Night lost Hartz when her son was sixteen, the two finding it hard to cope with his sudden passing. He had gotten sick suddenly, a trip to the hospital and tests coming back to show he had cancer. They had caught it early in that time so chemo should've worked.

Why didn't it work?

Complications arose shortly after starting the treatment to help him and the cancer went from stage two to stage four. He passed away in his sleep early January, just after the new year, leaving his wife and his son heartbroken. It wasn't supposed to be this way... Jin sobbed into his pillow, his poor body quivering with the weight of his cries. The one person he actually called 'dad' was gone and all he felt was alone. His mother was coping in her own way through tears and baking, doing her best in taking care of her son and the preparations for the funeral. In their difficult time, Night had permitted her poor son to take about a week off of school to cope just as long as he did the homework he'd miss during. A small price to pay, but easy to do.

The teen sat dejectedly at the kitchen table as he did the last of his homework, Night walking over and setting a plate next to him.
    "Thanks..." He mumbled, pencil gliding across his page as he wrote. The young mother smiled softly and kissed his head, taking in a deep breath.
    "So, back to school tomorrow, huh?" She asked him, making a plate for herself. Jin nodded and pushed his plate aside slightly, looking up when she sat back at the table.
    "Yeah... I wish I could take more time off but I don't want to miss any more school... This last week has been so stressful..."
    "I know it has my little spirit, especially after the funeral yesterday. You handled everything very well, I couldn't be prouder. I know dad is really proud of you..." Tears filled her eyes as she paused, looking at the food on her fork.
    "D-did he really have to go...?" Jin asked softly, setting his pencil down and rubbing his tear-filled eyes. Night sighed and nodded, reluctantly taking a bite of her lunch.
    "It was his time, baby. Whether we liked it or not..."

Jin nodded and looked at her with exhausted green eyes, getting up and hugging her tightly.
    "I miss him so much..." He told her softly, feeling a tear slide down his cheek. Night held him in her arms, kissing his head again.
    "I do too baby boy, I do too..." The young mother agreed, peppering his head with many kisses. The entire situation drained them both and it was difficult to deal with, Night letting a soft breath pass her lips. She pulled back and cupped her son's cheek in her hand. The dark circles under his eyes were getting worse and it broke her heart, her thumb rubbing the skin gently. "You haven't been sleeping either, have you?"
    "I've been trying, it's just hard..." Jin mumbled, leaning into her hand. He closed his eyes and dropped his shoulders, opening them once more with a sigh. "Mama, can I sleep in your bed tonight with you...?"
    "I was wondering when you would ask, honey. You haven't slept in my bed since I first brought you home." Night smiled warmly and kissed his forehead. "How about we finish lunch and get out of this stuffy house? Do a little shopping?"
    "Okay, mama..." Jin smiled slightly back and pulled away, looking at his plate and swallowing slightly. Eating wasn't something he wanted to do but looked back at his mother, an encouraging glint in her warm grey eyes. He sat back down and picked up his fork, taking some of the carrots and taking a bite. His mom sure did know how to make him feel better, and her cooking was definitely one way, the two eating together in a peaceful silence.

~~~

Jin's alarm rang on the bedside table, the teen grunting as he reached out and shut it off. He yawned and sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he tried gathering his thoughts. His mother wasn't next to him like last night and frowned, door ajar as he shuffled out of bed.
    "Mama...?" He called softly, poking his head out of the door to look down the hall. He could see the kitchen light was on and breathed a sigh of relief, padding up the stairs to his room to get dressed. Walking back down and toward the kitchen, he could hear his mother humming a soft and familiar tune, causing a soft smile to grace his lips. It was one she hummed a lot when cooking with dad, the tune now bittersweet since his passing.
    "Well, good morning! How'd you sleep, honey?" Night asked as she watched her son walk into the kitchen, the teen walking up and hugging her. Her arms held him close and she pressed a sweet kiss to his head.
    "Okay... Just not ready to go back to school..." Jin mumbled, pulling out of the hug and looking up at his mother.
    "Oh, I know honey, but it needed to be. I can't have my favorite little ghost getting in trouble for skipping school."
    "I'm your only little ghost..."
    "Which makes you my favorite." Night smiled at him and kissed his head. "Are you hungry? I can make you a nice little breakfast."

The thought of eating yet again caused Jin's stomach to churn in the worst possible way, swallowing the lump that suddenly caught in his throat.
    "No, I'm fine... I just, I can't right now..." Jin mumbled, walking to the table and grabbing the last of his homework he finished. Night frowned and nodded, taking in a deep breath.
    "Okay honey. Well, I made your lunch so I hope you'll have an appetite." The mother told him sweetly, handing him his lunchbox. Jin spared a small smile and put it in his bag with the rest of his homework, zipping it up and shouldering the bag.
    "Alright, I think I'm ready to go..."
    "Come on then, I'll drop you off." Night kissed his head one more time before waving him to the door, grabbing her keys from the key rack.

The drive to the high school was filled with the radio playing quietly. Jin scrolled through his social media to pass the short time from home to the school, an earbud in and playing a playlist to combat his current mood. Night pulled to a stop outside the school and put the car in park, reaching across and petting her son's head.
    "Alright baby, try to have a good first day back. If you need anything, do not hesitate to call me."
    "I promise..." Jin leaned into her hand slightly and looked at her, tears already filling his eyes. "I wish I could just stay home with you..."
    "I know pumpkin, but you already had a week off. I don't want you getting in trouble with the school for missing more days." Night smiled sweetly at him and brushed a tear away, leaning over and kissing his head. "Have a great first day back. I'll be here right after school to come and pick you up."
    "O-okay... I love you, have a good day..."
    "I love you too."

Jin unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door, giving his mama a hug before grabbing his bag and getting out. With a small smile and a wave, Jin was off. His first day back to school. The nostalgic feeling he got from walking through the front doors left him a little sick to his stomach and swallowed, pressing forward and walking to his locker to start his day.

~~~

His day was going surprisingly smoothly. The first few classes started and ended with no incident, and Jin was able to turn in most of his homework. Lunch was... okay even though he barely touched his food, but he was able to text his mom and let her know things were going good. Night felt a weight lift off her shoulders when he texted her and she was able to go about the rest of her day in peace knowing her baby boy was okay. After lunch was his last couple classes of the day, Jin dreading his walk to his History class. The teen sat down at his desk as the rest of his class filed in, getting out his homework just in time for the bell to ring.
    "Alright, good morning class. We have a lot to get to today so get your textbooks out and pass forward the paper I asked you to write last week." The History teacher greeted the class, standing from his desk and walked to the front of the class.

Paper? What paper? Jin pulled out his planner and looked through it with a racing heart, green eyes scanning through the assignments he needed to do during his break. His eyebrows furrowed together when he didn't see anything about a paper, taking the sheets from the girl sitting behind him and passing it forward. He raised his hand shortly after passing the papers forward, his teacher pointing to him.
    "Yes Jin, what is it?" He asked, collecting the papers at the front.
    "U-uh, this paper... I didn't have in my notes that I needed to write a paper, just the worksheets I grabbed..." Jin explained, nervousness creeping up his throat. "When was it assigned...?"
    "Well, if you were here last week Jin, you would've known I assigned it on Thursday." The History teacher stated matter-of-factly, setting the collected papers on his desk. Jin felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment and looked down, fiddling with his sleeve.
    "I-I got all the assignments that you handed me, I didn't know there was a paper... L-last week was super stressful since I lost my dad..."
    "Losing your dad is not a good enough excuse to miss that much school, Jin. You should've been more prepared and you should've been here. I'm sorry but I can't help you." That was final, the teacher carrying on with the lesson of the day. Jin's heart shattered after having the pieces somewhat put back together, tears flooding his eyes. Not a good enough excuse? His dad was his everything when he entered this family and having him torn away so suddenly was the worst. "Moving on: We'll be going over everything leading up to World War II."

Jin stared dejectedly and silently into his textbook as the lesson continued, his vision blurred from the tears that coated his cheeks. He felt numb inside listening to the teacher drone on about the war like he didn't just tear his heart apart, but he couldn't move. He was stuck for the rest of the class.

~~~

The final bell rang to end the school day, teenagers of all ages flooding the halls to get to their lockers to abandon the lot of their books. The halls were crowded with students pushing to catch their friends one more time before heading either to the bus or their own cars. For Jin, he was fighting to get to his mother. His thoughts weighed heavily much like his body, walking out of the school and looking for his mother's car. He walked down the front steps and felt tears well in his eyes the closer he drew to the car, opening the passenger door and dropping his bag on the floor.
    "There's my boy! Hi baby, how was school?" Night greeted with a smile, cheerful and bright as she watched her son get in the car. Her smile faltered slightly when he drooped in his seat, clicking the seatbelt into place.
    "... It was fine..." He mumbled, hood over his head to hide the fact that tears were burning in his eyes. His head leaned into his hand as he looked out the window, feeling one slide down his cheek.
    "Just... 'fine'? You sounded like it was going better than that when we talked earlier..."
    "I-it was fine, okay...? I'm fine..."
    "You don't sound fine, baby. What happened? You look upset..."

Jin grit his teeth while his free hand curled into a fist. Every emotion he was feeling seemed to swirl together as he smacked his leg, suddenly sitting up straight.
    "I-it's because I am upset...! Everything has been nothing but awful since dad died...! Home is awful, here was awful...!" The teen suddenly exploded, tears rushing like a river but his eyes refusing to meet his mama's. "I-I was having a good day, I really was, but Mr. Walters had to ruin everything by embarrassing me in front of the whole class...!"
    "Jin, woah! What are you talking about? What happened?" Night watched in awe as her son broke apart in front of her, reaching forward and taking one of his hands.
    "M-mama, it was awful...! He assigned a paper in the middle of the week and never told me! He said that if I was here, I would've known when it was assigned... A-and that dad dying wasn't a 'good enough excuse' to miss school..."
    "What?" The tone shift in Night's voice was sudden and scary, Jin clutching her hand.
    "I-it hurt mama... Dad meant the world to me..."
    "Oh hell no." Night shut the car off and pulled the key out of the ignition, taking her hand back and opening her door. "Come on Jin, we're going to have a little chat with the principal..."

~~~

The next day, after a harsh conversation with the principal and comfort through the night, Jin was feeling better having vented his frustrations to his mother. His day was already better than the previous and he was able to breathe a sweet sigh of relief. Even his appetite was getting a little better, eating more of his lunch than he had yesterday. However, History was after lunch. And since the incident with Mr. Walters, Jin dreaded going there even more. But Mr. Allen told him the day previous that he would not have to worry about the History teacher's inappropriate outburst, as he would take care of the whole thing.

And take care of it he did.

When Jin walked into the classroom, Mr. Allen was already there, standing next to Mr. Walters' desk and waiting for the bell to ring. When it did and all students were in their seats, the History teacher stood and issued a formal apology to Jin in front of everyone.
    "Jin, my most sincere apologies for my unprofessionalism and inappropriate response to your father passing away. I should've emailed you or your mother regarding the paper and answered your distress more professionally. As for the paper, you won't have to worry about it as it won't affect the grade you already have in my class." The man spoke monotonously in front of the class, the principal standing off to the side and he read off his apology. You could tell he was dreading having to apologize in front of the sophomore class and Jin could feel the secondhand embarrassment radiating in the room. Yet he felt a sense of pride. After all, if he was nicer about the whole thing, this wouldn't have happened.

NightBear15 signing off...