Angel's Nightmare

"Angel you are amazing!" Charlotte looked at the table in disbelief at what her daughter had accomplished. The table was absolutely gorgeous. It was set perfectly for tonight.

Angel smiled to herself as her mother told her this. Today was going well; Charlotte knew who she was. It did not matter that the table was set for six people and it would again just be the two of them. Charlotte would forget soon enough that she thought they were having a dinner party for her and her father tonight.

Mike had been gone for two years now. Charlotte had seemed at first to refuse to accept the fact that he had left them. After months of counseling the doctors had realized she was not in denial but she was in fact in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Angel being only sixteen at the time had slowly begun to accept the fact.

Mike had simply decided to leave one day. Angel knew why now. He had noticed her mother slowly slipping away. Losing timing but Angel had learned to except what she could not change.

Now at eighteen she was beginning to learn how to tell when her mother was going to have a good day or a bad day. There were days when she found her crying because she could not find Mike.

Angel snapped out of her thoughts by the smell of burning. She ran to the kitchen to see what the smell was. The top of the stove was on fire. A towel laying near the burner had gone up in flames.

Angel instinctively threw a bag of flour on it to smother the flames. Then she realized that she had not had any towels on that side of the kitchen. So where did it come from. She worried that she had done it and not known. She was sure she couldn't have done it though.

How in the world had that happened? A crashing sound from the dining room was the answer. Charlotte had tried to help her daughter. She must have thought that the stove top had needed cleaning. Already exhausted Angel went to see what had broken.

Once in the dining room she saw her mother throwing the dishes at the cabinet. She was angry and tears were streaming down her face. Then Charlotte began to scream, "I hate you! Why can't I go out with my friends? You keep me locked up like a prisoner here! What did I do?"

Angel got scared seeing her this way. The doctors had warned her but she was no where near prepared. Her beloved mother was beginning to go farther back in time. What would she do?

Angel watched as Charlotte broke every dish they had out. She stood in silence as tears ran down her cheeks. Charlotte was beginning to need more care than Angel could give her alone.

Learn more about this author, L. Beall.
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