Sami watched silently, great alligator tears rolling down her face. The small child on the video blew out the candles, and the woman who had been singing cheered happily for her. The little girl reached out two chubby arms for the woman, who snatched her up and hugged her tightly.
Sami finally had enough, and hit the stop button on the remote next to her hand. The woman and the child disappeared from the screen, replaced by blankness. The little girl curled herself up into a tiny ball, her tears falling on the carpet, leaving a small wet spot where her head was laying.
"Momma…" Sami wailed, her small body shaking with tears. "Momma, why? Why did you leave?"
No one was there to answer. Her Aunt Demi was upstairs asleep, worn out from the week's events. None of her Momma's friends were at the house at that moment, a rarity nowadays. No one was around to hear the little girl's questions.
Sami finally cried herself out, and lay still and silent on her side. Slowly, she pushed herself into a sitting position, looking around the room with sad blue eyes. Everything in this house reminded her of her mother.
A hat was hanging on a hook in next to the door. Sami could remember her mother wearing that hat, when she wanted to keep the wind, or the sun, or the rain off of her hair. She use to put it on Sami, and the little girl had laughed when it slipped down past her eyes. Her mother had just smiled and said, "You'll grow into it."
Sami pushed herself to her feet, walking toward the door. She reached the hat and pulled it down off the hook, and held it to her nose. It still smelled a little bit like her mother's shampoo. Sami sniffed back a tear, and put it on her head.
The little girl walked into the kitchen, where her mother use to sit and read the newspaper, or cook dinner, or even just daydream. Sami chewed the inside of her cheeks, trying not to cry. She still thought she could see her mother standing at the stove, laughing at her horrible cooking skills.
Again, the little girl moved out of the room, wondering around the house she had grown up in. She reached the stairs and stopped. She thought she could see her mother sitting on the steps, in her favorite blue jeans and old flannel shirt, talking on the phone or reading a book.
Across the hallway, there was a door leading into the living room. Her mother had used to stand her up against it, to measure how tall she had gotten. In her mind, her mother stood there, laughing her sweet laugh, and telling her that it wasn't fair to stand on her tiptoes to make herself taller.
Turning away, Sami made her way up the steps slowly, avoiding the squeaky step, just as her mother had always done. The child stopped and looked out the window that was opposite of the stairs. She remembered running to the window and looking out every night when her mother drove into the driveway. Then she would run to the door, and met her momma with a hug and a kiss.
The little girl walked down the hallway, looking at the pictures that hung on the wall. Some were of herself, others of her mother's friends and family. The child suddenly stopped. She swore that she could see her mother fussing with the picture at the end, brushing the dust off it, straightening it.
Whimpering, Sami ran down the hallway to the place her mother had been standing not a second before. But when she got there, the spectrum of her mother was gone. Sami leaned against the wall, and slide down it until she was sitting.
The child buried her face in her arms and began to cry, deep, shuddering sobs that tore her body and shook her soul.
"Momma…I want you to come back! I miss you!" Sami wailed, rocking back and forth.
The screen door in the back slammed shut, and Sami jumped to her feet. "Momma?" She whispered, darting down the steps. The little girl raced into the kitchen where the back door was and pushed through.
The backyard was in need of mowing. The grass was nearly past Sami's ankles, but the child didn't notice. She was staring at the tree where her mother had hung a swing for her. They had spent many long hours playing there together, Sami begging her mother to push her higher.
She saw her mother there now, the sunlight glinting off her auburn hair. Sami swallowed hard, and took a step forward. Tabitha looked at her small daughter and knelt down, holding her arms out for a hug. Sami ran forward, and tried to throw herself into the warm embrace. But then the memory was gone, and Sami was left hugging herself, and crying again.
"Momma!" Sami screamed, collapsing to the ground and rocking herself, wailing for her mother.
The crying child didn't hear the whine of rockets that signaled the coming of the X-Man know as Cannonball. She didn't even know he was there, as he stood a few feet away from her, watching his newly discovered daughter cry.
Sam swallowed hard, fighting back his own tears. He knew, first hand, the agony children went through when they lost a parent. But it must be so much worse on Sami, Sam thought, taking a hesitant step toward her. She had lost the only parent she had ever known.
Sam walked to where she was sitting, and sat down next to her. She still did not notice him, or didn't acknowledge him if she did. Sam licked his lips, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Sami looked up, surprised.
"Dadd-Mr. Guthrie?" Sami asked, seemingly at a lost as what to call him.
"You don't have to call me that." Sam said, ignoring the hurt that shot through him. Sami cocked her head to the left, but didn't say anything. Sam realized that she was waiting on him to speak. He cleared his throat, and began. "Sami…Ah know that you need some time…but Ah need to know if you're going to come back and live with me."
"By when?" Sami asked, surprising her father.
"Soon." Sam said, looking down at her. Sami sat next to him, and chewed on the inside of her bottom lip. Sam looked away, the memory of her mother doing the same thing flashed into his mind.
Sami sat quietly for a good ten minutes, trying to decide what to do. On one hand, she would be leaving everything she had ever known, and all her friends. On the other hand, she would finally get the father she had longed for since she was old enough to understand her mother's stories.
The child felt tears prick at her eyes when she thought about her mother, and her constant stories of how wonderful her father was. Sami looked up at the man who sat beside her. He didn't really look like the brave X-Man who would sacrifice all to save lives, the way her mother had described him. But there was something about him…some of the innate goodness her mother was forever talking about when it came to him.
Her mother. She would be leaving the place where memories of her mother were around every turn, where every object or place held some instant of her mother's life in it. Sami suddenly realized that, no matter how hard she tried, she would never ever get over the agony in her heart if she didn't get away from this place.
That made her decision an easy one.
"I-I guess I'll live with you." Sami said softly, looking up at her father. Sam looked back at her, once more struck by the similarity she bore to her mother.
"Okay." Sam agreed, not knowing what else to say. Sami turned to look back at the house, wrapping her arms around her legs.
"Any particular reason why?" Sam asked, looking back at her.
Sami was silent for a long minute, trying to decide if she should tell him or not. Finally, she sighed and said, "If I stay here, I'll see Momma around every corner."
"Ah understand that." Sam said gently, and understand it he did. When his father had died, Sam had been loathed to return home, to see all the memories of his father played out before his eyes.
"You do?" Sami asked quietly.
Sam nodded, not looking at her. "Mah daddy died when Ah was about fifteen."
"Oh." Sami said, chewing on her lip again. "When do I have to leave?"
"Ah think…maybe a week? Two maybe?" Sam said, knitting his eyebrows together. "There's a lot of stuff Ah need to take care of."
"Okay. Is Demi gonna take care of me until then? And what's gonna happen to Demi?" Sami asked, worried about her aunt.
"Ah not sure. She's a run away, ain't she?" Sam asked, trying to remember what the elf like woman had told him about herself.
"Yes." Sami said, looking up at him. "How'd you know that?"
"She told me." Sam said, thinking back to his conversation with the blue woman. "Ah mentioned that she might want to go to the Massachusetts Academy, and she said she think about it."
"Is that where you live?" Sami asked, looking at her father. "Massachusetts?"
"No, Ah live in New York." The man said.
"Does it snow up there?" Sami asked suddenly, her eyes big.
"Well, yeah. Why?" Sam asked.
"I-I've never seen snow before." Sami told him, her eyes wide at the thought of actual snow. Sam smiled gently.
"Well, there certainly plenty of it in New York." Sam said.
Sami looked up at her father, and forced a small smile. "I hope I like it up there."
"Me too." Sam said gently.
The week flew by in a blur of packing and saying goodbye to old friends. Finally, it was time for the little girl to leave the only home she had ever known.
She walked through the house she had grown up in, empty of all the furnishings, pictures, everything that made it home. Her father had told her that he had placed it all in storage, so that she could have it when she came of age.
Sami finally came to rest in the living room, where she and her mother had played all those years. She set her knapsack on the ground, and looked around. Closing her eyes, she thought she could still hear the sound of her mother's laughter, ringing through the room.
"I wish you were still here with me, Momma…"Sami wailed softly, opening her eyes as tears pricked her eyes. Suddenly, she thought she heard her mother's voice.
"I'll always be with you sweetie…always…"
Sami looked around with wide eyes, and slowly felt a small smile tug at her lips. Her mother WAS with her, even if she couldn't see her.
"I love you, Momma." Sami whispered to the room, and swung her knapsack up onto her back. She turned slowly, and made her way outside, to where her father was waiting with the car.
"I love you too, Sami…" Her mother's voice rang in her ears once more.
Sami stopped and smiled gently. Then, with renewed courage, she walked toward her father.