Jade

The night was quiet. Even the wind made no sound. No cars drove by, no people on the sidewalks. It was as if they were waiting, anticipating something big.

Inside the house with the white picket fence, and the perfectly trimmed green grass, on the second floor, behind a locked bathroom door, the sounds of light humming could heard.

She stood there naked, in all her glory. Not a care in the world as she looked herself over in the mirror over the white, porcelain sink. Bare feet placed firmly on the peach, shag rug as she turned and bent over the bathtub, fingers lacing about the knobs of the faucet. Warm water filled the bathtub as she delicately stepped inside. Her soft, blissful humming filling the small white room as her form sat down.

A piece of paper sat by the sink, words scrawled almost illegible upon its thin blue lines. She had read it three times before being satisfied with what she had written. A satisfied smirk upon those pale, rose petal, lips as she thought about how her mother would react when that paper was read.

The tub now half full, her plan put to action. Her wrists placed beneath that warm, rushing water as a razor was brought down upon them. The cuts were small, but did their job. Barely noticeable as deep crimson began to mix within the tub.

Her watery grave set, she laid her head back. Not a tear left her, nor a shallow cry as her deep green eyes were closed for the what was hopefully the final time.

Her mind, it drifted, to the letter on the sink. She hoped she'd spelled the words right, she hoped her mother would understand. She'd tried so hard to make her happy. Tried so hard to make her proud, but never once was anything acknowledged, not once were their words of praise.

She pictured her mother walking into the bathroom. Saw her pick up the paper and read the words so carelessly scrawled.

"Dear mother,

I am sorry this had to be, but I can not seem to live up to your expectations. Every deed I have done goes unnoticed. Every good grade unpraised. I have tried my best, but I can try no more. I am sorry I failed, I am sorry I let you down. Please, I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive all my ways.... Jade"

She pictured her mother opening the bathtub curtain, even heard the blood curdling scream as she pictured her mother's gaze falling on her own glazed over jaded hues. She pictured her mother crying, heard her call her name.

She pictured the ambulance arriving, the paramedics were placing her on the stretcher saying she was still alive. She pictured an oxygen mask being placed over her face and air being forced down her lungs as they screamed out in protest.

She pictured being placed in the hospital bed, felt the doctors stitch up her wrists. She heard them say she was a lost cause. That too much blood had been lost.

She opened her eyes and wondering if she'd died. The walls were all white and her gown was white as well. She heard the swished pumping of the respirator, with its tube in her nose, there to help her breathe. She slowly turned her head and saw her mother sitting there.

All the hate she'd seen her whole life, seemed to have gone away. The cold, hard rock, that was her mother, seemed so fragile and weak before her. "Mother?" she whispered, barely audible, "Is this heaven?" Her mother looked into her dull green eyes and replied softly, "No Jade... Your life has been spared."

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked to her mother. It had only been the day before she had been grounded, her mother had looked so young. This being before her looked aged and tired, as if a decade had passed while her mind had raced. "Why am I here? Why was I spared?" She asked more to herself then to the woman before her.

Her mother's reply broke her heart, as the words were spoken from a choking voice, "I asked God to forgive my mistakes. I asked him to save you so I can have another chance. I asked him not to take you from me before I could I prove myself to you."

All these years, she was trying to make her mother proud, and all these years her mother had been doing the same. A smile spread across her lips as she knew her time was up. She whispered very softly, "All is forgive mother. I love you alwa..." She swallowed hard as she closed her eyes. The last sounds she'd heard was the heart machine flat line, and her mother's mournful wail.