Wait For Me

Chapter 21

Four years. It's been four years since I last saw him. I've been through it once before, but that last time was a blur and time sat still when in reality it was passing on and I stayed in the same place. But this time, I moved along with time. I didn't wallow in my pain or sit in the corner of my room thinking of all the ways he tried to hurt me. I actually did something for myself and myself only, not thinking of him or what he would say. It's my choices and it was my turn to make my own decisions. I don't regret making the decision I made that night four years ago, because if I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now.

The horn of a car startles me out of my thoughts and brings me back to the present.

"Distracted much?" Violet asks me with a smirk on her face.

"Leave the girl alone, she can't help it." Peter says.

We sit in a cafe in our gowns, supposedly celebrating for finally graduating. But today is not a normal day, it's nerve wrecking.

"What time are you going to the airport?" Violet asks me.

"Tomorrow morning." I say, picking at my food.

"I'm not ready for you to leave."

"Can you stop." Peter says to her. "She has to go back home to her man."

I smile at him for saying that. I met these two when I started college. They were really a great help along the way, in some way they kept the presence of Casey and Jake alive with me. I left my home and moved here. I couldn't stay in that place where everything that once held me back where, I had to have a new place to breathe. I never noticed how relieving it felt to breath again.

"Are you excited to see him again?" Peter asks me.

"I'm nervous." I admit. "It's been a long time since I've talked or seen him."

"What are you going to tell him once you see him?"

"I don't know." I haven't thought of anything to say, because I can't think of anything to say. "We'll see what happens when I get there."

***

"Are you all packed for tomorrow?" My mom enters my room.

"Yes." I say, gesturing to the luggage in the corner.

"Are you excited to go back?" My mom sits beside me.

"I'm excited to see everyone again. Especially dad."

"Did he call?" I nod at her. My dad calls every weekend, asking how thing are over here.

"He's picking us up tomorrow at the airport." I say.

"Alright then." She says. "Have you thought of what you're going to do?"

I know who my mom is talking about and I honestly don't know how to answer.

I shrug at her and she gives me a goodnight kiss before leaving me alone, thinking that in just one day, I will be back home.

***

I jump into my dad's arms as I spot him in the crowd. "I've missed you." I tell him.

"I missed you too." He says. "How was your flight?"

"She slept through most of it." My mom says, giving my dad a brief hug. "How are things around here?"

"Well, not much has changed." We walk to the car and drive home.

I look out the window, the fresh air blowing at my hair. Everything seems the same, but it feels different. A good kind of different. I smile at myself. I guess Peter was right, I am excited to be back.