The lifeless body's face shifted slightly to the side. Aria's entire body froze.
Her breath stopped.
The plastic bag slipped from her hand, pills scattering across the concrete.
Her eyes widened as she recognized the blood streaked face on the ground.
Mom.
"M-Mom…" she whispered, her voice barely a sound, completely broken.
Her legs gave out beneath her. Aria collapsed onto the ground and pulled the lifeless body into her arms.
"Mom, wake up… Mom!!" she cried, her voice cracking painfully. She shook her mother's body with trembling hands.
"Mom, don't do this to me! Mom!! Please!!"
Her cries echoed through the entire compound.
"Somebody help!!" she screamed from the deepest part of her chest, desperation tearing her voice apart. Blood covered her hands, smeared across her clothes, dripping down her arms.
People began to gather at a distance, whispering to each other instead of helping.
"Someone please call 911! Please!" Aria begged, but her voice was trembling so much she could barely speak.
Someone in the crowd finally stepped forward and made the call.
She held her mother tighter, hugging her like she could force life back into her.
"Mom… please… please don't leave me…"
Her tears soaked into her mother's blood.
By the time the ambulance arrived they declared Mrs. Dawson dead at the scene.
Aria stood there, completely drenched in her mother's blood, watching blankly as the paramedics covered the body with a white sheet and carried her mother into the ambulance.
She didn't even blink.
She couldn't cry anymore, her tears had run dry, her voice was croaked from screaming.
Her mother's bloody right hand slipped from the stretcher as they lifted her. Aria didn't move. She just stared.
When the ambulance drove away, the crowd slowly dispersed.
Murmurs floated in the air.
"I can't believe she killed herself without thinking about her daughter…"
"Oh, poor Aria… she witnessed everything. She's going to be traumatized for life…"
Aria heard everything every word meant to stab her deeply, but she felt nothing.
Just emptiness.
Only one person came to comfort her.
Mrs. Dorothy, one of their neighbor.
"Aria…" she said softly, her voice full of pity. "I'm so sorry about what happened to your mother. If you need anything, my door is always open."
Aria nodded, stiff and expressionless.
Mrs. Dorothy sighed heavily, shook her head, and walked away.
This was a tragedy… one too cruel for a young girl to bear.
"Aria!!"
She slowly looked up with red, swollen eyes.
Her best friend Rowan ran toward her, breathless.
"Ro… Rowan… my mom…" Aria choked, pointing weakly to where the ambulance had been moments ago.
The tears started again, finally breaking past the shock.
"I know… I heard," Rowan whispered as he pulled her into a tight embrace, not caring that her entire body was covered in blood.
Aria sobbed uncontrollably into his chest.