20 years ago (Mocca's Background/World Building Story)

The uninterrupted noise coming from the horizon filled with crickets and mosquitoes echoed across the otherwise silent plains of the countryside. A cold orange to navy blue sky accompanying a solitary 70's Chevy truck across a dusty off road leading to the back of a barnyard with barely some lights still on. 

Little Barbara was now in the driver's seat, her dad got off the truck to talk with an old man at the entrance of the ranch, she couldn't hear them very well, the windows were up so no bugs would get inside. The old man was seemingly annoyed by  Barb's dad request, relenting to whatever he asked for, slowly walking to the main farm house, to light up the fields, pumpkin fields in fact.

This was a trip she didn't really wanted to go, but been smart enough to understand the situation, Barbara sat in silent as her dad talked the whole time about how they were going to do their anual pumpkin harvest, just a little different this year.

For most of the lonesome travel, the little girl tried her best remain quiet about the elephant in the room, her dad had a tired, exasperated look, a tint of dread bleaching his already pale face. And she knew why. It was been five days since her mother went to the town's clinic, the memories of that day still fresh in her mind. 

Remembering that day... It was early in the morning.

Surprised by her dad's expression as he frantically rattled the corner of her bed, asking her to dress up quickly and get into the truck, her mother already in the front passenger seat, covered in blankets, shivering as she curled next to the window, a dull blank stare in her face. Barbara saw from the back seats how her dad caressed her mom's face, still unresponsive, held her hand whenever they had to stop for a red light, murmuring how he knew this would happen. Still too early in the morning for her to be fully awake, Barbara fell asleep in the back seat. 

She eventually woke up by the sudden stop of the truck. Way pass her hour to go to school, asking if she needed to go back to fetch her backpack, her mom no longer in the front seat. Her dad simply ignored the little girl while running to the town's pharmacy, buying boxes of medicine with weird names on them. He looked exhausted, eventually plummeting over the truck's hood, his fingers digging in his white scalp, sobbing as he kicked the front tire. Barbara didn't say a word, never seeing her dad cry before, whatever it was, she knew that adults never want to talk about things that make them cry. So she just waited for an answer.

-"... She'll be back in no time sweetheart"-.

Back to the present day, little Barbara was now exploring the barren pumpkin field, the only child in there, looking at her surroundings, scattered pieces of carnival decorations, trash containers filled to the brim, some still hanging banners with the date of what apparently was a festival that ended two days ago. Her dad right beside her, a cheerful expression on his face, eager to go and look for whatever pumpkin that was still in good shape, which sadly was a rare sight. It was obvious that he tried to cheer Barbara up, after missing the county's anual harvest festival, too busy doing house errands and doing multiple trips a day to the clinic. Even more guilty over remaining silent about Barb's mom's current health problems, too worried about how she would take the already sketchy information the doctors have him. He was evidently holding the world over his shoulders, trying her best to not tell... What Barbara already knew...

It was an small town, almost all the adults were really old already. And all the adults knew each other. Barb's teacher was a good friend of her mom, and she overheard a conversation between her teacher and her dad. A word that she needed to look up in the dictionary... "Sepsis". Her horrified expression and pale skin reminiscent to what was now her father's regular look made her understand why he was so quiet. She didn't want to ask neither, knowing the traumatizing sight of her father sobbing and crying hopelessly was too much for a child to endure again. Thus she just played her part, trying to act as cheerful as her dad, both encased in the same dreadful misery and uncertainty of their future. 

An hour passed and her dad got a phone call, excusing himself as Barbara kept looking around, she took a glimpse of her dad's face as he covered the phone and mouth with his palm, hoping she would not hear him. The thousand yard stare gave away the nature of the call regardless, giving the girl a knee-jerk reaction for what those news might be... And before her father could say a thing, she ran as fast as she could. 

Falling onto the ground over poorly covered holes, now trying to stay in this moment, a happy moment, the only happy moment she had in a while, hoping to find a pumpkin that at least would give a reason to be so far away from home, to show her dad that she was happy, something, anything would do at this point!

And there it was. She found the best pumpkin in the whole field, her face filled with genuine glee as she expected the same reaction from her dad. Who was no longer there. Already paying the old man and yelling from afar that time was up. Any happiness she had dropped to the ground just as the pumpkin she was holding, now squashed onto the dirt.

The tension was palpable as Barbara saw how her dad never took a glimpse away from the road, an iron grip on the stirring wheel. She didn't know what to say or do, all these days were the most tense days of her life, waking up knowing her mom was no longer at home, not getting any real answers from her dad, seeing how all the kids in her class murmured about what their parent said about her mom's situation, been hugged and repeatedly reminded by her teacher each day that she was there for her. 

Barbara had enough.

Bursting into sobs and tears, pouring her heart right next to her father, who now diverted all his attention towards his daughter. Hugging her like never before, sobbing too as he tried to collect his thought, finally sharing some of the burden with the only other person that would have to live with it.

-"...Your mom, she's coming back today. But, we'll have to adapt to some stuff, for at least a little while, promise me you'll be patient with her, she'll be... A bit dizzy, and maybe you'll have to remind her some things, but soon she'll be the same, we all gonna be the same as before"-.

Barbara understood later about what happened to her mom, neural damage due infection, reversible, but sequels were inevitable. Leaving Barbara with a constant need to keep up with everything around the house since the tender age of 10.

As years passed and her parents became less and less able to do things around the town, around the house, eventually making her the sole responsible for them, she developed a nurturing and welcoming attitude for all the elders of the town. Yet her parents knew better than let her rot in the same place as they did purely because of their inability to take care of themselves no more. Hoping their daughter would have a better future than just been the nurse of a barren town devoid of any future for a young woman like her.

Through some incentives and persuasion, one of them been a huge debt they took for the sake of her college studies, Barbara went on to the city, hoping to reciprocate the good will of her parents by paying them back for all they spent on her education.

...Not knowing the hardships that would eventually befall onto her.

The End