lacey morris fixes things better than you (unlaces) wrote in casefile, @ 2018-05-14 11:46:00
WHO: Lacey Morris WHEN: Mother's Day, early WHERE: Fall City Cemetary SUMMARY: Lacey goes out into the storm to visit her mom ;_; WARNINGS: S for Sad so Patty, you've been warned
It wasn't quite dawn yet. Not that you'd be able to tell, with the storm clouds that had been building all weekend. Leaving Monster still asleep on the bed (legs twitching as he chased squirrels in his dreams, probably), Lacey grabbed her rain coat and snuck out of the apartment. Though it wasn't sneaking out anymore, since she was an Adult and living on her own, so she didn't have to sneak in or out. But it still felt like sneaking out because the rain was horrible and it was early.
Climbing in her car, Lacey drove through the storm to the Fall City Cemetary, where she parked and climbed out to trudge the familiar path that she could walk in her sleep. Her rain jacket and boots were all but useless, and she was soaked to the bone almost immediately. But she didn't care. It was Mother's Day and she wasn't going to let a stupid storm keep her from visiting her mom.
Once she reached the familiar tombstone, Lacey sat down in the muddy grass directly in front of it, neither noticing nor caring as the mud leeched into her jeans and some squished down into her boots. Closing her eyes, she traced her fingers along the words that were as etched into her brain as they were the stone. Valerie Morris. Beloved wife and mother. Birth date. Death date.
Those dates were too close to each other. And the second one was too long ago. 2006. Twelve years ago. She had now lived as long without her mother as she had lived with her.
Shifting position so that she could lean sideways against the front of the tombstone, she pulled her knees up and hugged them tightly to her chest. The tears on her face mingled with and were indistinguishable from the rain falling on her.
She sat there until she was cold and shivering. She kissed her fingers, then traced her mother's name again. Then she pulled herself up out of the mud. Trudging back to her car, she grabbed a towel out of the backseat and spread it on the driver's seat before climbing in. She would still have to really clean the interior once the storm was over, but at least she wouldn't grind mud into the seat.
Once she was home, she stripped off her wet and muddy clothes, then climbed into the shower and scrubbed herself clean, then stood there under the water until it ran cold. Turning off the water, she dried off, pulled on warm clothes, then climbed back into bed with her still-dozing puppy. Her phone was off, and she had no plans to go anywhere else or see anyone today. Everyone and everything could wait until tomorrow.