Clean up on aisle 10
Chapter 1:
" I'm going to miss you so much, Bella!" my mom, Renee, cried.
"I know mom. I'll miss you too!" I replied for the millionth time.
"You're sure you want to leave?"
Hmmm. I feel like I've had this conversation before. Oh wait! That's because I have. For the past two weeks before my departure from California to the wonderfulness that is Washington State my mom had been unsuccessfully trying to convince me to stay in California. Much to her avail I had my mind set on moving up north ever since I could remember. It did help that my most favourite Aunt lived up in Seattle, with whom I would be staying with until I could get off on my own.
"Yes, mom. I promise to call every weekend or if anything really important comes up. Promise." one million and one….. "Okay, mom, I'm going now before you decide to lock me in the closet and never let me leave." I stated with a little bit of a hysterical laugh. I knew it was not far from something she would actually do.
I got in my little Honda Accord that was stuffed to the roof with all my belongings. Saying goodbye to my mother was harder than I would have thought. It had always just been Renee and Bella. Bella and Renee. Charlie, my dad, had past away when I was seven in a work accident. He was a California Highway Patrol Officer. The CHP had been his second family. But working in San Francisco had its downsides. Like the uproar of gang activity that cost him his life. I missed him terribly but my mom and I understood what dangers came with being related to a CHP officer and we knew that he died doing something he loved.
As I bid my hometown a final farewell I found that I wasn't at all sad about it. At the age of 20, I was ready to go off on my own. My mother had guilted me into staying long enough. I was ready to be on my own. Id always hated living in California it was too hot for my taste and there were really only two seasons; summer and fall. Every summer we would take a trip up north and every summer I would fall more and more in love with the rainy climate of Washington. I got on to highway 5 that would take me straight to Washington. A sense of relief washed over me as I floored the gas peddle and sped off towards my new home.
Fourteen long hours and numerous stops along the way I was finally pulling up to my Auntie Mona's quaint little yellow house in the middle of nowhere. I had always told people I was moving to Seattle, just because everyone knew where I was talking about. If I had told them I was moving to Forks they would have asked questions so I decided to just go with a common place everyone knew. Mona had already mailed me a key to her tiny farm house because she would be at work when I got there. I decided to just leave my bags for now and walked up the gravel driveway to the bright red door. As I opened the door the sent of leather and vanilla hit my nose. It smelled familiar, comfortable, like I was finally home for the first time in my life.
The front door opened up to the living room which held the most comfortable over stuffed orange couches, two of them in an "L" shape. In one corner there was an old gold coloured standing lamp there was a blue sheer cloth covering the shade underneath. There was no TV which I was quite happy about. Although I brought my own TV and DVD player I was glad not to have the distraction there. Instead of a TV the entire wall was covered in rows and rows of books. Mona and I were so very alike, we could sit for hours and do nothing but read.
From the living room I turned left and walked down the narrow hallway towards the back of the house. Photos of Mona on her beautiful palomino, Biscuit, months before she passed away. Pictures of family but mostly pictures of her only niece, me, unfortunately. I would have to talk to her about taking those down, at least while I was living there. I passed the only bathroom in the house on my way to my room. It was tiled floor to ceiling in pale pink tile. Something I knew Mona disliked but never changed. "gives the place character" she would say. At the very end of the hallway was the linen closet and to the left was my room. It was small, like everything in the house, but I loved it. My double bed had a jade green duvet and matching pillows. The window was directly across from the door to my room it looked out onto the front yard. The dresser was on the same wall the door was on and next to my closet door to my left was the book shelf I had found at a flee market a few years back. The lamp next to my bed was the only source of light in the room aside from the window.
I laid down on my bed and took in the comforting feeling of home. I must have dosed off because when I startled awake to the sound of my cell phone It was dark outside. I reached for my cell phone that was sitting on the night table but I ended up falling with a thud to the hardwood floors.
"Hello?" I replied while rubbing my now sore arm.
"Bella?! Where are you? Why haven't you called? I've been worried sick! Did you make it to Mona's okay? You're not stranded somewhere are you? I knew this was going to happen I should have never let you go. I cant believe th--"
I cut my mothers frantic babbling off before she had a stroke. "MOM! Calm down. I'm here, at Mona's. I guess I fell asleep and lost track of time. No need to send out the bloodhounds."
I heard her give a loud, long sigh. "Well thank God. You had me worried sick."
"Really mom, I'm fine." We talked for a little longer. Her pleas for me to come back home were as subtle as ever, not. "You know what mom, I'm going to have to call you later. I think I hear Mona's car." We said our goodbyes and I promised to call her again this weekend.
I ran out the front door at the sound of Mona's beat up red Ford truck. That thing was loud enough to wake the dead, I was sure of it.
"Auntie Mona!" I yelled as she stepped out of the beast.
"Well, well if it isn't my little bell of the ball. My favourite little niece. Bells, how ya doin' darlin'?" growing up in the south had given her quite the twang.
"Oh, Mona! I'm so glad to be here! Thank you so much for letting me mooch off of you!" I replied with a beaming smile.
"Silly little Bella, you can stay as long as you'd like. You know I'd love another set of hands around this place." she said taking me up in a big bone crushing hug.
Mona and I didn't go to bed until around 3 in the morning. We stayed up talking, drinking hot cocoa, and munching on chocolate chewie cookies from Safeway. I loved every minute of it. Mona had to get to bed though if there was any chance of her waking up at 5:30 am to feed the horses and cows before going off to her job in the city. I wouldn't be helping her tomorrow morning instead I was going to catch up on some much need sleep, unpack and get ready for the daunting task of finding a job in the upcoming week.