care of me.

Her mind is elsewhere.

Father left knowing her mind was weakening.

Didn’t he know she had a weak mind from the start?

Coward!

You’re not home and you’re not my home.

— Sweetie, mommy’s hurt.

— Where does it hurt?

— It hurt in mommy’s belly.

— You’re hungry?

— Is it the word?

I don’t know how I managed to make us survive.

To live healthy, we need food.

To get food, we need money.

To get money, we need to work.

To work, we need to be old enough.

I’m a child.

A child can’t work.

Without working, we can’t get money.

Without money, it’s hard to get food.

Without food, it’s hard to stay healthy.

With bad health, it’s hard to survive.

I don’t know how I managed to get it all to work out.

Through unknown means.

I got the food.

I gave her food.

— Sweetie, strangers home.

— There were strangers in our home?

— Yes, strangers home. Living room.

— They were in the living room?

— In the living room!

I went to the living room.

The strangers were still there.

— Who are you? What do you want?

— We’re from social services.

— We’re here to see if you have a good home.

The strangers wanted a weird thing.

— I have a good home. I have the perfect home!

— But, your mother can’t take care of you.

— And both of you are not well taken care of.

The outsiders were criticising me.

— I take well care of my mother on my own.

— A mother should take care of her child.

— Not the other way around.

The outsiders wanted to break us apart?

— What gives you the right to say that?

— You’re not well taken care of with her.

— You can’t continue living like this.

The intruders wanted to strip me away from home.

— What makes you think she’s not taking care of me?

— She’s not sane!

— She doesn’t even know how to take care of herself.

The intruders were insulting my mother.

— She’s all I need to have a good life!

— That’s not a life.

— It’s not living, it’s surviving.

The invaders were insulting me.

— I won’t leave my mother!

— Your mother will be taken well care of.

— And you will be living in a loving family.

— Both of you will be healthy and happy!

— You can’t continue to live together.

The invaders were attacking us.

— I WON’T LEAVE!

— It...You…

— Everything will be okay…

The attackers didn’t know what to do.

— I won’t leave home!

— Your house will still be yours.

— You will just not be here for a few years.

The attackers were approaching.

— No! I don’t want to!

— It’s for your good.

— You will see how great it is once you get there.

— You’ll get everything you want.

— You’ll get treats as well.

The assailants tried to take me away.

I evaded them.

I ran away from them.

I went back to my mother and hugged her tightly.

— Sweety needs love?

— Sweety needs you!

— Mommy needs sweety too!

The assailants entered the room.

— Just come with us, you won’t get hurt!

— We will take care of your mother.

I looked at my mother desperately.

— Sweety and I will stay together!

— You don’t even know your daugher’s name.

— Sweety is my child.

— I doubt she can even understand you.

The enemies approached again.

— Just take the child, I'll take the mother.

— I doubt we can be rational with any of them.

— The child is too young and the mother is too insane.

The enemies grabbed me and my mother.

I fought back.

My mother too.

We couldn’t win.

The villains were too strong.

— No! My home! My mother! Let me go!

— I will let you go once you calm down.

— Liar! You’re gonna take me away from everything!

The villains were winning.

They separated my mother and me.

Dragged us our separate ways.

I fought everything I could.

I lost.

I didn’t have any more energy.

I woke up, it wasn’t dark.

I must be in the monster’s den.

I got out and looked around.

I saw him.

The monster was there.

He was talking to my father.

— You traitor! How could you sell us out!

He wasn’t my father anymore.

Nor was he a coward.

He was a hypocrite and a traitor.

Making a pact with a monster.

— Sweety, calm down.

— I’m not your sweetie, I’m not your daughter! You’re no one to me!

— I’m sorry I left you alone with your mother.

— That was the best thing you ever did!

— I should have stayed with both of you.

— And steal my mother under my nose?

I stop listening to a single word from that impostor.

The demon approached.

— He did the right thing.

— He’s a hypocritical traitor who made a pact with the devil.

— Oh! Sweetie…

— I’m especially not your sweetie!

The demon didn’t say anything.

The other criminal, the one who stole my mother, entered the room.

— Where is my mother? You criminal!

No one said anything.

I ran away and looked around town.

I tried to find my mother and my home.

It wasn’t easy.

They finally caught me.

The criminal, the devil and the impostor were there.

The crim-maker approached me.

— Sweety...

— Don’t call me that!

— Young girl…

— Don’t call me anything!

— … Your… Your mother…

— Where is she, what have you done to her?

— She… She died yesterday!

The murderer was saying other words but I couldn’t perceive them.

The devil also says words.

As he was from hell, I couldn’t hear anything from him.

It was the charlatan’s turn to talk to me.

— Let’s go home!

— I don’t have a home!

— Wha.. What do you mean?

— My home was my mother's.

My mother’s voice would tell me I was home.

The charlatan took me away from home and destroyed it.

I had nowhere I could call home anymore.

Nowhere to go home to anymore

I could never hear the voice of home again.