The scent of sweet blueberry baked muffins made its way out of the tiny box kitchen and up the stairs. Maisie’s favourite wake up call. She always set out two plates on the small wooden dining table, made two cups of tea and whispered ‘morning mum’ before digging into her muffin.
“Did I tell you what Mr Mason said yesterday in Spanish?” Maisie shouted towards the corridor, giggling as she sipped on her lukewarm tea. “He really thinks we can memorise all the sports related verbs by Thursday!”
She sat down cutting up her muffin, looking up to see a silhouette of that baggy pale yellow hoodie. Maisie poured a dribble of milk into the mug opposite her own, just the way mum liked it.
“Oh also Hattie asked me to go bowling with her on Saturday, pretty please can I go?” Maisie continued, taking another bite of her muffin. “I’ve already checked the calendar, Saturday 15th April, we are free all day.” She looked right across from her, nodding as if listening to a familiar response . “I know,I know. I need to finish all my homework before I can go anywhere. That’s always the answer”
As Maisie was finishing her food, she heard a faint knock on the front door. Aunt Lisa burst in, without waiting for Maisie to answer. She had a bag of shopping in one hand and a small bunch of flowers in the other. She handed the flowers to Maisie, “to replace the ones on the table”.
Lisa looked straight at the table, at the two cups of tea and two muffins. At the vase filled with dead flower steams, shrivelled petals scattered around the middle of the table.
“Maisie darling” Lisa whispered, holding her arms open, welcoming her niece in for a hug. She looked back over at the wooden table set perfectly for two people. “What are you doing?”
Maisie looked up at her Aunt, “Just having breakfast with mum”. Her voice was cheery, not sad like Aunt Lisa’s was. “I was telling her about my Spanish class”
Lisa started sweeping the dead petals from the center of the table. Maisie looked like she had seen a ghost, “Lisa STOP” she abruptly shouted. Aunt Lisa froze, “Mum bought those flowers.” Tears started to well in Maisie’s eyes before trickling down her face.
“Maisie you can’t keep living like this, look at the chair, your mum isn’t there. She hasn’t been there for the past three weeks”