He had gone to sleep early last night, just as his mother had requested him. Jasper would do anything to try and please his mother. Especially since his birthday was coming up in just a few days. His room was very spacious, he had his own desk, walk-in closet, basically anything a kid would ever want. Well, of course he did. He belonged to the Viroslav family. His father, Atticus Viroslav was the owner of a big corporation in the states. He was also a very talented scientist with many notable awards. The only strange thing about this household was that Atticus had three wives, all with children, all living in the same mansion. Yet, just as Jasper was beginning to drift off into a deep sleep, a light emerged from the shadows and embraced his eyelids.

Hm? What’s that light so late at night? Everyone should be sleeping by now. I even checked the clock, half past two… Someone just sat on my bed! I carefully opened my eyes, just a little peek shouldn’t do any harm. The light was a candle holder, the person holding it.. My mother?! What’s she doing here so late at night? She could get in a lot of trouble with father for being here, and not in her room. Especially at this hour. This is basically forbidden! What was she attempting to do by coming here?

She put a hand on my cheek and bent down to kiss my forehead. She smelled nice as usual, her favorite perfume to use was ‘Chanel Coco Mademoiselle’ I had grown up with her always smelling like that. I liked her light makeup, it never took her very long, and it would always look like she hadn’t really done anything to her face, but she always looked like perfection. She started to get up and walk away, when I heard a rolling sound in time with her walking. She closed the door as quietly as she could, and continued walking. What could it be? Why was she here?

‘I’m going to follow her.’ Jasper thought. He quietly got out of his comfy, warm bed, grabbed his favorite stuffed bear, ‘Mr. Bear’ and leaned his head against the door. His mother hadn’t gotten far. He slowly opened the door and stalked her down the dark hallway. He could hear the sounds of everyone else sleeping, other than that it was mostly quiet. His mother was moving quicker than before. The rolling noise was her suitcase. Jasper noticed she was wearing dark oversized pants.

That’s weird. . . I know she doesn’t have anything like that in her wardrobe.. Where did she get it? Women around father aren’t ever allowed to wear pants anyways. She’s going to be in a lot of trouble this time. I still have no idea on what she plans to do. Father always locks the door at ten o’clock. There’s no way she got a hold of the key, so what’s she planning to do with that suitcase? None of this makes any sense.

The moonlight guided Jasper along the dark hallways in the mansion. His mother walked quickly, but quietly. The only sound that Jasper heard was the quiet tumbling of the suitcase she was holding. Her dark brown hair glistened in the moonlight, as it was swaying back and forth. She suddenly stopped at the end of the hallway. There was a green fern in a beautiful pot, in the corner of the area. To its right was a fancy looking, dark brown, long drawer. The handles were gold and the wood itself had a long gold trim along the sides. She placed the candle holder on the drawer, next to the long mirror that was hanging on the wall, above the drawer. To the left of the plant was one of the many windows in the hallway. Jasper hid himself behind the drawer. He listened to his mother’s movements.

She had stopped walking, and she left the suitcase at her side. She pulled the long, red and gold, curtains apart. This was one of the few windows in the mansion that could actually be opened by hand, it was made of ordinary glass, and it had no decorative design. She unlocked the window and opened it. The night breeze was a tad cold, and it ruffled the curtains just a bit. Jasper could hear the crickets, far down below from the window.

What was mother planning to do? This is the fourth floor of the mansion! Is she planning to jump out of the window? Is she crazy? That would be suicide! Wait… Is she trying to escape? Why is she trying to escape? I need to try and stop her! What can I do at this point…

She looked down at the ground through the window and turned to her suitcase. She unzipped the front-most layer and reached inside. She pulled out a thick coil of rope and began to tie one end of the rope to the suitcase. She threw the rest of the rope down the window. Jasper began to panic. How could he stop her on time? What was the best decision to make in this situation?!

“MOTHER! DON’T GO!!” Jasper yelled, just enough for his mother to hear.

She turned around and faced him. With glistening tears in her eyes she whispered, “This is goodbye, Jasper.” Then she turned back towards the window.

She propped herself on the windowsill and grabbed the rope. Jasper was surprised that the suitcase hadn’t moved at all. He ran over to the window to try and stop her, but she had already slid down the rope. Just to make she she was safe, Jasper held onto the rope with all of his might, to try and make sure that the rope wouldn’t untie. Once he watched her reach the bottom, and run towards the forest in the estate, he checked the suitcase she was dragging. To his surprise, it was full of heavy bricks.

Just how strong is mother? She is a girl isn’t she? That’s not what I mean, but even father couldn’t lift something like this. Much less drag it all the way from her room to here. What should I do now? I just watched her run away. Will I be punished? I did try to stop her, even If I wasn’t much help. Maybe father won’t care as much because she was his third wife. If I remember correctly, her maiden name was DuPont. Charlotte DuPont what a pretty name. It makes sense, after all, father would always go after the rich sounding ones.

Jasper whispered a final goodbye to his mother and somberly walked back to his room. The moonlight was no longer a comfort, he didn’t know what he should do. The only plan he had was to go back into his room and pretend like he didn’t follow his mother. ‘It should’ve been that way since the beginning.’ He thought.