haze / afi

part 13. interruption

having time to yourself can be the mental break that you need. or sometimes, it can become lonely and make things worse. either way, getting rest is the best thing to do.

and it's exactly what violet had been doing over the past few days.

she'd slept in longer than usual most days, not getting up until she felt she'd had enough sleep to get her through the day. she watched movies, tv shows, finally got around to texting her sister as well as finding the courage to text her mom who she'd barely spoken to since she arrived in california.

yes, it was hard. and yes, the conversation with her parents wasn't the best. but she can't deny the fact she had missed talking to them just slightly. maybe a little less than slightly.

she'd missed her sister more, having not seen her for a lot longer than her parents. instead of just texting, they had been on video call for almost an hour, conversations still flowing as they used to.

"so, i quit my job." violet's sister, rose, suddenly says after a moment of silence.

"you waited a whole hour to tell me that?" violet widens her eyes, almost not believing it. "why'd you quit? i thought you loved travelling for work."

"i do love travelling, i love going to states i've never seen before," she sighs, "but, it's getting too tiring, and our pay rates have dropped a little, it's not enough to keep moving around all the time."

"that's understandable," violet frowns, annoyed for her sister that her job wasn't working out anymore. "what're you gonna do now?"

rose smiles, seeming happier than violet had expected. "i'm coming home, finally, after five years of barely being at home, i get to live there again." she pulls something up on her phone, showing violet a photo. "this is gonna be my new place, i know it looks super expensive but i got a great deal on it. for the first time i'm gonna have my own permanent home."

"i'm so happy for you, rosie." violet smiles widely. "maybe now i'll have to come back and visit."

"you weren't going to?" rose asks.

going by the look on violet's face, she definitely wasn't. of course, she'd already talked to luke about her home situation. not particularly wanting to see her family. which seemed strange to him, as he's so close to his.

and now violet feels bad. she was so set on her decision of not going home, but knowing her sister would be back there? that changes everything.

"no, i um, i wasn't planning on going back to ohio," violet looks away from the screen, but she knows rose has an idea why.

"how are you and mom getting along? i know things weren't going too good last time i called." rose asks, remembering the many arguments violet would tell her about.

"well, i don't know," violet runs her hands through her hair in frustration. "they didn't want me to move here, especially mom, she hates the idea of me living here and not locked up at home with her where she thinks she can control my every move."

"she wasn't trying to control you—"

"yes she was!" violet snaps. "you were free to do whatever you wanted, see friends, get this great job that meant you'd never be at home. and yet whenever i mentioned getting a job, it had to be in our town, or at least in ohio. she always hated my friends and she hated how close i was to aunt lisa."

"mom and dad fell out with aunt lisa a long time ago, lisa is more care free, she just didn't want you to stop caring about the decisions you made." rose tries to reason with her, but it doesn't work. "i think mom didn't want both of her daughters to be moving away from home."