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and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She applied toothpaste to her Sonic toothbrush, turned on the water, and paused as she caught a glimpse of a pair of slightly slanted dark brown eyes staring back at her from the mirror.
    Deahnna sighed.
    The average person would stare into the mirror and see exactly what she was—a very young-looking thirty-two-year-old. The average person wouldn’t see the wrinkles creeping away from the corners of her eyes, the ever so faint stress lines running across her forehead. The average person wouldn’t see the sadness, the pain she’d endured. The average person wouldn’t see the years of struggling, of doing what she had to do to get by for herself and her son. The average person wouldn’t see the disappointment.
    Life was supposed to be different, she thought. So very different. But circumstances and challenges had arisen to chase dreams away. Deahnna wouldn’t change the outcome of those circumstances if given the chance, but she damn sure would have delayed them for about six or seven years.
    She expelled a breath again.
    Things, and the decisions she’d had to make, weren’t ideal, but they were necessary to make life what it was, which, compared to a lot of other people she knew, was golden. But despite the way things were, Deahnna was determined to see them change. She just had to grin and bear the hurdles in her path. It wasn’t easy, and some days were better than others, but slowly, and surely, she would see things change.
    They just had to.
    She sighed again, and then turned on her toothbrush and got rid of the plaque and morning breath. She washed her face, and then after inspecting and clearing a small pimple on her cheek, she went to the kitchen and put on some hot water to boil for a morning cup of tea. As the water boiled, she went back to her bedroom. On her way, she paused outside of her son’s closed bedroom door.
    She was tempted to open it and wake him up to make him clean the filth she knew was inside, but she decided to cut him some slack and give him another hour of sleep. She was sure he needed it, as he’d undoubtedly been up ’til God knew what time, playing his Xbox.
    She smiled as she thought about her son. A positive to come from a very negative situation, his existence had been unplanned, but never unwanted. Well, not by her, anyway. She loved her son. Had from the first moment she laid eyes on him. He was her best friend, her confidant, her protector, just as she was his.
    Within the past couple of years, things had become strained between them, but Deahnna knew that had to do with his yearning to fly away from the nest, and her desire to keep him there safe. In time, she supposed, that would pass. Or hoped it would.
    She put her palm lightly on his door and thought about the times when he refused to sleep in his own bed. Things were harder back then, but he hadn’t known it. He also hadn’t known that he provided the only source of light in her world for her to see. She wanted to push his door open and rush to his bed, dig him out from beneath his New York Giants comforter, wrap her arms around him, and wet his cheek with kisses. But, of course, she knew her outpouring of love would be met with a “Come on, Mom!” and a quick nosedive for safety, back beneath the comforter.
    That made her smile. And it also made her wrap her hand around the doorknob. She began to turn it. And then paused as the front door opened.
    She turned her head to see the son she had just known was sleeping soundly in his room walk into the apartment.
    â€œWhat the hell?” She let go of the doorknob. “Brian, what are you doing walking in here right now?”
    Brian sighed, and as the door closed behind him, he said, “Mom—”
    But his mother cut him off. “I don’t see any bags in your hand, but you better tell me that you just came from the