There Was Nothing

MILES

My mother was unusually quiet for the next few days. Not a single word or glance my way. She pretty much acted like I didn't exist, and it was slowly but surely driving me crazy. I felt like I was digging a trench in my room from all the pacing I did.

Apparently, I was the least of her worries as she prepared to leave the home we've been in for the past ten years. Mr. Black said he just couldn't wait until after the wedding for us to move in. The only reason I knew this was because my mother had an incredibly loud voice when gushed this news to her so-called friends. She'd been on the phone talking to multiple people either to brag or to sell what she could in the house.

My fingernails were almost nonexistent from picking at them because of the anxiety of wanting to check my stash of money I hid in the vent above my bed.

When I made it home Saturday night,my mother was waiting in her favorite red chair in the living room nursing a glass of wine.

"How was work?" She as