She looked out the window lazily until she watched her mother's car pull into the driveway. When the she got out of the car and slammed the door; she could tell she was upset over something. She watched her mom enter the house and turned her head toward her own bedroom door when she heard the front door slam shut. She jumped away from the window and flew to her door when there were heavy footsteps on the stairs. Her mom was reaching for the doorknob of her own bedroom and stopped when she noticed two brown eyes watching her.
"What are you doing here, Gen? I thought you were at the shop with Mia." Gen shook her head toward her mom and her mom pushed the bedroom door open. Gen stepped out of her room and into her parents' bedroom. It smelled funny, but instead of saying something, she just covered her nose with her sleeve. She watched as her mom went to the closet, threw the door open, pulled out a duffel bag and started filling it.
"Mom?" Gen's voice cracked. Her mom looked at her with sad eyes. "What are you doing?" Her mom looked back down and Gen shook her head. "Take me with you." Her mom looked up at her and shook her head.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"You should probably stay with your dad and your aunt." She sighed. "It's probably for the best." Gen looked down and shook her head, letting a tear fall off her chin. Her mom sighed and looked up at her daughter. She felt bad for even wanting to leave her daughter behind, but she thought it was for the best. It had to be. Her mom zipped her bag closed and looked up at Gen. "Gen, don't do this. I can't take you with me."
"Why?" Her mom sighed and looked at her with a glaring look. "Mom?"
"Go in your room, get the biggest bag you have and fill it with as much clothes as you can. If you have any room left, grab anything that means anything special to you. Hurry up or I'll have to leave you here." Gen nodded then almost flew to her room.
The telephone rang. Gen stared at it for a minute then picked it up, but her mom beat her to it. Usually if her mom knows she'd picked up the phone, she'd tell her to hang it up so she can have her privacy with whoever is on the phone. Her mom must not have heard because nothing was said.
"What do you want, Dominic?" She'd never heard her mom call her dad by his full name. She usually called him Dom, or Baby. It was usually his sister, Mia, who called him Dominic. Especially when he was doing something wrong or something he shouldn't have been doing.
"Where are you? You said you'd be here at 4 and it's after 4. Why are you at home? What's wrong?" She chuckled and Gen pushed the phone closer to her ear. "Letty."
"Dominic, it's over." A little laugh could be found in her voice, like she found it humorous. Gen got confused very quickly, as did her dad.
"What? Why?"
"Dom, I was there at 1:45, I saw you." Gen swallowed hard when her dad was quiet. "Right. Like I said, it's over."
"Letty, don't you leave."
"Why not? I'm tired of it."
"Tired of what?"
"I'm tired of coming home or going to the garage and finding you with some other girl. I'm sick of it." That was one thing Gen had never heard her mom do and still hadn't heard her mom do and that was raising her voice. Her mom was usually fairly calm, unless her dad had done something wrong, but she'd always made sure Gen wasn't around when that happened.
"Fine, leave. See if I care." Her mom chuckled and hung up the phone. Gen stayed on the line because she didn't want to let go. "I'm so sorry Gen."
"What?" Gen asked. "How…"
"I heard you pick up the phone."
"Oh." She replied at the end of a breath.
"Are you going with your mom?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Gen felt bad almost instantly with her dads answer. Gen sighed and opened her mouth but was cut off. "Well, I'll see you… maybe."
"Yeah…"
"Bye."
"Bye." A few seconds later she heard the dial tone. She sighed and set the phone back on the receiver. She stood up and went to the closet, opening the door quickly. She reached for her biggest bag and started shoving clothes into it. She emptied her closet then moved to her dresser. She emptied the top drawer, and then started on the second drawer, selecting a few shirts to shove in the bag. Then she emptied the final drawer completely in her bag.
"You ready?" Her mom asked from the door. Gen reached for everything on top of her dresser and in one swipe of her arm, it all fell into her bag. She set the bag on her bed briefly and grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and set it on top, then zipped the bag closed. She looked at her mom and nodded. "Let's go." Gen nodded then started out of the room behind her mom. She stopped and looked around the room for a brief moment.
She followed her mom to her car and slid into the passenger's seat quietly, tossing her bag into the backseat along with her moms bag. Gen slid down in her seat and reached for her seat belt. She buckled it then crossed her arms over her chest. She looked over at her mom, who was putting the key into the ignition with a shaky hand.
"You okay?" Gen asked. She looked over at her and nodded then looked back out the windshield. She started the car then without a second passing she pulled out of the driveway, not taking a second look at the house she'd lived in for so many years. She didn't want to hurt any more, so she refused to look back. Gen watched the scenery go by as her mom sped off into the opposite direction of the house, the shop, and the garage.
After about an hour of driving, an hour of awkward silences and motions, Gen decided to speak up and say something to end the silence.
"Where we going, Mom?" Gen asked quietly. Letty looked over at her and sighed heavily. Even she didn't know, she was just driving. "I mean…"
"Gen, I don't know." She was cut off rudely. Gen was quiet, figuring it would be best, until her mom pulled into a driveway. She looked over at her and bit her bottom lip.
"Where are we?" She asked, even quieter that before.
"You're going to have to stay here for a while."
"What?" She asked quickly. "No."
"Gen, you have to. I need to find a place for us to live and I can't do that if you're with me."
"Why?" Right now Gen wasn't worried about holding back the tears that were threatening to spill. She knew it was wrong, but she wanted her mom to feel bad and to feel guilty about leaving her behind.
"Gen, just do this for me, okay? I need you to do this."
"Fine!" Gen screamed opening her door. She grabbed her bag from the backseat and slammed the car door closed. Her mom just watched her walk to the door and knock. Gen wiped her eyes and shook her head, not looking back at the car. The door opened and a lady about her mom's age smiled at Gen, but she couldn't smile back.
"What's wrong?" She asked quietly.
"My mom doesn't want me anymore." She cried. Gen pushed passed the woman and walked into the other room dropping the bag on the sofa, where there was a girl, younger than her.
"Why are you crying?"
"My mom doesn't want me anymore." Gen wiped a sad tear from her left eye and the other girl frowned.
"Mine either." Gen frowned and sat next to the girl.
Letty looked out her window as her sister approached slowly. She crouched down in front of the window and looked at her younger sister.
"I left Dom." Letty said shakily. Her sister nodded. "I actually did it, Chris."
"You're gonna go back to him, aren't you?" Letty shook her head and gripped the steering wheel. "You said that last time, and the time before that."
"I'm not going back. I'm sick of his shit. I don't want him anymore." Chris nodded and Letty looked into her blue eyes. Blue eyes she'd gotten from her father.
"How long do you need me to watch Gen for you? A week?" Letty nodded and moved her hands on the steering wheel, looking straight ahead again. "I'll watch her, I'll keep her safe, and out of trouble the best I can." Letty nodded and sighed heavily.
"I hate doing this, but I have to." She looked back at her sister. "I hope she'll forgive me."
"She's ten, right?" Letty nodded. "She'll forgive you. She's young; she'll get over it. Once your back, she'll give you a big hug and she'll pretend like none of this happened." Letty nodded and sighed.
"I should go." Chris nodded and looked back to the house. "Chris, I'm really sorry about ditching her with you. I just can't have her with me at all times right now. I might need to do something she shouldn't see."
"I understand you completely. No worries Let. I'll take care of her." Letty nodded and Chris stood. Letty re-started her car and took one last look at her sister before pulling out of the driveway. She took a left out of the driveway and began her drive back to Los Angeles, where she would have to have a long talk with Dom.