The little boy looked sad. He didn’t say much. Did he actually know what was going on? He had visited hospice many times over the last months. His father would bring the children in after school. It was important to his mother that the children stick to their routines as much as possible. Education was one of the most highly valued things in life for this family.

The staff would print out colouring pages for him to work on. Superheroes were his favourite. He had coloured in Spider-Man pages over the last few visits and the pictures had been stuck to his mother’s room’s wall.

Today he wanted to colour in a picture using his mother’s favourite colour – Yellow. He asked the nurses if they could give him a “Golden Iron Man picture.” The nurses grabbed the activity trolley with art supplies and children’s games. There were some colouring pages but no Iron Man was present.

He went in to see his mother. She looked tired and kept on falling asleep. He knew she was unwell. She had been staying at the hospice for weeks. She used to come home to spend time with the family, but she had not been home for over a week. He missed his mother and the games she would play with them. They were supposed to go for an overseas trip but that had been cancelled. Mum could no longer leave the bed. She was always in pyjamas these days. She used to take them shopping with her. Fun times. It was all so different now.

Their home was different, without mum at home. When would she be coming home? He really missed her. Had he done something to make her not want to come home?