My Universe

32: “Summer, it’s been three years.”

And so, the call ended in less than three seconds.

The raven dropped her phone down on the mattress as she stared at the screen that was displaying the time duration of the call, which was for two seconds. Hearing the voice of the mother of Summer’s voice felt strange especially when she knew that it was not actually her mother that she was on the call. As much as Winter sometimes disliked her real mother, that never changed the fact that she could never imagine having another person as her mother.

Winter knew that her mother would definitely pick up the call since that was literally Summer’s family, after all. But it was not like she was even prepared on what she was going to say to her mother. Regret was what she could only feel as she frantically scratched on the bedsheet while staring at her vibrating phone with “Mom” being displayed on the screen.

The raven bit her lip as she roamed her eyes around the room to look for an excuse to talk to her mother about without sounding suspicious. For some reason, she felt as if she was gatekeeping the real Summer by pretending to be her as they would speak to each other even though that was not really the case because she was literally Summer, at least in that world.

A watermelon wall clock that the raven just happened to find displayed in their room, which she just noticed at that moment after days of mostly staying in the dorm, made her eyes stop on it. She could not believe that she just saw the wall clock that was watermelon-themed when she had literally been in that universe for almost a week already. It almost felt like there was a lot more things that existed along the clock in the dorm that she had not noticed yet even though they were literally just displayed openly.

With that, Winter decided to use the wall clock as the topic to talk to her mother about as she finally took her phone once again and pressed it on her ear after swiping on the screen to accept the call before it could even stop ringing and end up as a missed call, which could even be a problem.

“Hi, Mom!” Winter spoke in an uncontrollable high energy because of nervousness.

“Oh, wow. Hi,” Sunny, her mother, answered. She felt flustered at the enthusiasm of her daughter, though she felt happy about it at the same time since Summer had never shown that amount of energy in a long time.

“Mom, did you know that watermelons are one of the things that can help in the prevention of several types of cancer?” the raven said as she recalled that fun fact about watermelons which she happened to find on a social media platform while she was scrolling one time. She had an aunt who recently died from lung cancer, which was why she was able to clearly remember that post even though she did not care when her aunt passed away as they had never shared a single conversation together when she was still alive.

“I didn’t. How do watermelons help prevent cancer?” her mother replied with interest evident in her voice.

“Apparently, watermelons are a source of lycopene, which is an antioxidant that has been proven to reduce the risks of different types of cancer.” The raven leaned her back on the headboard as she slowly found herself calming down. It was likely the effect of speaking to a mother, who was sort of her mother as well since she was in that universe.

“That’s pretty clever. I’ll inform Mr. and Mrs. Pingver about it—oh, and their daughter too.” A chuckle could be heard from the call.

“Sure, Mom.” Winter found herself wearing a smile on her face as she talked to Sunny like she was really her mother.

Winter’s mother was not actually a bad mother though there were many times that made her think that it was a good idea to live in a dorm while she studies for university. After all, her mother was still a mother that would always want everything good for her daughter, to the point that she would sometimes end up pressuring her daughter a lot of times. Like that day when Winter found out that she was failing in a bunch of subjects while Claire was being cold to her for a week, what she needed the most at that moment was words of comfort; yet words of wrath were what she only received.

The raven could only feel bitter about it while thinking about the fact that the woman that she was currently talking on the phone was the mother of her alternate self. Even though Summer had to suffer a lot in university, at least she had a sweet mother that seemed to actually care for her and everything that she is talking about.

“By the way, what made you call? You barely call me,” Sunny spoke after a few seconds from the other line.

“Hmm? Oh, it’s nothing special. I just miss you, Mom,” Winter replied with a small smile playing on her face as she stared at her hand that had its fingertips running across the bedsheet in a gentle manner.

“Really? I miss you too, Summer.” The raven could not help but let out a soft chuckle in satisfaction when she could imagine a smile stretching widely on the face of her mother even though she had never met her and seen her face in person yet. “It’s also your first time to share about things that aren’t about school.”

Winter opened her mouth before closing it again as she realized about how distant Summer must have been even to her own mother, making her feel guilty for getting mad at Summer for having a life full of miseries. The insults that the students threw toward Summer must have affected her too much to the point that she became a cold person that barely opens up to anyone, including her own mother.

The raven faced down as she bit her lip for a while before coming up with a response. “Sorry about that, Mom. University is just draining, you know.”

“Don’t worry, honey. I totally understand that.” Sunny let out a chuckle. “Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Pingver gave me a bunch of designer clothes. They may be used already but they’re all pretty so it doesn’t matter! I’ll send them to you when I find time to visit you in the dorm.”

“It’s fine, Mom. I’ll just go to you instead when I get free time.” Winter flashed a small smile on her face even though she had no clue where her mother even was at the moment or who Mr. and Mrs. Pingver were.

“All right then. You know that I’ll always be here for you, right? I’m willing to get off work just to go to you if you’re suffering badly,” her mother spoke with genuine concern evident in her soft voice.

The words of Summer’s mother almost made Winter tear up as she just let out a soft chuckle to distract herself from having another crying session. Those were the words that Winter had always wanted to hear from her own mother, though she could not remember if her mother even ever said that to her when she was younger. She had wasted a lot of tears already for the past days and week already, which was why she was challenging herself to at least live a day without shedding a tear over any reason.

“Thanks a lot, Mom. I really appreciate it.” The raven succeeded in speaking clearly without having her voice randomly c***k midsentence. “By the way, I have a question.”

“What is it, sweetie? You’re free to ask me anything.”

“Where’s Lil bro and Dad?” Winter asked while staring at the watermelon clock with a calm smiling face because of the wholesome flow of their conversation.

A silence suddenly occurred from the other line as the raven brought her phone down to check if the call was still ongoing. The time duration of the call was still being counted as she returned the phone to her ear and wondered whether the reason could be her mother losing signal or not. The silence was making the raven feel nervous as she felt her heart pounding a bit fast out of fear at whatever might happen.

It took approximately one minute before the mother of Summer finally broke the silence to answer her question, “Summer, it’s been three years. Your dad is still in jail and your little brother is already resting in peace above.”

The smile slowly dropped from the face of the raven when she heard what her alternate mother just told her. It was as if her brain stopped functioning because she could not find a word to utter in response as she neither expected nor prepared for that. The conversation was already flowing in a smooth way from the moment that Winter started the conversation with a fun fact about watermelons; eventually, it was Winter herself who would ruin the wholesome talk as well.

Winter placed her palm over her face as she let out a voiceless scream from the top of her lungs while moving the phone away from her ear for a while. Among all awkward situations that she had been in in that universe for the past few days, that was the worst as she sincerely hoped to be eaten by the ground and never get back up ever again. Being caught lying about her identity by Aster or Alice was much better than what was actually happening at that moment.

Her voice seemed to disappear as her vocabulary vanished along it that she could not find any word to make up an excuse for her response to her mother. The raven shut her eyes for a second before opening them again to open her eyes and speak since she had no choice but to eventually give a response.

“R-right. I’m sorry, I almost forgot about that. I just miss them, you know?” Winter responded with a low voice as she lost the energy that she had from earlier because of embarrassment.

A sigh could be heard from the other line and the raven was not sure whether it was a sigh of disappointment or sadness.

“All right—”

“Anyway, Mom. It was nice talking to you again. I have to go somewhere right now quickly,” the raven said without letting the latter’s sentence finish since additional questions or statements about the same topic could be brought up again. She did not have any prepared lies for that.

“O-oh, really? Okay then. Stay safe, all right?” Sunny spoke in a soft voice from the other line.

“Yes, of course. Take care too, Mom.” The raven hummed before bringing her phone down to quickly end the call.

A sigh of relief escaped the lips of the raven as she dropped her phone on the mattress and leaned back on the headboard while thinking about what they just talked about. Realization came sinking to her later about the reality of Summer’s past, which gave her more points to connect for the result of the reason Summer’s current life. Her eyes landed back on her backpack where her mini photo album was as she thought about the possible reason why she always keeps her mini photo album in her backpack that she uses for school.

Her mother seemed to be the only family that Summer had as Winter could not help but feel sympathy for her, thinking about how tough it must have been for her alternate self.

Nothing hurts Winter more than knowing about how sad her life is even in another universe. While everyone thinks about how happy they must have been in the other universe, she was there with the truth that broke her expectations.