Flash Fiction Fridays #1

Hello all! Welcome to the first installment of Flash Fiction Fridays. The goal here is to just get words flowing. Start a habit of writing again. So each week, the inspiration is posted on Monday and the inspired work goes up on Fridays. If you want to participate, you are welcome to link to a post of your own or put your piece in the comments.

Before I get to the FF today, I just have to give my mom and hubby and shout-out. Mom is graduating from college after years of waiting, raising a family, and trying to fit in school with teenagers and schedules and  so proud of her for committing to a dream and following through. She's inspiring to me! And tomorrow is hubby's birthday. We may or may not be buying a car in Vegas tomorrow, so birthday plans are pretty vague, but it's still exciting.

And now:

The Scent of Lilacs

Mary had always loved the way the lilacs blossomed in the Spring. The scent filled her room when she left the windows open at night and gave her such nice dreams. That fake, lotiony smell wasn't the same. It never lifted her out of the dumpy trailer and into a fairy castle like the real thing did. 

The window was open again. Somewhere down the street, she could hear kids playing "Steal the Flag." They shrieked and whooped at each other. She'd never been invited to come and play. When she was younger, she couldn't understand why and she had cried herself to sleep as the lilac scent washed over her. Now she knew it wasn't her fault. She couldn't help it that her dad was in jail and her mom drank too much. 

Still, she listened to the game and wished she were out there. She wished she didn't have to take care of her mom after a night at the bar. She wished her dad had never met that guy who needed a body guard. She wished that she didn't live in the beat-up, rundown trailer with trash in the yard. And most of all, she wished that the lilac dreams were real and she could fly away to a better place.

"Mary! I need you." Her mom retched a few times, the sound echoing from the bathroom. 

She got up from her bed and crossed the small hallway to the bathroom. Her mom rested her head on the floor, right next to the cold bowl of the toilet. A dribble of pinkish slime ran down her cheek. Mary took the closest towel in her hand and gently wiped her mother's face clean. She got a bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet and filled the glass of water that sat by the sink. She helped her mom sit up and swallow a few pills and covered her with a blanket on the floor again.

Back in her room, the lilacs washed the tinge of alcohol from her nose. She closed her eyes and hugged her pillow close, letting the dream take her away again.