Michigan. The Great Lakes state. The Wolverine state. The Water winter wonderland. That's where she grew up, what she called home. People would have guessed she was the happiest girl in the world, right? She was an only child, but had a mother and a father who loved her dearly, friends who always had her back, and a dog named Wilfred. Everything was going smoothly until the start of sixth grade.
Robin could remember it clearly like it just happened the day before. It was already the first of October, a month or so already into the school year, the air was turning cool and everyone was already wearing sweaters and jackets, talking about their plans for Halloween. School was already dismissed and Robin was out at the park with her three friends. This was normal for her, sitting outside on the wooden bench, the leafs crunching under her converses when she walked, sipping a cup of coffee and laughing as the four goofed off, talking about their plans in the future, their favorite shows or books, anything random, just having fun. She thought it was going to be like this until she graduates high school, but she was wrong. Her smile turned into a frown when her cellphone rang. It was her mother, in a low and stern voice to come home. If there was one thing, one thing she could change in her life, it would be going home that day because right when she opened the apartment door she heard yelling and cursing between her parents, the parents that she thought loved each other are now before her very eyes screaming how much the hated and despised each other. Just hearing them made her eyes tear up, but she walked on into the living room, each step the yelling getting louder and louder, until they saw each other, and the apartment turned silent. Minutes after minutes they sat on the cream colored couches in silence, until her mother spoke up. "Your father and I, are getting divorced, we already have the paperwork done, I'll be moving to Detroit while your father stays here in Lansing" she said in a tone Robin has never heard before. It was stern, yet hushed, and with a hint of anger in it. But choosing between parents? If she lived with her mother she would leave everything, her friends, her home, her school, everything she became attached to and grew up with, going to a new city, home, school, friends? It was hard enough for her to get the three friends she has now, she can't loose that. And if she stays, she will only be reminded on what's happened in her life, where it got turned upside down, where it changed. She was torn apart, she didn't want to leave either parent, she loved them both dearly, but in the end she stayed, which ended in a big mistake.
A few months passed after that day and Robin was already trying to get her life back together, but life got more difficult than it already was when her father already remarried in such a short amount of time. The woman seemed nice and loving, but Robin would never call her "mother". The woman became a painful reminder about her real parents. She would taunt Robin and always remind her why she's here, why her parents are no longer together. Those reminders from her mother-in-law would break her down, she often stayed in her room or as far away from her home as possible, just to get away from them. Every time she visits her mother in Detroit she felt at ease, that the new woman is not with her. She often wished that day never happened because of it. She's always thinking about it, and gets distracted by those thoughts from what's happening around her. And eventually it happened. School was just dismissed and it was a fairly nice day, Robin decided not to take the bus and to just walk home with her friends. As they got closer to the crosswalk, thoughts began swirling around in Robin's mind and she became unaware of her surroundings, even then she continued to walk. In her head the surrounding noises were muffled, but she could hear the voices of her friends calling out her name and she snapped back into reality too late. Instead of being on the sidewalk, she was in the middle of the street with a car speeding to her. By the time she turned around to see where her friends were, she was already dead.
It was so sudden, to just die like that, but just a second before being hit, she smiled, as if saying thank you or goodbye to her loved ones. Just before being hit she felt like the weight of the world was off her shoulders. She felt like all the bad things in her life just went away, like the chains of guilt, sadness, and anger just vanished. She was free now, and just like the birds in the sky.
Character used: Michigan (Robin)
YOU ARE READING
As free as a bird
Cerita PendekThey say before they became a state, they had a past life, died, and became who they are now. But did all the past lives have a happy ending?
