Motive

Red Dot

~Mary Jay~

Packing is not my strong suit. I've spent a total of 2 and a half hours trying to fit my clothes into this damn suitcase.

"You know you'll have a uniform, right?" I turned around to see Lilly, my half sister, in my doorway.

I deadpanned, "Duh. But I always prepare for the worst Lilly, you know this."

She sighed before plopping down on my bed so I could see her face clearly. "I'm gonna miss you Mj." I rolled my eyes at her sentimentality.

"Calm down, the school is only 30 minutes away and it's my senior year. I'll only be gone for around 8 months."

"So?" She said in a rhetorical tone.

"So, it's not that big of a deal. Plus, we get Christmas break and Spring Break, so I'll be visiting."

I'm not a sentimental person.

"You know you can drop the cold act for a second." She rolled her eyes.

Oh, I'm not acting, sugar." I winked.

"We leave in 10 Mary Jay!" Aunt Apple called from downstairs.

"Noted."

I pushed my suitcase closed, which took a lot of work before slipping on my shoes. I'd chosen a casual outfit; a black t-shirt with grey sweatpants and slides. There was no one to impress, so why not.

I kissed my stuffed animals goodbye before having one more sniff of freedom and closing my bedroom door.

After putting my suitcase in the trunk, Aunt Apple and Lilly stood in front of the car. Lilly was the first to pull me into embrace, to my demise.

"Please do good so you can come home. The house will be so quiet. Too quiet." She muffled into my shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll miss you too, mouse." I pulled away before things could get any softer. I could tell she was holding back tears, which pulled at my heart strings.

"Okay, I'll be back Lilly," Auntie Apple started, "I'll only be gone for about an hour, lock up for me." Lilly nodded in response as we got into the car. She gave one final smile and wave as we drove off. If we were any closer, I'd say a tear dropped from her eye but we were too far to tell.

"Do you remember what we talked about Mary Jay?"

"Yes ma'am. Low profile."

"Right. Now I understand self-defense, but you can't fight someone because they stole your sandwich or took a minute too long in the bathroom. Silly stuff like that will get you in deep crap that I may not be able to get you out of."

I nodded slowly in response. This was gonna be hard for me, but I knew we weren't the best with money and I didn't want anyone to press charges. This was our only hope at a somewhat normal life.

"You know Lilly's gonna start lashing out right?" I saw that coming.

Lilly and I have 2 different dads. My mom married Alex, my dad, first. He was addicted to alcohol, which got him killed. When he died, my momma went into some dark places. Got on drugs too, depression, the whole nine. That's when she met Josh, Lilly's dad. He dealt her drugs, and nights when she wouldn't come home, she was with him. About a year ago, momma left. Her and Josh both. I'm guessing they don't go too far as momma visits every 4 months for money. Auntie Apple took custody of me and Lilly. We all live together now, one small dysfunctional family.

"I'll call her every day. She won't, I'll make sure of it. I know my actions don't only affect me. My bad, Auntie."

She sighed before answering, "It's not all your fault either. We all got problems. Some worse than others, but messed up nonetheless. I just want you and Lilly to be safe. That's all." I hummed in response as we both stared straight ahead. We sat in comfortable silence for he rest of the ride.