Illusional

Heading Off

7:02 PM

    Before we headed off early tomorrow morning, I tried to plan out who arrives when, so nobody gets frustrated with each other. I wanted my girlfriend to arrive first because, as you may know, my father doesn't like her, so I wanted to sneak her in the car before my dad realizes she was coming with us. Next, my group of friends would arrive shortly afterwards to try to soften up my dad should he notice my girlfriend arriving early. Finally, everyone else, including me, would get in the car.

December 19, 3 AM

    "Hey, babe!" I texted my girlfriend. "You ready?"

    "YUP! Got everything packed! My dad's driving me over! Are you packed up yet?"

    I knew I was forgetting something: packing. I texted my girlfriend I would be ready by the door by the time she arrives, and quickly grabbed my devices, charger, headphones, clothes, toiletries, and so forth. You know how it is. I was quite surprised I got it all packed in my suitcase in less than 6 minutes.

    Sure enough, when I walked out the door to load my stuff into the back of the car, my girlfriend's dad was just pulling up on the driveway. Stella quickly jumped out of her dad's car to give me a big hug and kiss. I told her I would be texting the guys to come over, and she was more than happy to hear that.

    Suddenly, I heard some ruckus coming from inside the house. Unfortunately, when I went to inspect what it was, it turned out to be my dad getting ready. He said he was going to wait in the car because of the nice heating features in there.

    I was freaking out on the spot, knowing that my dad and my girlfriend will be in the same spot... and they can't stand each other. My dad isn't one to be dissuaded easily, so I knew there was no stopping him...

    He later got in the car. Just then, I could hear very loud yelling coming from my dad in there...

    ...oh no...

    "Mason!" My dad burst out the car with a fierce attitude. I knew I was in trouble. "You didn't tell me Stella would be joining us in the car!"

"Well, I knew you weren't going to be supportive of my decision to bring my girlfriend, so I had to keep it a secret until it was time to arrive."

"You tried to keep this from me?! Send her home, now!"

    That almost sent my girlfriend to tears. She pleaded, "Please, don't do that!..."

    My dad almost lost it at that point. I could almost see death beaming from his eyes. Screaming at the near-top of his lungs, he yelled at Stella, "Do not degrade me! I am Mason's father, and you're just a skinny little twit, to me, and to my son! Now, get out of the car or else I may hurt you, or worse...!"

    The other guys got worried when he threatened Stella. That's when I knew that I had to step in.

"Dad, she's my girlfriend. Why would you just threaten her like that...?"

    "Did you not hear what she just said to me?!" Dad replied.

    "Yes, sir..." I wanted to butt in quick because Dad jumps pretty fast.

    "Look, Stella is already here, and her dad already drove off, so let's just get in the car and have a nice Christmas vacation, for once." Brandon suggested.

    "Excuse me?!" my dad said lividly.

Zachary spoke up and said, "I agree. Plus, I haven't seen Mason in almost over a year, and me and the other boys really want to tag along this vacation. We're brothers, after all..."

    Suddenly, my sister barged through the door. "I'm ready! Let's go!" She quickly loaded her stuff into the back of the car and took the nearest seat she could have her butt on.

    The guys then rushed into the car in excitement. My dad got pretty furious at this, wondering why nobody was listening to him, and ignoring his so-called "warnings of Stella." I don't know how much more I can put up with this...

    "Sorry..." I said, slightly not meaning it.

    My dad just gave up and got in his car to drive us to the cabin.

    "Do you know the address?" Dad asked me.

    "Yes, I sent it via text..." I said with a subtle hint of sass and talk-back.

    The entire ride from there was dead silent, except for the boys who were playing games on their phones, but I resisted the urge to play with them. I suspected my dad would take them away almost immediately, but he didn't, fortunately. I mostly just tried to mind my own business, use good manners, respond when talked to, and tried not to make my dad angry. I know how angry he can get. I've suffered the consequences before...

11 AM

That was a pretty stress-inducing drive, I'll admit... but we finally arrived at the winter cabin! Dad just had to settle things with the manager first.

"Hi, we have a reservation for 11 AM, under the surname 'Yemmingham.'" Dad told the manager.

The manager checked her computer for any known reservations of us.

"Yep! Yemmingham at 11 AM. Y'all can go. Enjoy your stay!" The manager handed us the key to the cabin and we were on our way.

The cabin looked so cozy, even from a distance. I couldn't wait to just sit back, relax, and connect with my friends. The only thing that I didn't like about the vacation so far was the fact that there were 12 inches of snow, so it was quite hard to drag our stuff into the cabin. Other than that, everyone was pretty content with the standings and hyped up for the vacation. Except for my dad, though. I'm not sure if he'll be happy on this trip at all. I'm slowly starting to get worried on how this trip will be for everyone...