I didn’t have a coat with me so the breeze felt tingly against my skin. I headed to the parking lot to think. I sat at one of the concrete benches surrounding the wide open space before me. I clutched my arms to myself to keep the cold out.
What had happened? Mom got a phone call. It must’ve been very urgent. Why did Dad have to come too? But then again, Mom never goes anywhere without Dad. They were inseparable, and they almost had the same set of colleagues and agents and people they knew. I stared at my cellphone screen and decided to call my mom. I found her on my contacts list and hit call. It rang several times before it picked up.
“Hello, this is Elena Howell. Sorry, I can’t stop to talk. But it sure would be lovely to hear your voice, so just leave a message after the beep.”
“Mom, where are you? Why did you leave? I need to talk to you. Please call me back as soon as you receive this. Please.” My voice was shaky. I ended the call and put down my phone. I stared at the blue fabric that made up my dress. Then suddenly, someone placed a jacket on my shoulders and I spun around.
“Seth,” I cried, alarmed by his appearance.
“I saw you run out. What are you doing here alone?” He sat down beside me.
“Nothing, I just wanted to think.” After a pause, I continued, “Did you see Mom and Dad leave?”
“Uh, about that. They said they needed to fly to Los Angeles immediately. Mom had duty calls for The Song of the Silhouettes and Dad…well, Dad accompanied her, obviously. And he added that it was the time to meet with some contractors for the new resort.”
Ah, the resort. My parents were developing a new resort to be built in LA. Wrong timing, actually, because summer was here, and they should’ve started this before the season. But they had this idea that this resort would be the kickoff for our family business. Since they both agreed that Mom couldn’t sing forever and Dad couldn’t write and travel forever, they decided that they should just focus on a business and invest on it for our future. The location was perfect, and they weren’t afraid to spend good money for its constructing, because they said income would flow in no time. After LA, they plan to erect other developments in the other parts of the country, including Oklahoma, of course.
“Why didn’t they tell me they would go?” I asked.
“They were in a hurry. They needed to catch the three o’clock flight.”
“So it was a waste to spend two minutes of saying goodbye?”
“Phoebe.”
“What? I’m sick and tired of it, Seth. This happens all the time. They are never here to witness a significant part of our lives. All they do is travel and work, travel and work. It doesn’t seem fair to make your job get ahead of your own family. Do you think it’s fair?”
“But they work for us. We’re their family.”
“Yes, they do it for us, I know. But do other parents work their asses off all day that they miss their kid’s competition that happens only at least once a year?”
“Don’t cuss, Phoebe. You just gotta understand them.”
“I have understood them for as long as I can remember. I graduated elementary school without them. I won the math quiz bee in fifth grade without them. I scraped my knee when Cliff first taught me how to ride a bike without them. How long is this gonna continue? Am I going to attend my first prom without Dad? Am I going to suffer my period cramps forever without Mom? And what about you?”
YOU ARE READING
Escaping Lights - A Greyson Chance Fan Fiction
Fanfiction"Lies. All lies. Everything I have ever known has dissolved." Phoebe Howell has spent most of her life trying to please her parents. She has grown up to know an environment full of luxury and ease. But suddenly, that changes. Confusi...
