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Chapter 23

Calum's POV:

For some time after that, nothing really happens. Not as in: "I just sit and stare at the wall without anything happening around me at all," but as in: "nothing that's actually worth paying attention to happens," and that's honestly the way I like it. I like routine, I like nothing special happening, I like not having a thousand emotions in one day.

I like calm and plain.

Weeks go by in peace. The same things happen every day: I go to school, sit outside during lunch to avoid people, come back to my aunt's place (I've finally learned the way so I don't need my aunt to drive me anymore), do homework/have occasional sessions with my therapist/eat, and go to bed.

I eat way less now that all the side effects of not smoking anymore are gone. I was about to just give up and start smoking again, but when I was going to the store I ran into Michael, and when he found out what I was going to do he slapped me and told me to 'get my s.hit together'. I guess I owe him one for that.

I would say that I eat a healthy amount now, better than when I first came to Norway. And my aunt seems pretty happy over that fact, so I'm planning on keeping it this way. I don't want to disappoint her again now that I've finally made her happy.

I'm about to go take a shower when the familiar sound of a skype call stops me. I pick up my phone and see that it's my mom, so I answer.

"Calum, can you hear me?" she asks after a couple of seconds.

"Yes, mom," I say.

"Can you see me?" she asks.

"Yes, mom," I smile.

"How are you doing honey?" she smiles widely.

"I'm fine, I was just about to take a shower," I reply, still smiling.

"Okay, I'll make this quick then. I'm moving to Norway too!" she says over-enthusiastically. My smile falls immediately.

"You're what?" I ask, hoping that I just misheard her.

"I'm moving to Norway!" she repeats. What. The. F.uck.

"Mom, you're joking, right?" I ask her. She has to be joking. She can't move to Norway. That would mean that I would officially live in Norway, I would no longer just be staying here for a couple of months.

"No, you're having such great progress in Norway and I think it would be better for you to stay there," she says. "I've talked to your aunt and your therapist about it, and they both agree. There was a house for sale right by your aunt's house and I bought it. I've already started packing everything up, so there's no room for discussion."

"That's so unfair! Didn't you even think about how I would feel before you made the decision?" I ask rather loudly.

"I did Calum, and I know you don't like the idea right now, but think about it. What do you have to come back for? I'm moving there with you, you've already started school, made new friends. I think it'll be good for the both of us to just get a new beginning," she says softly in her I-know-you-disagree-but-you-don't-really-have-a-choice tone.

I think about what she just said and realize that she's right. I don't have anything there, why would I want to go back? Maybe it's because I'm afraid it'll mean leaving all of the memories—good and bad—behind. I don't want to move on, Jake deserves more than that, but I guess I can just continue being miserable here for the rest of my life.

"Can I come and visit one last time before you move?" I ask quietly after a little while.

"Of course. You aunt told me you have a one-week vacation very soon, you can come here and we'll go back together," she smiles softly.

"Yeah," I mutter. This sudden feeling of emptiness washes over me.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later Calum. I love you," she says.

"Love you," I mutter before I hang up. I stare into the floorboards for a couple of seconds before I call my therapist. I have her number, and she told me to call whenever I needed to, but this is my first time actually calling.

"Hello, this Claudia," her silk-smooth voice says through the phone. For some reason I, can't make myself open my mouth and say something. It's like my lips have been glued together.

"Hello?" she says again after a couple of seconds. I take a deep breath before I answer.

"Hey, it's Calum."

"Oh, Calum! How are you doing?" she asks as if I'm one of her friends and not her patient.

"I... I don't know. My mom just told me that we're officially moving to Norway and I don't know how I feel about it," I mutter, still staring into the floor.

"So she told you, huh? How did you react?"

"At first I got mad, but then I just felt empty. I feel empty. I shouldn't feel empty, should I?" I ask quietly.

"It's okay to feel empty sometimes, Calum," she says in her therapist voice. I'm not too sure if I believe her, but I just let it go.

"I said I wanted to visit her one last time before she moves," I say.

"That's great, I think it'll be good for you to go there one more time and just say goodbye for now," she encourages. I'm so sick and tired of hearing 'I think it'll be good for you to...' all the time. Everyone keeps saying it, but what do they know about what's good for me and not?

"But I don't know if I want to say goodbye..."

"This doesn't need to be a permanent goodbye, it's just going to be for a little bit longer than planned," she says, trying to comfort me. I bet my mom had planned this all along. That's why I have to learn Norwegian in school, because when I moved here, I moved for good.

"I guess... Alright, thank you Claudia, I have to go now," I say.

"No problem, call me whenever you need to and I'll see you for our next session."

"Yeah, bye." I hang up and put down the phone. Okay, so I live in Norway now. I live here. I don't live in Sydney anymore. I live here. Is that okay? I guess it is. Right? Yeah. Or is it?

No, okay, stop it Calum, this is pointless.

I get up and take a quick shower before I plump down on my bed again. So, when I come back from Sydney I'm moving out of my aunt's house. I'm officially going to be living in Norway. S.hit. I don't want to learn their language, oh god. It sounds so hard. And dumb.

That's the way my thoughts continue the rest of the night (with a snack break, I won't lie) until I finally fall asleep.

I know this is a boring and short chapter, but there has to be some boring and short chapters sometimes, right?

So he's going to live in Norway with his mom, woohoo!

I know it may seem as if there are a lot of vacations, but here in Norway we have a one week vacation in February just to have a vacation idek

Thoughts on the chapter?

Sorry if it's late (don't even remember when I posted the last chapter) but I got stuck towards the end bc I didn't know what to write, so I just had to wrap it up, sorry :c

ily guys