The End of The Beginning

three

three

Wednesday, September 1st

The bus ride home is less unbearable than the bus ride to school. There was a relatively small amount of people on my bus, only about 10 compared to the (seemingly) hundreds of people in the morning. Maybe because of fall sports. I sat in the same seat I sat at in the morning, though Romero shifted to the seat next to "Gigi". They seem to be having a great conversation about something, their smiles make it painfully obvious. I put in my earphones to drown out the sound of conversations all over the bus. The bus lets out another screech as they pull up to my driveway.

I expect to come home to my dad on the couch, working on his computer. To my brother watching Disney XD or to my mom bombarding me with questions on how my day went. I expect it to be like any other day after school; boring and familiar. Instead, I see my mother sobbing on the couch, my brother's eyes filled with worry as he wraps an arm around my mom. I've never seen her so broken down, and I know she'd never let Camden see her like this either. Grunting noises arise from the top of the staircase as something large and white flies down to my feet. A garbage bag.

"Dad?" His face is contorted with rage, his eyebrows lowered and pulled as close as possible.

"Sophie. I was hoping I'd catch you." His face softens.

"What's going on?" His face pulls back into its irregular and uncomfortable position.

"Ask your mother."

I can feel my eyebrows pull up and inward in inquiry as I turn toward my mother.

"Mom? What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry. I don't- I can't even- I never would have imagined that this would hurt you, sweetheart. Everything will be okay, we just need time." It's almost funny, she looks like she needs my consolation if anything. Camden shoots a look of pity at me and it makes me feel like everything, actually, will not be okay.

"What do you mean it will be okay? What's wrong?"

"Your father and I are going to be taking a break from our marriage. Before you know it, everything will be back to normal and it will be like none of this ever happened.

"A break?" Another trashbag falls at my feet.

"Just for a little. We'll be staying at your grandfather's house, okay, honey?"

I felt a lump in my throat forming. My parents never had a perfect marriage, but I thought that all ended when I was young. That they worked everything out and we could be a perfect family. Turns out they just learned how to hide it. When I was younger, my dad would always get angry at my mom. He would hit her, yell at her, and call her names I wasn't allowed to know the meanings of. She never fought back. She still isn't. How could I be okay with this? 

"I need to go outside."