Prompt 164, Pills, "Mother's Little Helper"
Title: Mother’s Little Helper
Word Count: 323
Rating: T
Character(s): Gracia Hughes
Summary: A day in the life of Gracia, two years after her husband’s death.
Warnings: Drug abuse
Prompt: Pills
Author’s Note: ‘And though she’s not really ill/There’s a little yellow pill… And if you take more of those/You will get an overdose./No more runnin’ for the shelter/of a mother’s little helper’ ~ “Mother’s Little Helper” by the Rolling Stones
You shake them out into your hand, telling yourself you’ll only need them until the pain starts to fade. But it’s been two years now and the scar of your husband’s death is still as fresh and jagged and bleeding as it was the day it happened. You knock your conscience back with the powdery white caplet and rub your eyes open so you can begin your day.
You don’t even bother with cooking a proper breakfast anymore, not when it’s only Elysia who eats. You fix her a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice before pulling her hair back and making sure she’s ready for school. Though you’re proud of her for enjoying her classes, you hate that she’s been taken away from you as well. Once you return from the schoolhouse you swallow another mind numbing pill and fall asleep on the couch, Maes’ military portrait watching over you from the mantle.
When you awake the sun is glaring through the window, which means it must be nearing six in the evening. You were supposed to pick up your daughter hours ago. You hurry to the bathroom to comb your hair and you see how sunken your eyes look. A little makeup and another pill and you’re out the door.
Elysia’s been crying, but was a good girl and sat right on the front steps just like she knows she should if you’re ever late. You apologize over and over, but it still hurts inside. What would he think of you now? You pick up Cretan pasta on the way home and help her with her homework. Afterward, she takes her bath and puts herself to bed because you took another pill after dinner and you’re too fucked up to do it for her.
You swallow another pill and go to bed crying, because even though it’s safer in the darkness, you long to live in the light again.
Word Count: 323
Rating: T
Character(s): Gracia Hughes
Summary: A day in the life of Gracia, two years after her husband’s death.
Warnings: Drug abuse
Prompt: Pills
Author’s Note: ‘And though she’s not really ill/There’s a little yellow pill… And if you take more of those/You will get an overdose./No more runnin’ for the shelter/of a mother’s little helper’ ~ “Mother’s Little Helper” by the Rolling Stones
You shake them out into your hand, telling yourself you’ll only need them until the pain starts to fade. But it’s been two years now and the scar of your husband’s death is still as fresh and jagged and bleeding as it was the day it happened. You knock your conscience back with the powdery white caplet and rub your eyes open so you can begin your day.
You don’t even bother with cooking a proper breakfast anymore, not when it’s only Elysia who eats. You fix her a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice before pulling her hair back and making sure she’s ready for school. Though you’re proud of her for enjoying her classes, you hate that she’s been taken away from you as well. Once you return from the schoolhouse you swallow another mind numbing pill and fall asleep on the couch, Maes’ military portrait watching over you from the mantle.
When you awake the sun is glaring through the window, which means it must be nearing six in the evening. You were supposed to pick up your daughter hours ago. You hurry to the bathroom to comb your hair and you see how sunken your eyes look. A little makeup and another pill and you’re out the door.
Elysia’s been crying, but was a good girl and sat right on the front steps just like she knows she should if you’re ever late. You apologize over and over, but it still hurts inside. What would he think of you now? You pick up Cretan pasta on the way home and help her with her homework. Afterward, she takes her bath and puts herself to bed because you took another pill after dinner and you’re too fucked up to do it for her.
You swallow another pill and go to bed crying, because even though it’s safer in the darkness, you long to live in the light again.