I Believe

~Home Sweet Home~

"I think that this building used to be... Oh! It's still a dance studio! You should-" My dad exclaimed.

"Dad, no. I gave up on dancing, after..." I trailed off.

After mom had died. But, I couldn't say 'mom' without crying. She had died four months ago, but it felt like yesterday.

The trees, the warm blue sky, the red and blue lights... It all felt like it happened yesterday.

Mom was gone.

"Honey, I know that it's been hard, but.. maybe it would make you feel better if you did something you liked, again? Anything! You haven't done one thing that you like since your mother died, and I don't want it to go on like this anymore!" Dad boomed, gripping the steering wheel.

"What did I do?" I held back tears.

"Nothing, Evie! That's the problem! I want you to do something. We're going to start over, again. And, you're going to start a new life with me. It has to be that way. There's no other way." Dad calmed down.

Start over. I had heard those terrible words for so long, I now wished that they didn't exist.

"Okay." I just agreed. I didn't feel like fighting today.

"Alright... Oh, here's the beach house!" Dad smiled, pointing at a big, grey house. It had a blue roof, with eight windows in just the front of the house.

We had traveled from Beverly Hills, California, all the way to Jersey, Florida.

It was a long trip, but it gave me time  to think about what I wanted.

Did I want to dance again?

Was I ready?

After me and my dad got our bags inside of the beach house, I looked around outside.

There was a sign that said Jersey Shore: WELCOME!

I hadn't been to this place since the age of thirteen, two years ago in counting.

I hadn't danced at this dance studio, however, in what seemed like eternity. I missed the way—the effortless way—that I had glided so eagerly across the floors in a  spin.

I missed the way I had lived, before I began knowing what life really was.

I frowned, looking down at my converse slip-ons as I walked to my bedroom upstairs.

I could feel my father's eyes on me; it was disturbing in a weird way. He had looked at me proudly all of the times that I had danced at the studio here, so why was I so uncomfortable with the way he looked at me proudly, now?

I shook my head in confusion, and opened my bedroom door.

My room looked just the same as when I had left it: A full-sized window seat looking out to the beach and the ocean, a twin-sized bed, a desk, a closet, and a dresser, which held my T.V.

I sighed, heaving myself on my bed. It had just been forever since I had been here with my entire family. With my mom...

I shook my head. I wasn't going to think about her. Not here. This was supposed to be our new permanent home, and although it had memories of mom sealed everywhere in sight, I couldn't think about her, yet.

"Evie? Wanna go down to the beach? There are a bunch of girls there..." Dad called. I knew there weren't just girls, though. Dad did too, but he didn't want me dating yet, clearly. 

After my break-up with Troy two weeks ago—wow, was it really just two weeks?— Dad was so contributed to never letting a boy come near me again.

Ok, so that's over-exaggerating it, but he didn't like hearing boys he didn't know speaking to me.

"Sure, dad! I'm coming down." I called back.

I was sure that I would at least meet someone down there. There were too many people not to talk to at least one person. Or, maybe it would be easy for me, and someone would come to  me before I even got to talking to anyone at all.

But, life wasn't that easy. That was clear, from four month's ago events.

I shuddered, pushing the thought of mom's lifeless body in the road out of my mind. I had to steer clear of those thoughts. I had to.

i jogged downstairs, waving to dad. "I'll see you in a bit."

"Bye, honey." He waved back.

I left.