The Musto Family and Me

Chapter one: Dare You To Move - Switchfoot

"So who are you going to stay with while your parent's go back on leave?" My friend Andria asked me.  Her brilliant green eyes regarded her hands in her lap, playing thumb war with herself. Her choppy auburn hair covered half her face.  She had a tendency to behave that way when something distressed her.

"I dunno," I answered truthfully as I wrinkled my eyebrows together in thought.  "I use to stay with my grandma, but since she passed away last year, I’m not entirely sure."

She looked up at me, her eyes boring intensely into mine. "Do you think they would mind if you stayed here with me while they’re gone?"

The look on her face made me want to promise her that they would say yes, but something in my gut held me back.  There was no way to know for sure who would be my guardians while they were away.  "They shouldn't mind," I reasoned out loud while shrugging my shoulders. "Since I'm practically here all the time, why would they say no?"

"True."  Andria agreed, turning back to her fingers.

My phone buzzed with a call from my mom.  "Hello?" I answered.

"I'm outside waiting for you."  Her voice sounded stressed through the receiver.

"Alright."

"Hey," I said, while I stood up and gathered my things. "I’ve got to go, Mom's here."  I gave Andria a frown to let her know I wasn’t happy about cutting our afternoon short.

"Aw poop."  Andria said wrinkling her nose. “Well, tell your mom I said hello!”

"I will. Love you, talk to you later."  I called as I left her bedroom.

"Love you too Katie!" Her voice sounded after me.

I got in our black SUV to see my Mom looking at the steering wheel as if she were trying to shoot lasers out of her eyes.  I knew that she was stressed, she had voiced many times before about how she didn't want to leave me here while she and dad were across the ocean.  The sudden look of intense anger made me question, "What's wrong mom?"

"Your father and I will talk to you about it when we get home." She retorted as her brown eyes -like my own- refocused on the road. I easily picked up from her terse tone of voice that this wasn’t, by any means necessary, good news.

I trusted my parents with every inch of my being. They were my parents and they always shared with me anything that they were allowed to. Just from the way my Mother was acting, I could sense that something was really off. I knew it by how she didn’t smile with her bright white teeth, she didn’t crack a joke to get me laughing, or anything that showed her good humors self. Her facial expressions were blank, occasionally her forehead would crinkle with thought; I could not figure out what was bothering her like I normally would any other time.

~~

Mom pulled into the driveway.  When she shut off the engine, I slid out and walked into the house, while Mom followed after me.  Dad was leaning over the bar with his back to us.  He turned around with the click of the front door into place and gave me a hug.

"Katie, your Mom and I are leaving sooner than we had expected," he informed me, his blue eyed gaze searching my face for something. 

"We have to be in Iraq in two days." 

My eyes began to water as I received the news of what my mother wouldn’t tell me.  Hearing that my parent's had to leave in just a matter of hours put a lot of strain on my shoulders.  I felt panic rush through my bones, as my heart rate increased rapidly. I honestly despised the fact they were leaving so abruptly. It felt as if everything around me was slowly ripping apart at the seams. I prepared myself to accept that in two weeks they would be leaving; but hearing the heart-wrenching news that they had to leave much earlier sent me into overdrive. I felt like I needed to rush to get everything done: pack, say goodbye to my friends, and part ways with my parents.