Ivy Grows

Unchained Melody

Dinner went by fast and before I knew it everyone had talked me into going over to my parents house. Sam refused to go with me which made me a little mad but I know he was right. I should go alone. The yard separating our two houses seemed so much smaller now and before I know it; I'm back at the same house that contributed to the majority of my depression, anxiety and of course, my incessant need to be liked by everyone I meet. It's an attention thing. Because my parents never gave me any attention; I look for that validation in other people.

Like Sam. Or Jude. Or Josh. Even Ronnie. Pretty much everyone I meet.

I didn't know if I should knock on the door or not so I just went with my instincts and walked in. Luckily, the front door was unlocked.

"Mom? Dad?" I call out to the seemingly empty house. But there were lights on in the kitchen so I walked down the hallway to go in there. Once I go in there I seen that my Mom is standing by the window, wrapping up some plates in bubble wrap and newspapers.

"Ivy?" Her voice came out broken and wobbly.

"Hi mom.." I give her the smallest grin and walk over to her. She wraps me up in a hug which I believe may be the first one I've gotten from her since I was five. Maybe even younger.

"I've missed you, darling.." She seems to be holding back tears that I don't buy. If she cared so much about seeing me, she could've reached out or even you know, been there when I was living here.

I only hummed in response and pulled back from the hug, "where's dad?"

She looks away from me and starts packing the plates into a cardboard box. "He left."

"What do you mean?" I ask since she was being vague on purpose. I hate the mind games.

"He left me, Ivy. Moved to Spokane, Washington with some blonde receptionist.." she huffed and my eyes widened, "just up and left me with the house payment on a house way too big for one person." She leaned over and buried her face in her hands, real tears flowing this time.

"My God..." I didn't know what to say. The last time I seen my parents was when I left to go to New York. They seemed fine then. Happy even.

"Yeah," She nods and looks up at me again, "the divorce will be final in about a month and I'll be moving out of here by next week."

"You're moving?" I knew my responses sounded delayed and off topic but I was so lost. So much information was dropped on me at once.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go live with grandma for a few months. She needs someone around the house anyways. This house was just too expensive for my salary to keep up with.." she explained and I felt like throwing up.

My childhood home is going to be sold off and given to someone else. All the memories I have here are just going to be gone. That's when an even scarier thought occurs to me. I have no good memories here. Every memory that crossed my mind was at the Kiszka's. Every memory I had here was cold and empty and mostly alone.

"I'm sorry this was happening and I wasn't here.." I felt tears rise in my eyes too as I hug my mom again. My mom and dad are getting divorced; almost like putting a bookend on that former part of my life. It's the end of everything from my childhood.

Even though there were things they could've done differently as parents', they still loved me and took good care of me. We still had movie nights. We still had family vacations. Dad read me a bedtime story sometimes. They didn't really start neglecting me until I hit thirteen. Even then, it was a emotional and physical neglect. Not a dangerous one. They still provided shelter and food, just absolutely no love or affection at all. It felt like I was a fly on the wall just watching the years pass me by.