A visit to mom

Vanessa's POV

“Mom!”

Immediately the door opened, I shot forward to pull her into a tight hug. She gasped and wrapped her own arms around me tenderly. I smiled into her hair, so glad to finally be able to meet her face to face, inhale her soothing and familiar scent again.

I was so happy.

I pulled away from the hug and held her at arm’s length. “I missed you so much, mom!”

She smiled fondly, looking over me as well. But as she did, I studied her appearance more. And the more I did, the more my smile slipped. She did not look great at all. In fact, it looked like she was doing worse than she was when I left.

Her hair was bound in a bun at the back of her head, but her face seems to have more lines, and her eyes had completely lost their light. There were puffs around her eyes like she had been sleeping too much to escape her sorrows again, and her shoulders were hunched in sadness and defeat.

Oh, mom.

I had left her all alone, when I knew just how bad her mental health was. Now, she ha