You Don’t Get Us Back, Mom
Ever since my little brother died of a sudden high fever and Mom started spending all her time with Matthew Hunt, I started cutting her out of our family photos.
One day, Dad got a call from my teacher. She overheard me saying I lost my mom, and I wanted to borrow my classmate's mom instead.
Dad paused for a moment, then didn't correct me.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "She passed away early."
At the school's parent-child sports day, Dad saw me slip a cleaner ten dollars and ask her to be my mom for the day.
He didn't stop me. Instead, he handed her another 200 bucks and asked if she could attend the parent meeting, too.
After that, whenever something called for a mom, Dad let me go out and "hire" one.
It wasn't until much later that Mom realized she hadn't heard from us in a long time.
She canceled her meetings and came to pick me up from school herself. But at the gate, the teacher frowned and stopped her.
Confused, she went home. The moment she stepped inside, she heard me talking to the property manager.
"My mom's dead," I said. "Do you wanna be my new mom?"