A World Alone

Chapter 3: High heels off

"I'm sorry, but I already have plans..." I tell Jane as I'm climbing down the stairs, planning on leaving as fast as I can.

"Taylor, I told you, the babysitter cancelled and—"

"Sorry," I say, without even looking at her, "I can't..."

I don't really like London. I don't like the weather, I don't like the mist, the rain, or the extreme cold. I've never seen any place snowing so I don't really know how to feel about the snow, but I'll probably hate it too since it comes hand-in-hand with the cold.

My mom knows that. Maybe that's why she left and went to live there. Maybe marrying Tony had nothing to do with it, and she was planning on leaving anyway. I hate they took Lily with them, though, because we used to have a blast together. I remember when we first met, I must've been around ten and she must've been around eleven or twelve, and we had the time of our lives together. We became actual sisters long before my mom married her dad, Tony, and even longer before they decided to separate us and leave to London. It's been around two years since that, but I'm still not over it. Lily isn't either, or at least that's what she says. In reality, she looks quite happy there. I know it because I see what she posts on social media, and I'm actually glad she's happy. She finished school there, and now she's studying business in a pretty cool college, or university, or whatever they call it there, at the other side of the ocean. I'm glad Marcus is happy there, too, even if he was a baby when they left.

Since my mom moved out to London, I don't really feel I ever had a home. I used to have one, when she and Tony lived here with both Lily, Marcus, and me, but since I moved in with my dad, it doesn't feel like a home anymore. Yeah, I've got my room, and basically all my stuff is in here, but it's just not the same. And the people aren't either.

Now I'm about to start my senior year, and I'm living in a different house. I have another part of my family here, and I barely see the rest of them. Yeah, I spend holidays with my mom, except for this year, which she'll spend at South Africa since Tony is filming a movie there, so... I'll be here all summer. Yet, there's not much here at home for me either, especially since my dad is also a film director, so... My dad got married some years ago, and even if I don't have actual siblings from his side of the family, his wife, Jane, has twin girls. They are seven now, and my dad basically raised them, so they're his daughters, technically... and Jane thinks all I do is taking care of them, or all I can do, more like it.

"I'll talk to your father..." Jane says, and before I can grab the car keys and leave, Jane does, indeed, tell him, I hear my dad say something like,

"Taylor, look after your sisters today..."

"I can't, I have things to do..." I say, grabbing the keys.

I plan on leaving as fast as I can. I promised Matt I'd stop by his house around nine thirty, and considering it'll take me ten minutes to get there, maybe a few more, I need to grab the car keys and run.

Yet, they screw up my plans.

"Are you gonna let her leave just like that?" I hear Jane say, and I roll my eyes. My, my, I hate it here...

"Stop right there, young lady..." I hear my dad say, and I turn at him. He's staring at me with a look that means not only that he's done, but that he's tired. And I'm sorry if he has to edit an almost three-hour-long movie, but it's just... well, it's not really my problem, is it?

"What?" I tell him, done with the entire conversation already.

"Look after your sisters today," he says, and I frown. He doesn't say it like an order, he says it like he's basically done with everything. He's got a sarcastic, sometimes kinda annoying sense of humor, and since it takes over basically ninety percent of his personality, most times it's impossible to have a conversation with the man.