love, always

chapter 1

“Haley, Haley…wake up Haley, it’s time to wake up now darling, you’ve had a long enough sleep… Haley?”

I hadn’t had a long enough sleep, I was still tired and even though someone was still pleading me to wake up, I wasn’t going to. I was going to stay asleep.

“Haley..?”

This isn’t the first time I’ve refused to get up, I usually stay in bed on Saturdays. Mother would always shout at me and yank off the covers until I would stumble out of bed.

But this voice isn’t mum calling to me; it’s a voice I’ve never heard before and I’m pretty sure it’s not Saturday either. I can’t remember the day. I never forget what day it is.

“Haley!”

Who is it? It’s definitely not mum; it’s not dad, or Megan or Josh...Who could it be?

I can remember how angry Dad used to get when I didn’t get up…or listen to mum for that matter, he used to get really scary.

“Haley, listen to your mother and get the hell out of bed!” Dad called up at me.

“But da-ad!”

“Don’t but me, get up!”

“Fine,”

“Good girl,” this was mum, she was dressing Josh ready for his nursery, and Megan already had a messy face from toothpaste and breakfast.

“Now have some breakfast Greg,” mum would say to dad, and that’s what usually happened on a Saturday.

But it couldn’t be Saturday, and that voice wasn’t mums either…why aren’t I being shouted at? I didn’t care, I still wasn’t getting up.

“Haley, think hard, think hard about waking up,”

Okay, that’s a little strange I didn’t find getting up that hard!

“What would your mum and dad do to get you up, tell me Haley?”

Shout at me.

Wait.

If that isn’t mum…who is it? What is she doing in my house? And where’s mum?

I didn’t know where mum was, I hadn’t seen her, or any of my family since two days ago.

“Haley what’s that smell?”

“Josh’s been sick,”

“Oh dear,”

“We have to stop, Megan feels sick too,”

Mum sighed.

“Mu-um…”

“Yes alright…we’ve only been driving an hour or so, we’ll never get to Uncle Harry’s, whatever would your Dad say if he was here…?”

“But dad’s not here, is he?”

“Haley, don’t give me that, you know very well that your Dad has an important work meeting and that her can’t be here.”

“Hmmm,”

“Are we being rude?”

“No...mum, Josh’s wet,”

“huuuhh,” mum sighed.

“Haley isn’t waking, what now?”

“Leave her,”

Leave me? What do they mean leave me? Where am I?

I wish my family hadn’t disappeared; I’ve been living on my own in the house for two days, with their rooms shut. I could go looking for them, but I don’t know where to look.

“Haley Samuel isn’t waking up, it’s been three months.

Three months? Three months ago it was Josh’s birthday…three months was ages ago.

“Megan, let Josh put the cherry on top, it’s his birthday cake after all,” I told my little sister, handing the now sticky cherry to Josh, for him to put on his own 1st birthday cake.

“But he’s only 1, he’ll ruin it,”

“Well, when it’s your 6th birthday in November, you can put your cherry on your cake,”

“Ok then!”

“YYYYEEEEAAAA!” Josh said clapping his hands after he put the cherry on top of the Thomas the tank engine cake.

“How long until we turn the machine off?”

“Urm, I think it’s a year, or half a year at least.”

“sounds about right,”

Ok, now I’m confused.