22 - Elena

“Hello, Elena.”

“Hey, Mom,” I said, sitting up straight at once, alarm bells already ringing in my head. When I saw her name on my caller ID, I cleaned my eyes twice to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Mother never called me out of the blue like this unless something was terribly wrong, or if she needed me to run an errand for her. “How's father? Is everything fine at home? Do you need me to help you get anything?”

“Calm down with the questions, my love,” she laughed, but I could detect a hint of nervousness in her tone. And did she just call me her love? What the hell was going on? “Your father's doing great, and everything is fine. I don't need you to get anything from me.”

“Okay...” I said after a few minutes silence. “Then why — ”

“I just wanted to know how you're faring. I know I don't normally call like this, but that's something that can be changed, right dear?”

Who was she, and what had she done with my mother?

“Mom you're scaring me,” I blurted out honestly. “There's no need