The Truth Is...

Moving Out

I packed the last of my things in my little denim backpack. Everything I would need to survive the car ride to my future was in this bag. Snacks for the road, water to stay hydrated, and my notepad. In the notepad I held every thought I had, of course with the censorship just in case my parents found it and read all my secrets. (Which lately I was extra cautious about since I had been getting these "sinful" feelings as my parents would say.)You see my parents aren't the easiest people to live with, which of course is something every teenager would say my age, so I guess this isn't news to anyone. My parent's have raised me to be the best I can be, but most importantly do it all religiously. I think that's why I chose to go to a University 5,000 miles away. I needed space to be me, which sounds scary thinking about it, but it is too late to change my mind now...even if it would please my parents.

"Are you coming sometime today?!" My father yelled up from downstairs. His voice was always so loud which matched his austere demeanor. However, that made him the perfect man in church because he could scare the religion right into you, which many people would say made him a perfect pastor. Whereas others, including myself, would consider it just downright alarming and anyone who wanted to stay on his good side, better just listen and keep quiet.

"Sorry, father. On my way!" I shouted back down to him. I gathered the straps on my backpack and took one last look around my room. The same room I grew up in all these years, I was now leaving behind to pursue bigger things. College. I then skipped down the stairs and saw my luggage being loaded into the car by my father. My mom then peaked around the kitchen corner, pausing in her packing of last minute snacks for the car ride.

"Hey, honey. Stay wary of your father right now, he is still a little upset about the University." She made a face as if she was a little disgusted at the fact I had been accepted to a public, non-Christian, university. I declared it as one of my first steps into my own life, my parents declared it a sin that I should want to go anywhere other than the same Christian academy my father went to.

I sighed. "I'll try." I then began to walk out of the kitchen when I heard my father step in behind me.

"Everything is packed. Are you almost done?" He asked my mother, while I turned to face her again.

"Yes, one last....There! Packed." She stated, smiling as she shut the tote of snacks for the car. "Everybody ready?" She asked, hopeful.

"Shoot! I forgot my journal!" I lied, running back up to my room.

I quickly grabbed my forbidden book, "The Great Gatsby" from under my bed. My parents never let me read it except for this school project one year and ever since I've kept it to remind me that I can live my own life. It was torn and old but I kept it with me as my little reminder. I then grabbed the book they would approve of (and one that I could hide my book in) and made my way back out of my room.

"Don't forget your Bible!" My mom shouted just as I was about to shut the door to my room.

"God knows she'll need it in a place like THAT..." My father mumbled as I made my way back down the stairs.

"I already packed it." I sighed back, trying to forget my father's comment. I really try to make him happy, and I know by doing this I was no longer doing so, but when is it my turn to be happy?

Seeing the disappointed look on my face, my mom smacked my dad's chest and whispered, "Be nice. She needs to experience things too." She then followed me to the car and we both got in as my father locked the house behind us.

"He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you." After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house—just as if it were five years ago." I read in "The Great Gatsby"..this was one of the worst parts.