A difficult conversation
Luz’s POV
Luz let out a groan from deep within her throat as she stood up from the chair she’d been sitting in for hours now and stretched before making her way into the kitchen to start heating up dinner. She was still feeling pretty proud of herself for coming up with the plan with the sling.
For the most part, Salix and Caesar were right when they said that it was a bad weapon. It was a basic starting weapon that was grown out of nearly immediately in exchange for a bow or something else with range that could do more than just make an enemy aware of your location. At least, that was the case until Luz had found some artificer blueprints for different sling projectiles. The two she had currently were the ignifers that lit up flammable objects like torches from a distance, and devorantis which would make armor clad enemies need to remove their helmets which would leave them open to more effective shots. There are a few others that she knew of but hadn’t been able to locate yet, it was only a matter of time though.
“Hey mija.” Luz turned from her position in front of the microwave to see her mom shut the door behind her.
“Hi Mama, how was work?” She asked, leaning her head down slightly so that her mom could plant a slight kiss against her forehead despite Luz being about a head taller than her.
“Same as always,” Her mom sounded absolutely exhausted as she took a seat at the kitchen table but Luz pretended not to notice. “What have you cooked up today? That smells absolutely amazing.”
Luz smiled as the woman sat down at the table. “Nothing too fancy, just sausage and rice, but I used some of the spices from the cupboard to give it a kick.” She placed the first plate down in front of her mom before putting her own in the microwave. Luz wasn’t really a fan of sausage, the texture bothered her but she’d found it at a really good discount at the grocery store because it was about to go bad. Hopefully the spice would be enough to help her get over how much she disliked it.
“How was school today?” Her mom asked as Luz grabbed her own plate and sat across from her.
“Oh, you know, same as always.” Luz tried to smile as she used the same term that her mom had only to wince in pain as she stretched her lip a little too much in the process. And of course her mom noticed.
“Luz, what’s wrong?” She looked at Luz with concern and the girl instinctively used her hand to cover up her lip, trying to play it off like she was leaning on her hand.
“What? Nothing. Nothing’s wrong Mama, I’m-” She was cut off as her mom reached out and gently removed her hand from her face. The look of concern was still there as the woman took a napkin and wiped away the makeup Luz had sloppily applied to her mouth making Luz suck in a breath at the contact as the bruise and busted lip were revealed.
“What happened to you?” Luz averted her gaze at her mom’s question. “Luz. What happened?”
“Mama, it’s nothing. Really,” Luz tried to chuckle but ended up wincing again. It was so much easier to pretend from the other side of a computer screen. “I- someone opened up a locker too fast right as I was walking by. It was an accident, I just didn’t want you to worry.” She offered a reassuring smile as big as she could make without opening the cut on her lip again. It was the truth… sort of. Except that the locker hadn’t been open, and that Boscha had shoved her face into it, and that Luz was lucky her nose had stopped bleeding after half an hour, and that it wasn’t an accident. “Really, it’s nothing.”
Her mom looked at her with worry in her eyes. Luz knew she didn’t believe her but also knew that she didn’t have the energy to drag the truth out of her either, or the time to deal with the issue if she actually told her what was going on. This is the way it’s been for years. “Okay, mija.” The nurse finally said, her voice practically a whisper. They ate in silence for a few minutes and when they were done Luz grabbed the plates and started to clean them in the sink.
“How are we doing on groceries?” Luz’s mom asked after a little while.
Luz hesitated, that was gonna be an issue. “Yeah, we’re pretty much out.” They were down to a half a bag of rice and three cans of beans in the pantry. “I made a list, I was gonna run it by you before making the trip after work tomorrow.” She took the slip of paper down from its magnet on the refrigerator door. The prices were listed next to the items, checked that morning from the supermarket’s website with the discounts from coupons being taken into account as well as the tax in the total she’d written at the bottom.
Luz held her breath as her mom looked over the list. “Do you need any more cereal? Anything else for lunches?”
“No, we still have some from last week.” Luz lied through her teeth, keeping her eyes on the dishes she’d been scrubbing even though they were already clean. They’d run out of cereal three days ago and they’d never had stuff for lunch in the first place. She’d pretty much been running on dinner and the snacks that Eda pretended not to notice went missing while Luz worked in her kitchen. Her mom didn’t notice because she always got her morning coffee and lunch from the hospital cafeteria for free and it was Luz’s job to cook dinner.
Luz grimaced and put the plates in the drying rack. She and her mom needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later. “Mama, I took a look at the bills coming in this week-”
“Carino, it isn’t your job to worry about that.”
“Mom, please.” That made the woman stop, Luz only ever called her ‘mom’ if it was serious and they both knew that this was. The girl took her seat back in front of her mom. “One of the debt collectors increased the payments and he’s going to take legal action if we can’t make them. Utilities are also due, we can’t push those payments back any more or things are going to get shut off.” Luz squeezed the bridge of her nose. Her mom was trying to hide the look of defeat in her eyes. It wasn’t working. Luz took a breath and put her hand back down, squeezing it around the other on the table. “Mama, I ran the numbers, even with the cutbacks I wrote into the groceries we’re going to be about fifty dollars short.”
Her mother sniffled and seemed to be focusing on some point over Luz’s shoulder. She didn’t say anything.
Luz squeezed her hands tighter and straightened her back. “I… I recommend we pay electric and leave the water bill. It’s cheaper so it’ll be easier to pay at the end of next week. You can shower at work and I can shower at school and fill up water jugs to take home and-” She was suddenly cut off as her mom reached over and wrapped her in a tight hug.
The woman was shuddering, trying so hard not to let her daughter know she was crying. “Lo siento.” Her voice was shaking. “Lo siento mucho, Luz. I… I…”
“Mom… Mama, It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.” They were holding onto each other so hard. “We’ve been through things like this before. We’re going to get through this. Okay?”
It felt like they were holding onto each other for an eternity. Her mom was the first to pull away. She then used the pad of her thumb to rub a soothing circle onto her daughter’s cheek. “Let’s go to bed Carino,” she offered a small smile. “It’s late and we both have work in the morning.”
Luz nodded silently and released her mother. They brushed their teeth together while filling the bathtub with water so that they’d have something for emergencies when it got shut off at some point the next day.
“Buenas noches mija.”
“Buenas noches Mamá. Te quiero.”
Luz shut the door and waited until she heard her mother’s door close as well. Then, with a quivering lip, she brought a hand up to her side and pressed in. She could feel her ribs through her sweatshirt. Tears spilled down her cheeks but she bit her lip to keep any noises from leaking out. The sweatshirt helped hide how thin she was visually, but there was no way that, after that hug, her mom didn’t notice the fact that she was more skin and bones than person at this point.
Luz tried to swallow the lump in her throat. At that moment she really wanted nothing more than to curl up on her bed and cry but she couldn’t. She had to get some rest. She had work in the morning.
And besides, sleep usually made the hunger pains go away for a bit.