Desolate

Chapter One

Her soft smile reflected in the rearview mirror, describing what the yellow and white striped canopy hanging above her very own storefront would look like. A little store in a walkable, cheery Hallmark town. She'd go back and forth on whether it would be a flower shop or a café depending on the day.

"What about a little café that sells fresh-cut flowers?" Jenna would chime from her car seat, "The prettiest flowers in little baskets."

"That sounds perfect Jenna," Her mom would smile, reaching her hand back to rest on Jenna's knee.

As silly as it was, even years later, if she closed her eyes, Jenna could see her mom baking pies and sweeping the floor of her very own café—despite baking being a rare occasion Carraway household. Susan was a mom of four, military wife, and registered hospice nurse. She could barely keep up with her children's extra curriculars, let alone her love for baking. Despite her lack of spare time, Susan truly loved her life. Jenna's dad, Sam, grew up in a small town and playfully poked fun at her Brooklyn-size dreams.

"Susan, you'd be the most beautiful business owner in my hometown, but your clientele would be cranky old men who like to hunt and eat meat. You and Alice's vegan, gluten-free little drinks and pastries would scare them all away," he chuckled.

"Sam, you know it only takes one bite of my sister's flax seed muffin recipe" Susan smirked, "Then you're hooked."

Her parents seemed like a perfect pair from different worlds. Her dad was a farmer turned Marine, and her mom worked at a vegan bakery in Brooklyn until she attended nursing school. They met at Shenandoah University in a Biology lab. He always said that Susan won him over with her flaxseed muffins while working on a project together at the library. Susan says Sam bribed their other classmate to be her partner from the beginning. They always bickered about which version of the story was true before bursting into a giggling fit.

The house was disjointed every time Sam was deployed, no one in the house slept. Their aunt Alice would move in for weeks at a time to care for the twins who had just turned a year old. Jenna was ten, her brother was fourteen. But whenever Sam came home, everything fell right back into place like he had never left. The instability was hard to endure, but they managed to keep some normalcy.

Sam was deployed for the last time when Jenna was sixteen, and Kyler was finishing up his sophomore year in college. The air in the house felt lighter, and everyone kept themselves busy to make the days feel shorter. Alice was helping with dinners, and picking up the twins while Jenna was at school. Jenna teased Kyle for calling her practically every day from college, she knew he was worried about them.

Worried about their dad. The first month post-deployment flew by, and for the first time, it seemed like they had gotten a handle on life while Sam was gone. Jenna could finally relax, and enjoy the last few weeks of school.

It was 7pm and Jenna was celebrating in the yearbook lounge after months of late nights and keeping up with intense deadlines. Loud music, stacks of yearbook boxes, and the smell of pizza filled the room. She knew it would be an award-winning Columbia Scholastic Press Association yearbook from the moment she lifted it from the Walsworth branded shipping paper. If she was right, they'd be traveling to New York for an awards ceremony, and taking in-person journalism and writing classes in her favorite city.

Her editor had been nothing but a pain-in-the-ass the whole semester and would be joining the trip as well. But Drew was beside her and the smell of fresh-printed pages made everything worth it. They had already planned out all the places they were going to go in New York. Her grandparents lived in the same Brooklyn apartment her mother grew up in, and offered for them to come up a week early before the conference.