Just Friends. (A falling in love with my best friend story)

Chapter 24: Leaving it all behind.

 Genna's POV:

I moved out the next day. As soon as I had gotten home, I went straight to my room and packed everything. I left my furniture, so it looked like an empty dorm room with splatter paint on the walls. I left around 5 am, when everyone was asleep, dragging my suitcase down the block to my old house. I left a note for Mary, telling her how much she helped me and thanking her and telling her how much I loved her and Wes, and I told her that I would be moving into an old rental home that we own but don't use. I didn't tell her the exact location because I didn't want her coming to find me.

It was for the best that I just left everything behind. My dad, who still doesn't know about any of this, is still drunk at home trying to pull his own life together. But from when I checked up on him while he was asleep, he looked like he was barely hanging on.

***

I looked around the completely vacant home, one that had no furniture, no appliances, no nothing. It was just pure luck that we still happened to own this place, and pure luck that I managed to fit all my suitcases and stuff onto the bus that took me here. So the no furniture was a minor problem that didn't matter to me. I decided to just sleep in the main room, so I started unpacking. I tried to make everything work as best as I could, folding up my extra comforter into a makeshift mattress, and even fitting a sheet over it and stacking up my pillows, and throwing my other blankets over it. 

I put all my books in one suitcase, organizing them so they could just be picked out and read. My computer sat plugged into the wall near my bed, along with my ipod next to it.

Next I put all my bathroom appliances into the nearest bathroom, and was delighted to find that the plumbing worked. But barely. The water was freezing, but I didn't care.

After I got fully unpacked, I looked around in despair at how desperately my life seemed to be hanging on. How thin the string was that was holding it up.

I took a shower next, ignoring the cold water, then my stomach growled.

Somewhere inside me, I knew it would be a waste to die now. I couldn't let myself go like dad had. I had to carry on and just be by myself in isolation for a while, so I planned to have the number changed on my phone. I'd be taking school online from now on too. I'd graduate with a digital diploma. I'd get a job.

***

I sat on my "bed", eating a cold can of soup. I found a huge stock of long-lasting foods that could be made without kitchen appliances. Thankfully meat was extremely expireable, so most of these foods were vegetarian friendly.

It was kind of pathetic, and very alarming that my whole sanity, my life, and everything that happened to me seemed to depend on one single person. My mom.

I now also realized how little Parker had to do with all of this.

He used to be the only ray of sunshine in my life, he seemed to be the one that was always there no matter what. I used to depend on him too, thinking that if I could make things perfect with him, at least one light wouldn't go out. But it did.

        I finished my soup and threw the can away, then crawling into my bed.

And even though things seemed to be slowly spiraling down, this gave me a new fire on the inside. I'd prove just how independant I could be. I'd get a job, I'd finish school online. I didn't need anyone.