Some things were easier than others for Ally Dawson. Her mother leaving when she was nine, that was hard.
It was in May. Ally had been sitting at the dining room table, doing the worksheet her teacher had assigned. Her father- his name was Lester, was in his office in the basement, organizing a conference in Orlando. Her mother, Laura, had been out at the store and had not seem Ally since this morning, before school. Ally looked up as she came in. She walked into to room and went straight upstairs.
"Mom?" Ally asked quizzically. No answer. Her mother always made a fuss over her when she got home from school. Ally knew she had seen her. Why didn't she say hello?
"Mom?" She asked again, walking up the stairs.
"Ally, hon, Go do your homework." Her mother was putting things into a suitcase.
"Mom, what's going on?" Worry filled her her mind. "Honey- Know I will always love you, okay?" "What are you doing? Where are you going?"
"Allyson. Go do your homework." She didn't want to do her homework. She wanted her mother. She wanted to know what was going on. "Where are you going, Mom?" "Ally. Go downstairs, please."
"I don't want to go downstairs, Mom! Why are you packing?" "Ally," Laura began.
"Mom!" "Allyson." Her mother looked at her sternly.
Ally ran to the basement. "Dad! Something's wrong with mom!"
"What do you mean, sweetie? Nothing's wrong." "Daddy she's packing!" "Who's packing, sweetheart. Is Trish going somehere?"
"No, Dad! Mom!" "Honey, look, I'm really busy right now. Can we talk later?"
Ally sighed. She ran upstairs again, to see her mother walking outside. Ally ran after her.
Her young mind had trouble grasping the fact her mother was leaving them. She was confused- her father wasn't listening, and her mother didn't care.
"Why are you leaving!" "Ally, I don't want to talk now, I have to go." Ally felt tears begin to form. What was happening? Why wouldn't her mother talk to her?
"Please don't go, Mom?"
"I love you, Ally," Her mother looked at her. "I have to go." Ally gave into the tears, and stood there- on the sidewalk, watching her mother drive away. Her father still inside. Living life, as if everything was the same.
It would never be the same.
Her mother never told them why she left. She never gave any indication of being unhappy. "I love you, Ally," She had said. Ally kept a picture of them, all of them- Lester, Laura & Ally- in her room. Those words rang through her head whenever she looked at it. They were traced with desperation, a feeling of being stuck in a routine, helplessness. She hated those words. She was angry at her mother. She could have told them. She could have worked it out. Her father cried himself to sleep for ages after that day.
He was never quite the same. He threw himself into his music store, Sonic Boom. He was constantly away for conferences, which is why Ally started spending all her time at Sonic Boom. He would leave her with Vanessa, his only employee. She lived down the street from them with her boyfriend. They were nice, both around 25, and Vanessa became like Ally's big sister.
After her mother left, her father was the only thing she had. With him always away, she had Trish and sort of had Vanessa, but it was never quite the same. Her mother had bought her a small leather book a few weeks before she left. Ally had always been poetic, so she started to write songs. So when she felt she had nothing, no one to turn to?
She turned to music.