Laurel P.O.V
The plane wheels kissed the runway with a rough bounce and the captain's voice droned faintly over the speakers, announcing our arrival in Australia.My chest tightened the moment the words "Welcome to Melbourne" echoed through the cabin.
Australia.
Home.
The place I ran from long ago…and the place I feared returning to.
As I stepped out of the plane,the familiar warm air hit my face,nothing like the luxury-conditioned breeze I was used to.This air carried something heavier...memories I had buried beneath designer perfumes and glittering nights of a life that was never truly mine.
Dragging my pink,high-end travel bag behind me,I followed the stream of passengers until I exited the airport building.The moment the automatic doors slid open,the scent of old trees and distant farmland washed over me.It felt like the very air was whispering.
You're back where it started…back where you abandoned everything.
I swallowed hard and waved down a taxi.
The ride to my hometown felt eternal.As the car rolled past long stretches of dusty roads,broken fences and tiny shops I vaguely recognized,my heart pounded painfully.The farther we went,the more everything looked like a memory I had once tried to erase.
When the taxi finally stopped in front of my old neighborhood,my breath caught.
Nothing had changed.
Nothing.
The same crooked gate.
The same faded blue house paint peeling off the walls.
The same silence that used to scare me as a child.
I paid the driver and stood still for a moment,staring—just staring at the house I had run away from in search of luxury.The house that held the mother I abandoned.
My hands trembled as I walked to the door and pressed the doorbell.The sound echoed through the quiet house like a ghost calling out to its past.
I breathed in deeply and glanced around the porch,noticing the cracked flower pots,the rusted wind chimed and the old welcome mat that hadn't been replaced in years.My chest tightened with guilt. How did she live like this while I drowned myself in expensive clubs, champagne and fake friendships?
The door clicked.
Slowly, it opened.
And there she was.
My mother…sitting in a wheelchair.
Her hair which was once dark and full,hung in thin strands.Her cheeks were sunken,her eyes tired,yet warm—still warm.She held an apple in her left hand and a small fruit knife in the right,as though she had been preparing a simple snack.
"Mom…" I whispered.
Her eyes widened with shock.
"Laurel!" Her voice cracked,trembling as though she wasn't sure I was real.
All the walls I'd built inside me shattered.
I dropped to my knees and hugged her—hugged her like a child clinging to the only safe place left in the world.
"M-Mom…I missed you" I sobbed,my voice breaking into pieces. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry for abandoning you…for leaving you alone.I wanted a life that wasn't even mine and I left you behind—"
"Laurel…not too tight—" She tried to warn gently.
But I couldn't stop.I cried harder,loud and helpless like a baby who finally realized what it lost.
Suddenly she whimpered—a soft, pained whimper.
I instantly let go and wiped my wet face.
"Mom, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine" She forced a smile. "You're just hugging too tight"
My guilt deepened like a knife twisting inside me.
"I'm sorry" I whispered,wiping my tears with the back of my hand again and again. "I'm sorry for everything…for leaving you…for making you suffer"
She reached out and gently petted my head,her thumb brushing my hair the same way she used to when I was little.
"Are you not going to greet me properly?" She asked softly,hiding her emotion with a weak chuckle.
"Oh—sorry"
I stood,turned her wheelchair around and closed the door behind us.
The living room appeared exactly as I left it years ago. The old brown couch,the small wooden table,the dusty curtains…everything looked tired.Everything screamed struggle.
I swallowed painfully.
"Mom…how have you been living here all alone?"
"I was in the kitchen when you rang the doorbell" She answered instead. "Come....help me prepare dinner"
I quietly dropped my pink luxury travel bag—its bright color looked wrong in this poor,fading home,then i followed her to the kitchen.
She handed me a worn-out apron.
It was old.Torn at the edges. The straps were fraying.It wasn't even half as nice as the ones I used to wear while playing rich girl with my so-called friends. Seeing it in her hands made shame burn inside me.
I put it on slowly,sadness weighing down my shoulders.
"So…" She asked casually, "how was life…out there?"
I forced a small smile.
"It was great.But…not as great as having you,Mom"
She nodded and continued beating some egg yolks.
I sliced spring onions,the knife shaky in my hand.Then she reached up for a ketchup bottle in a cabinet—one that was too high.
Her fingers brushed the air helplessly.
She couldn't stand.
She couldn't reach.
She couldn't help herself.
My chest tightened sharply.
"Let me" I said quickly,grabbing the bottle for her.
"How…how did you end up like this?" I asked quietly.
She smiled too easily.
"I'm fine,Laurel"
"Mom..."
"I'm fine" She kept dodging the question each time I asked,each time pretending it was nothing.
Silence fell,heavy and painful.
The only sounds were the knife tapping the cutting board and the soft whisk of her beating egg yolks.
After a long moment,my hands froze.
"Mom…" I whispered. "I'm sorry"
She didn't answer.
Not a word.
Not even a breath of acknowledgment.
She finished beating the eggs,turned slowly and faced me with a stern,shaking expression.
"I saw the news,Laurel"
My stomach dropped.
"You made a terrible mistake coming back here after ruining your life"
Her voice trembled,not because she wanted to yell,but because she was fighting not to.
But anger won.
"You went too far!" She snapped. "You think money is worth everything you threw away? You think I raised you for that life?"
She didn't know I stole from a mafia boss.
She didn't know I survived by stealing from men.
She didn't know I was running for my life.
She thought…I had murdered someone.That was what the news implied.
"Mom…I'm sorry" I begged,tears blurring my vision again. "I made mistakes.I was stupid.I lost myself.But I never meant to hurt you"
She looked at me,truly looked at me for the first time since I entered the house.
Then her expression softened just a little.
"You're my child" She whispered. "No matter what you've done…I can't disown you"
The moment broke me.
I threw my arms around her shoulders gently this time,sobbing into her neck.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm so, so sorry…"
And she held me—quietly, tremblingly—like a mother holding a lost child who finally found their way back home.