2010*
"But why?" I asked tiredly.
My dad was making us move away from my home town for the sake of a fresh start. Can you believe him?
"Just because I said so Amelia, now quit asking me the same question over and over," My dad said irritatedly, if anyone should be annoyed it should be me.
Las Vegas has been my home for years, I was born and raised here and now I have to leave all I've known behind just for a silly idea. I'm not exactly social so I'm not worried about making new friends. It's just that I've never liked moving much even just going out for vacation when I was younger was a hassle because I never wanted to leave home. I easily got homesick and the thought of moving made my stomach ache. With a sigh I left my dad to continue packing and went to my room to scream in my pillow.
Just why?
This isn't what I imagined coming home from school. I was expecting to tell him about my good grades and go out for a celebration not come home to him packing the whole damn house down. I knew moping around wasn't going to help anyone so I blasted my speakers on and started angrily packing my things up.
'Super Bass' by Nicki Minaj began to play and I got a little bit of energy. Maybe moving will do me good, I've been stuck in my shell for the past seventeen years of my life and maybe it was time for me to explore the world a bit. So with a new perspective in mind, I started enjoying packing softly singing to the song and just letting go. By the late evening my whole room was practically sorted out into boxes with different labels.
"Damn, I can clean." I praised myself with a wide smile,
"Well for someone who doesn't want to move you sure can pack." My dad chuckled, as he came to have a look at my room.
My dad or Jason Brown, was a calm man reaching about six foot one, mocha smooth skin, silver eyes and thin short black hair. I inherited his silver eyes and black hair but got my mom's heart-shaped face and short figure of five foot five. I was quite an introvert so people took advantage of that a lot in my school. I tried to stand up for myself but I was never a fighter, I was a lover and that cost me.
"Yeah, change of heart I guess, how far are you?" I asked
"Rooms done, just the kitchen and lounge," he said with a shrug
"Rekon we'll be done by tomorrow?" I asked
"At your pace, we'll be done by midnight" he chuckled
"Good then let's get at it before I lose my good mood." I laughed getting back to packing my room.
Meanwhile my dad headed to the kitchen. True to his word we had the kitchen cleared in four hours tops.
"Ok I'm parched how about we call it a day?" My dad groaned stretching his back with a satisfying crack.
"The best idea I've heard all day," I sighed pouring us some lemonade, my dad gulped it down in two seconds flat while I took small sips because I couldn't drink that fast.
"Forks is a neat place I'm sure you'll love it." My dad randomly said remembering the town.
"And why do you want to go there specifically?" I asked for the hundredth time.
"Your mom wanted to move there." There was a short suffocating pause before he spoke again," She always dreamed of moving there when you were a kid but you seemed to enjoy it here so we thought of waiting or a bit and maybe move there to grow our family." He said sadly.
My mom, Theresa Brown, was a beautiful woman, with black hair cascading down her back, light honey eyes, a cheery heart-shaped face and a short figure that reached five foot four. Dad and she had been married for twenty years now, truly they loved each other more than anything in this world and the day she died I knew broke him beyond prepare.
It was quite a beautiful day actually, with the sun smiling high above and the sea clear blue as I dipped my toes into the sand, I was thirteen when this happened.
We had decided to go to the beach for the day and my mom warned me time after time to not go near the rocks where the water was darker for one because I couldn't swim and for two because it was dangerous and she couldn't swim either. And so when I began following a small little crab I didn't notice the water reaching my knees then my waist, it became harder to move as I began to sink into the sand. At first, I tried to lift my legs but they wouldn't budge and the water was rising to my neck quite quickly.
"MOM!" I had yelled but she seemed to not have heard me as I realised how far I walked away from them.
"MOM!" I cried over and over till she eventually looked up from her book to not see me in front of her.
She hectically began searching for me till she saw where I was. Her eyes bulged wide before she ran to me and tried to free me.
"Calm down love everything is going to be ok," she soothed trying to pull me out to no vail as the water reached my nose.
"Take a deep breath ok," she frantically said her eyes darting everywhere trying to find a way to help me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I was completely submerged, my mom dove under and began pulling my legs from under till she freed them and I swam to the top resurfacing coughing my lungs off.
"Go call daddy he's by the little truck shop," my mom cried trying to push me to shore while she was stuck in one place. The water reached her waist and kept rising.
"Mom" I cried
"Go, baby, I'll be ok quickly now," she hurried me, tears streamed down her face.
She knew she wasn't going to make it out and that's what made her try to smile through it. So I quickly ran out of the water trying to see the truck she was talking about but there were so many damn people here.
"DAD!" I yelled into the sea of people, when I finally found him it was too late, mom was completely submerged and wasn't moving.
When dad got her out of the sand he tried to perform CPR but nothing worked and when the ambulance arrived she was gone. To this day I blame myself because if only I hadn't gone far away from everyone, if only I had stayed in one spot non of that would've happened, mom would be alive and all would be well. In short, I killed her and I could never forgive myself for that.
"You wanted another kid?" I asked my dad
"Yes we did," he sighed looking down at his glass.
"I'm sorry," I softly said, sorry for ruining your plans and killing mom.
"You know it's not your fault so you have nothing to be sorry for," he gently said pulling me into a tight hug, his cologne calming me down a bit.
I wrapped my arms around his waist. I didn't know how much I needed that hug as I felt so much better when we parted.
"Now come on I know I'm craving a pizza after all that hard work," he smiled
"Ya, me too," I chuckled and headed to my room to change so we could go out.
"You sure you don't want?" My dad asked me for the hundredth time if I wanted to have a beer.
"Dad I'm not of age yet," I told him again playfully rolling my eyes.
"Says who just a couple of sips ain't ganna kill no one," he urged and I finally gave in and took a sip only to regret it as I coughed violently.
"Oh that's nasty," I bitterly said drinking my coke to wash it down while my dad laughed at my reaction.
"Oh, I see you're not going to be much of a drinker I'm glad," he smiled
"Ya ya how can you stand that it's so bitter?" I cringed
"Just got used to the taste I suppose," he shrugged taking a sip.
"Heaven on earth I could never get used to that," I said
"Good," he laughed.
Just then our pizza arrived and I ate practically the whole thing since my dad said he wasn't that hungry. By the time we got home, I was exhausted to the core and the moment my head hit the pillow I was gone.
"...careful..." through my hazed state I heard my dad say when I woke up to the noise of something falling.
I could hear people walking all over the house, I guess they would be the movers. With a groan, I got up to take a quick shower and help load things into our car.
"How did you sleep?" My dad asked me as we packed the car to the brim.
"I slept fine thank you, how did you sleep?" I asked him.
"Wonderfully thank you," he beamed trying to shove some more things into the car.
"That's not going to fit," I shook my head at his persistence.
"It just needs a little elbow grease," he grunted shoving the box as hard as possible till it squeezed into the car with a noise of something cracking, I raised my eyebrows at my dad.
"We needed new glasses anyway," he shrugged.
"Right," I chuckled.
With the car full we helped the movers with the big furniture to make the move go quicker. By the early evening the house was empty and the things we didn't want to keep we gave away to charity, which I didn't even know we had.
"Ready?" Dad asked as he handed the keys to the landlord who was weeping her eyes out.
"Ready as I can be," I said with a nervous smile.
"Don't worry you'll love it there," he disregarded my worry with a flick of his hand.
"Right," I muttered getting into the car.
"Buckle in because it's going to be a long ride," dad said and started the car.
True to his word it was a long ride which nearly took a whole damn day, but I might say the scenery was rather worth the long trek. The town was so full of flora it was impossible not to miss the city. On the bright side, our new home was a cute two bedroom, two story, modern little house with a big tree in front of it. I was tempted to just whip out a chainsaw and kumbaya it down and by the look on my father's face, he thought the same thing.
"We'll cut it down later," he whispered as he passed me to unlock the house.
We stayed clear of the front door as the movers lugged in the furniture, once they finished clearing out the massive truck my dad paid them and off they went back to Las Vegas. I had such a strong urge to run after them and hopefully they would give me a free ride back home, but I knew that was just wishful thinking.
"Come on we still have the car to unload," my dad gently said.
"Uhg don't remind me," I groaned slowly dragging myself to the car to help unload it.
It was early in the morning when we arrived so how my dad had so much energy was a true mystery. While he hummed to some song I was busy yawning my head off.
"Stop whining, I thought you teens loved staying up," my dad noted.
"We do when it includes doing our own thing not being forced to move to another town during the night," I grumbled harshly placing the box on our kitchen counter.
It was a beautiful set up with granite tabletops, a small island in the middle of the kitchen with two counter chairs, beautifully tiled flooring and spotless appliances especially the hybrid fridge that I was drooling over.
"I knew you would like it," my dad smiled placing some things in the cupboards.
"It's worth no sleep to have this," I praised practically hugging the fridge, my dad laughed at my childishness.
"Now go get some rest. we'll go out exploring later," he said, he didn't have to say that twice as I practically ran to my room and flopped on my bed.
Luckily I had an easy sleep without any nightmares. I usually have nightmares of that day my mom died, sometimes I would wake up drowning in my own sweat or in rare conditions, screaming myself awake.
My dad got a therapist for me and eventually, the nightmares lessened. But I was sad to have to let her go, Malia was a sweet woman always having my best interest at heart even though it was her job. I'd like to think she did care for me in a more friendly way. Now I have a new therapist who she contacted and told them about me but that's not what annoyed me, what unnerved me was that my new therapist was a man.
I mean I wasn't sexist or anything like that but it took me such a long time to even open up to Malia. How was I supposed to open up to a stranger let alone a guy. When I woke up I felt renewed like I was reborn, and so I tried out our new shower and I must say it was exquisite and much larger than my old one.
"Is everything alright?" I heard my dad ask from outside the door as he heard me squeal.
"Yes everything's dandy," I yelled back, there was just something exhilarating about moving to a new place and just finding everything squeaky clean.
I almost spend an hour standing under the shower before my dad called me to not finish all the hot water. Since we were going out for dinner I decided to wear skinny black jeans, a crop top with a woolly skin-tight purple jersey with some Nikes.
"Ooh, you look nice trying to impress someone?" My dad teased me once I walked into the lounge.
"Only you of course," I playfully rolled my eyes at him, he chuckled and opened the door for me and locked it behind him.
We walked to our 2008 red Peugeot, and like the gentleman he was, he opened the passenger's seat for me.
"Why thank you, good sir," I said with an awful British accent.
"Anything for you my lady," he bowed dramatically before getting into the driver's seat.
'Just the way you are' by Bruno Mars began to play on the radio and I silently hummed to it as I looked out the window. I couldn't believe we lived right across a forest, how was that even legal? Imagine just some random deer walking across the street and entering your garden, like it's just a normal Sunday morning.
We stopped at a restaurant called The Lodge which was quite busy, it was a pretty old schooled restaurant with stuffed animals on the walls and an old fashioned theme. My dad seemed to love the place as he looked around fondly, like he'd been there before.
"Table for two?" A waitress asked us noticing our awkward forms.
"Yes please," I answered since my dad was still looking at the place in awe probably wishing my mom was here.
The waitress led us to a small booth near the window and took our drink orders. I ordered a hot chocolate since it was a bit chilly outside while my dad ordered a large beer. Looking outside I took in the beautiful scenery with the sky nearly obscured by grey clouds. Eccentric little shops drew my attention every time someone walked out of the shops. It was a neat little town and I could see now why my mom wanted to move here, it was calm and welcoming in more ways than one.
"Decided what to order yet?" My dad asked drawing me out of my trance.
"Uh burger and fries sound amazing," I quickly said once I scanned the menu.
"That does sound good I think I'll have the same," dad said giving me a small smile.
I continued to look out the window while sipping my hot chocolate till the waitress arrived and we ordered our food.
"I know it may be too soon but I booked a tour with the school for Monday," dad randomly said eyeing my face for any emotion but I was too serene to be mad or anxious.
I loved when the weather was like this it just brought my soul calmness. Since today was Friday, I had the whole weekend to feel anxious or angry, but tonight I wanted to relax and enjoy dinner without any trouble.
"Sounds good," I blankly said while staring out the window, little droplets of rain hit the window before it began to drizzle.
"Wow this is amazing," dad praised eating his burger that arrived two minutes ago. To be honest, this was probably the best burger I have ever had.
"It is," I said with a mouth full of food.
"Manners Amelia," my dad gasped even though he was doing the same thing as me.
"Hypocrite," I mumbled with a small smile at my dad's childishness.