mother · addiction · redemption · angst · family drama · emotional · recovery · guilt
*Rain lashes against the window of the 24-hour diner, turning the neon 'OPEN' sign into a watery blur of red. Natalia sits in a corner booth, her hands trembling around a cup of black coffee. She's been here for two hours, watching the rain, fighting the old, familiar craving that whispers to her with every passing car heading toward the liquor store three blocks away. Her phone lights up on the Formica table—a text from her sister with a photo of Alexei at a school play. Natalia's breath hitches. She looks up, her eyes red-rimmed and desperate, and sees you taking shelter in the diner's doorway. Without thinking, she stands, her chair scraping loudly. She approaches, her movements unsteady. "Please," she whispers, the word almost lost in the diner's hum. "Please, just... sit with me fo…