Slice of Life: Friends

21. Coming to a Halt

"Are you packed?" Maya's mom asked her, a day before she left for her grandparents' house.

"Yes, all set," she said, mustering up a smile. After all, nothing good was going to come out of sulking.

"Good," her mother said gently, which was odd for her. "You will like it there. I promise."

"Whatever, Mom." She shrugged.

"No, I'm serious. They live at a farmhouse and it's really beautiful."

"Really?" she asked, not believing her mother. "And how many times have you visited them?"

"Well, when your father and I first got married, we stayed there for a couple of years. Then he got a job here, and we moved—" She looked nostalgic as if thinking about something precious; a fond memory, something lost for good.

"Never looking back," Maya finished her sentence. "What if the place isn't the same anymore? What if I hate it?"

"You won't as long as you give it a chance. Don't decide before experiencing it." Her mother sat down at the edge of her bed. "I want you to enjoy your summer, make new friends, adopt a dog, and then come back a changed person."

"Yeah, right? Don't hold your breath," Maya said, looking down at her hands.

"I'm sorry about what I said the other day. Your friends are great, and I know you love them a lot."

"Thanks for saying that." Maya finally gave her mother a genuine smile. "But I still don't want to go all the way to the other side of the country for two entire months."

"In life, we don't always get what we want." Her mother looked sad and, at that moment, Maya noticed the worry lines etched on her forehead.

"Mom," she got a little worried herself, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, peachy." Her mother's smile looked forced.

The next day, Maya hugged her parents, said goodbye to her friends, and left for her grandparents' farm. Not knowing that when she would come back, things would be very different, and life would never be the same.

That was the summer when Maya's parents divorced. That's when she truly understood the meaning behind the phrase 'beware of what you wish for.' There were no more extravagant family holidays. Her father had moved back to his parent's farm and now she was alone with her mother.

The house remained eerily quiet most of the time. Her mother stopped interfering in her life and threw herself into work. Sometimes Maya feared she would work herself to an early grave, but she did not know what to do about it.

She had never been close to her mother. It wasn't going to magically change now that they were the only two people living in a house that was meant for ten. She knew that life would get back to normal eventually, and it would be a new normal, but it'd be okay. Until then, she just needed to hang in there, as Sarah had put it one day when they were talking about it. At least her friends were there for her. She wanted to be there for her mother, too.

Soon the topic of her parents' divorce would get stale and it wouldn't hurt as much to talk about as it did now. As Sarosh had pointed out, life went on.