I popped the strawberry flavored lollipop into my mouth as I took out my keys from the pocket of my bag to unlock the door to my house. I stepped foot inside and closed the door behind me, ready to go upstairs to my room until I heard steps coming from the living room.

I froze on my spot and furrowed my brows, listened intently to confirm whether the sounds were coming from my head or not. I heard the steps again and frowned. Who could it be? My mother was at work and normally didn't come home until late, so it couldn't possibly be her. Furthermore, we were the only ones living here...

I gulped in fear and that was the last action I got to do before a person who seemed unrecognizable to me at first glance came out of the door to the living room. I took a deep breath in as I automatically let out an ear-piercing scream, dropped everything I had in hand and stepped back until I was pressed against the wall.

“Oh my god!” the person put their hand against their chest. “What are you doing? Shut up!” Only now that I really looked did I realize that it indeed was my mom standing there and I immediately swallowed my own voice as I closed my mouth, just to look at her in disbelief. She looked annoyed as she rubbed her ears.

“M-mom? What are you doing here so early?” I asked and felt how tense I was. She shot me a look.

“What in the world were you screaming for?” she asked instead.

I smiled apologetically, still obviously shaken as I pushed some of my hair behind my ear. “I'm sorry... I thought you were a stranger – a thief or something, I don’t know..”

She simply let out a sigh and shook her head. “Okay, well... There's something I need to talk to you about. It's important,” she said as her face changed to match her serious tone of voice. I frowned as I took off my shoes.

“What's up?”

“Let's talk in the living room,” she said and went back inside with me following right behind her to take a seat on our black leather couch.

I studied my mom's young face. I could hint a bit of nervousness as well as worry. “Did something happen?” I hesitantly asked and folded my hands on my lap. She pressed her lips together as she let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, yes. But I’m not sure how exactly you’re going to react to this..” she stopped and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration as it seemed like she was struggling to find the words. “Well… Okay, I'll just take it from the start.”