I hadn't yet packed anything else in my room. But, now it was Wednesday- on Saturday, we were moving in.

I knew I had to get around to it. I just had to build up the courage. Get past the mental block.

When I got off the bus, I saw Callie and Mom's cars were both parked in front of the apartment.

Callie hadn't been over as much because she was also busy packing. So, I was a little surprised.

I rushed up to the front door.

"I'm home!" I called out.

"Woah. Loud voice. We're right here," Mom laughed. They were in the kitchen, packing up some of the dishes.

"Sorry. Hi Mom. Hi Callie." I closed the door and put my backpack on the ground.

"Hey Liv!" Callie turned and smiled at me, then went back to taping a box shut.

"How was school? Come here!" Mom hugged me tightly.

"It was fine. How long have you been home?"

"Only like an hour." Mom said, grabbing another box and opening it up. "You hungry? Callie brought pizza."

"Ooh yum!!"

"It's over here... under the... hold on" Callie laughed, lifting a box off of the pizza box. "There you go."

"Thanks!" I smiled, getting a slice. I leaned against the counter and ate it. Mom and Callie continued their packing. I watched them wrap up Mom's most favorite plate set- it had been gifted to her by Teddy's parents for her birthday a few years ago.

"What do you think about trying to tackle your room today? All three of us." Mom glanced at me.

I bit my cheek.

"Just the things you won't need in the next two days. So some of your clothes... shoes... ya know?" Mom said softly.

"Yeah. I need to get it done." I knew I had to. I just didn't want to feel the way I had felt again. I was worried about feeling worried. Dumb, right?

After they finished, we headed into my room. I had tried to prepare myself- I had had time to prepare myself. But, I was nervous.

"Okay, why don't we start with your closet?" Callie suggested. "I can go get a couple boxes?"

"Sounds good." Mom nodded. Callie smiled and went to get the extra boxes from the kitchen. "You good?" Mom asked me.

"Yeah."

"You tell me if you start to feel like you can't handle it anymore. Okay?"

"I will."

"Boxes!!" Callie dropped the stack of flattened boxes to the ground. "You ready?" She looked at me.

I had a feeling she knew what had happened- Mom probably told her.

"Yeah." I nodded, opening up my closet.

"Ok. Why don't we start with what you're gonna wear for the rest of the week? Cause then we can just pack everything else." Mom said.

" 'Kay" I took a deep breath.

All I was doing was picking out clothes. I was fine.

I set aside three outfits and an extra sweatshirt while Mom and Callie assembled boxes.

"Do you wanna fold everything that's hanging while we get the stuff that's already folded?" Mom asked.

"Sure," I nodded. I reached up, taking the hangers of shirts and tossing them all onto my bed. I started to fold.

"I cannot wait for Saturday." Callie said after a little bit of silence.

I smiled. So far, I felt ok. I think the comfort of Mom and Callie helped. "Me too!" I looked at her.

She caught my eye and smiled big. "It's nice that a lot of our big furniture is coming in on Friday, that way we'll have.. well, places to sit." She said with a laugh.

"Yes! That was a struggle when we moved in here." Mom glanced at me, as if checking to see if I was ok. "We're all set though. All we'll really have to put together is the bed frames. And that's pretty easy."

"We've got a handywoman on our hands?" Callie remarked.

Mom shrugged. "I'd say so. Olive and I both, right?"

I nodded. "Mom and I are the handywomen." I giggled. "We'll have those bed frames together in no time."

"That's right, honey." Mom nodded her agreement, smiling at me.

It was true. I always remembered Mom being able to build things and follow directions like nothing. I guess it was just a skill I had acquired from her. Now, it was something we always did together.

"Good to know, good to know." Callie said as she taped up a box. "Ready for me to take some of these shirts, Liv?"

"Sure," I was almost done folding- I didn't have a crazy amount of shirts or anything.

"Baby what about shoes?" Mom gestured to the shoes laid out next to my closet.

"Uh.." I looked at the outfits I picked out, and then stood up, leaving only two shirts unfolded. I would finish in a minute. "I only need my black converse. Where should I put the other ones?"

"We can just toss them in here, this box isn't even half full."

" 'Kay," I did as directed.

Within the next few minutes, my whole closet was packed. All stuffed into three boxes.

I sighed.

"You ok?" Mom asked. I could hear her worry.

"All good." I surprisingly felt fine. I didn't feel as overwhelmed or scared as I thought I would.

Mom smiled, clearly relieved. "Do you wanna take a little break?"

"Uh, yeah. Maybe." I nodded slowly. Though I didn't feel super worked up, I figured it was best to take a little break. Give myself time so that I didn't have a chance to get so overwhelmed.

"Alright," Mom looked at Callie. "We'll go find something else to pack up." She laughed. "You wanna stay in here?"

I nodded.

" 'Kay. Call for me if you need me." That worry came back to her voice. I felt bad for scaring her. She half hugged me and kissed my cheek, as if she was leaving the apartment, not just going into another room.

Callie smiled at me. "We made some progress. Good job." She said, tapping my shoulder before she followed Mom out.

And there I was. Staring at my empty closet. Just like I had been a few months ago, hours after Mom told me to pack my things. Except now, the closet wasn't empty and meaningless, it was empty only physically, in reality, it was full of memories.