"Please, Mom!" The young girl pleaded to her mother who, while ignoring her daughter, continued to cook breakfast. It was another day where her daughter wanted to go out with her friends but there was still a fear in Vita, a fear of losing her even after all these years. 

"Lora, I said no," she pushed around the eggs in the pan, the rising heat making her face flush a delicate pink. 

"But, mom, it's Jenny's birthday!" Lora uttered, an expression of pure desperation shooting across her face. Lora had been pleading since the night before, wanting to go to her friend's birthday bonanza but with her worrying mother, it seems she may never be able to go. Its always been like this. Lora wanting to go out, enjoy the free world but her mother with her strict manner ignoring her requests and, like an iron fist, denying her the freedom that she needs.

"Lora, it's not safe." Those same words fell from Vita's lips as she turned off the stove and shifted the eggs onto a plate. Vita's face was flat and expressionless. 

"But mom, I'll be fine." Lora's tone was calm and settled but hints of want slipped through. 

"Just because you have your tracker doesn't mean-"

"It does mean that it's inside me, mom. It's not like someone's gonna take it out." Lora joked but her mother found it anything but funny. 

"The fact that you suggested it makes it a possibility." Vita handed Lora the plate of scrambled eggs. "Now, go eat and get ready for school." Vita shook her head as she placed the pan in the sink to begin washing it.

"Why won't you let me out?" Lora dared.

Vita ignored the question she heard a million times before. 

"Huh, mom? Why?" Lora's tone began to raise. 

"Because it's not safe." Vita's quick response was nearly inaudible.

"Mom, we are the epitome of safe." Lora placed her eggs on the counter and stepped over to her mother. She looked up at her face. Crow's feet were stretching from her eyes, dark circles slowly pushing their way to the surface. 

"Let me go." Lora dared one last time and with her brave demand, her mother turned to her. Dark tufts of hair framed Vita's face. She was at a standstill.  She knew everything would be fine but there was a feeling, a flutter in her stomach that pushed her over the edge when it came to Lora leaving the house. She shut her eyes momentarily, pulling in a large breadth of air, then let it out. 

"Fine." Shock ran over Lora. She was expecting a no, a grounding as a matter of fact, but she got the least possible answer she could receive. 

"What?" Lora asked, unsure if she heard right.

"You can go," Vita gave in, her heart throttling itself against her chest. It was a decision she knew she had to make, a choice to trust Lora's shot, to see if it worked when she wasn't in the house. It was a precaution she had to trust. If not now, when?

Lora stared at her mother in awe, her jaw hanging open. She was frozen, unsure if she was able to move.

"Lora, close your mouth before you catch flies." Lora fell out of her shock and hugged her mother, chanting a million thank you's. She danced around the kitchen, screaming in joy and gratitude. 

"I promise to be back by nine!" Lora tried to milk the moment but,

"You  will be back by Eight o'Clock."

"That's fine!" The young girl raced out of the kitchen to grab her school bag. 

"Do I have to carry you there?" Vita asked, wanting to seem like she wasn't interested but in truth, she was terrified, unsure, uneasy about the thought and her decision.

"No, I'll go with Jenny after school." Lora came back into the kitchen to finish her eggs, practically inhaling them. 

"Okay" was all Vita could let out. She needed to give Lora her freedom, she needs to be able to live a happy life outside this home, outside the walls of safety. 

"Let's get to school, Lora." Vita turned off the faucet that had been running this entire time from the distraction of her daughter's excitement. 

"Mom," Lora stopped Vita as she walked towards their front door. "I think I should go to the bus stop on my own." More time on her own, time away from her mother. Vita froze at the thought. 

"But, I've been walking you there since K5, why would I stop now?" Confusion fell over her face. Confusion mixed with shock. How could she want more? How could she strip away her dependence? 

"Okay, yeah, but I'm in Year 11, I think I should be able to go on my own." Lora smiled at her mother but it didn't thaw at the ice that formed over Vita. 

"Lora, I don't-" 

"One step at a time?" Lora said, taking her mother's hand. Her big brown eyes drained something from Vita. 

"Okay," she gave in again. Lora's smile grew wider as she looked at her, those eyes still pulling at her. 

"Thank you!" Lora hugged her one more time before uttering an I love you before heading out the door to her school bus stop. 

Vita gazed on her daughter, watching as she made her way along the sidewalk, past the rows of houses, across the street and finally stopping by a sign marked with a yellow bus. Lora gathered into a group of other girls and began to laugh and talk, smiling and cheerfully joking. Vita's throat began to tighten, her eyes shaking and her muscles tightening. She was still in shock, confused and dazed by how she allowed this to happen, allowed her daughter to just walk out of the house alone. 

"Bye," she said watching as a yellow bus pulled in front of her daughter and her group of friends. They all loaded into it. Then the bus drove off, disappearing behind a set of homes. 

Vita quickly shut the door and raised up the stairs and into her room where she pulled a large tablet from under her bed. She tapped against it a few times before a display of the nearby surroundings loaded., detailed houses and buildings, digital cars rushing by on dark strips of road. Vita searched the screen for a little icon of a person, tapping violently before she saw a sold orange dot. Her breath caught in her throat. There was a warmth that fell over her as she watched the dot move across the road. 

"Hi, Lora." She smiled down at the screen. Vita watched as Lora stopped and continued to move, then stop and move for a few times and then finally stopping and then moving again. She watched as Lora entered a large outline of a building and continued to move through the building, a few stops. 

Vita watched and watched and watched, just staring, fixated, trapped on the screen.