•DESTINED•

•Chapter One•

One more suitcase to go. I sigh with relief. A small smile appears on my face as a bead of sweat beads on my temple.

My mom holds my shoulder, her eyes drooping from exhaustion. I give her generous smile before pulling her in for a hug.

"I'll write to you," I say as I pull away from her embrace.

"Please do," she says to me, her face shining with sweat under the sunlight.

I purse my lips together, suddenly feeling awkward, "Well, it's time to go."

"Yeah," mom says quickly and climbs into the driver's seat.

•••

At first there's houses of all shapes, colours and sizes and there's buildings lined with businessmen and women. The streets become dotted with people and soon, there's no one and nothing at all.

Soon there's just a stretch of grass and land that seems to go on forever.

Mom and I don't talk. I just watch as the plain scenery whooshes passed us in a dull blur.

My mind spins, my stomach flutters with excitement. The drive seems to have taken hours but it has only been an hour. Including the traffic.

There's still quite a while to go before we reach aunt Portia's farm.

Before summer vacation reached it's beginning, aunt Portia wrote a letter to my mom telling us about how she has been living in a place with no internet.

She then invited my mother and I for a long visit but mom declined, stating in her response that she had work to attend to but I would love to stay with her.

This whole trip sent my stomach flipping. I've always wanted to have a taste of country life. I've always lived in an urban area so I very seldom got a break from modern ways and technology.

It will be quite an experience. There will be TV, I will be allowed to go down to the gallery where there's a computer connected and signal to message my friends because they will have no idea how to write a letter nevermind post one.

I fumble with the hems of my shorts as my heart hammers against my chest, excitement spiralling through my body.

I really can't wait to experience something different for a change. Something other than going to a beach or to a mall or even to the movies.

This is something so much better. Something you read about or watch on TV.

Okay, so, it's not like walking on the red carpet with actors and actresses but it's something that not everybody experiences because they're either too busy with their social lives to care about the wide spread of nature that's waiting for them away from city life.

My mom eventually draws my attention by tapping the steering wheel with her fingers.

I glance at her but her face is masked with concentration. Except, I know that there's something beneath it.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, shoving my fiddling fingers beneath my thighs.

"Yeah," mom says, a little too quickly.

"I doubt that... What's up?" I repeat the question in a more nonchalant manner.

"Its just... It's nothing big, at all. I'm just going to miss you," mom says, "I'm going to worry about you."

"Don't worry about me, mom," I say soothingly, "Aunt Portia will look after me."

"I hope so..." Mom says but her voice is distant, as if she were trapped in a memory.

I place my hand on hers which is holding the gear stick, "Mom, I'll be fine."

It's going to be hard for her to be so far away from me for so long. We've never been separated for more than ten hours.

That's because I get home from school after 8 hours and mom only gets home after 10 hours.

My mom works at an old aged home so the hours a little bit longer than usual.

Mom smiles at me, "Okay."