Down Memory Lane ✓

2- The Girl in The Forest

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The Girl in The Forest

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I SLAMMED my phone on my bed with a groan of frustration, but despite that, I felt some modicum of relief that it didn't fall off the bed.

The reason for my current frustration? My current situation. A house in the woods with no bars was how I was gonna spend the last month of the last summer before I started college.

What was this, a retreat or something?

I heard the sound of my own exhale as I grabbed the cool, hard plastic of the phone and headed down.

I just had to make it past this month.

Dad was pacing around while Jane and Grandma chatted away, already settled in their seats. Tony sported a frustrated look at his phone and I had a good guess it was because of the lack of service here.

I sat next to him because it was the only empty seat across from Jane. My dad had settled next to her, while Grandma sat at the head of the table, closer to my dad and Tony.

"There are no bars," I said to Tony, but he didn't reply. Then I recalled what he said earlier. Was that how he felt?

I guess I also pushed him away over the years, but he always seemed satisfied with Jane and Dad while I wasn't so, I supposed we stopped talking. But it wasn't on purpose. He's my little brother, after all.

"Finally, Clarissa has graced us with her presence," my grandma said, and Jane chuckled. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at Jane's attempt to always seem amiable but gave my grandma a small smile. We began eating after a prayer.

"So, Clarissa, how are you preparing for your college? Where is it you're going again?" Grandma asked.

"Hedgar."

"Where is that?"

"California." Grandma let out a light gasp at my answer.

"That's very far from your house in Kansas, right?" she said, directing the question to my dad.

"Yeah, it's where she wants to go," he replied.

"And she got accepted," Jane added.

"Clarissa, why not somewhere closer? There are good colleges nearer, right? You could go to Stremland, your mother went there."

"I want to go somewhere I can stand on my own and build my legacy," I said with a proud smile, knowing it's also what Mom would have wanted.

"I guess she just wants to go very far from home," Jane said, and I could sense the underlying sadness in her tone.

When I was applying for universities, she wanted me to apply to Stremland University, Iowa and I'm sure because it was closer to home. But after sending me to boarding school in Kentucky, she wanted me close to home.

Yeah, no. I wasn't falling for that.

Dad married Jane when I turned thirteen, and she did what any stereotypical stepmother would do.

First, she suggested moving away from Minnesota to Kansas, and then she sent me to boarding high school when I completed middle school.

I hated her for it, and I hated my dad for agreeing to it. It didn't come as a shock that she had convinced Dad about Stremland, too.

"Actually, she also got accepted by Stremland," Jane said.

I only applied because Dad kept pestering me, but my mind was solely on Hedgar from the start, and even after I got Stremland's letter I still waited for Hedgar.