The Lost and Forgotten

Chapter 1

Tragedies.Tragedies can shape your life, make you feel helpless and needy. They make you the person you are a few years up the road. They can determine rather you live or die. There is so much a tragedy can do. It's been a week since my mom passed. My father left when I wasn't even born. My mother never actually told me why he left. Every time I brought him up she would manage to slide past the questions that probed at me for so long. One week since I lost the only parent I had. Had. One week for my aunt to get custody of me. One week for them to plan a funeral date. One week for me to pack all my belongings into boxes. One week to find out I was moving from the United states to Europe.
My aunt planned our flight for the same day as the funeral. Nothing ever keeps my aunt from her job, not even the death of her own sister. As I sit on my stripped bed in my black dress and heels, I can't help but wonder how this could have happened. My own mother... Gone. Tears form in my eyes, I don't dare let them fall. A knock comes from the door and I wipe any tears that may have fallen. My aunt walks in and this is the cue to take the boxes out into the moving truck. I strip the heels and help her load up. Once all the boxes are loaded up I walk back inside to grab the heels, avoiding any urgency to leave the house I grew up in. I take one last lap around the downstairs before heading upstairs to find my heels and take one last look. I try to remember all the fun times me and my mom had. I go to my room first and for the first time since her death, I go to her room. I look around and take a deep breath. Her scent still lingers. I attempt to smile, but only a small sob is released. I take deep breaths and avoid crying even more. I say all the goodbyes left to say.
I exit the house, gently closing the door behind me. The finality of the situation is gruesome. My aunt looked at me before getting in the truck. No words can describe the silence between us. We drove to the funeral home where they would be holding the service. I felt out of place climbing out of the truck my aunt rented. All the other cars in the parking lot and lined on the block were simple. They didn't stand out the way our bold white and blue truck did. I shut the car door and headed for the entrance of the building. Walking in, it was hard not to notice the place was packed with people. I knew my mother impacted many people but this was overwhelming and beautiful all at once. My mother was a doctor, and even though most doctors don't like having a close relationship with patients or refuse to get close to patients, my mother always touched every person. She made the person feel like a person not a room number and burden in someone's day.
People are chatting softly as they start to take their seats. I slowly make my way to the front of the room as the quiet chatter falls to complete silence.

"Many of you are here today because of the death of my mother, Mary Louis Porter. My mother was an amazing lady who cherished her moments alive. She loved her job at the hospital. She'd come home and tell me about all the good things that happened at work, forgetting all the bad and unhappy things. We are gathered here today mainly because she touched just about everyone of you the same way she touched a patient. She will always be remembered. I will never forget the way she talked about me when I was younger. And how she would laugh at the memories with my grandmother, just laughing and starring into the distance. She loved the smell of the blooming flowers in the spring and the spicy scent of fall. She loved to run in the sprinklers, risking stepping on a bee." I paused there, holding all emotions down. "My mom was a great lady. And it hurts knowing she won't be there to see me graduate college, get married, have kids, her grandkids. But I do know she will bring joy to heaven. Thank you." I finished and stepped away from the pew. I walked towards the piano that was positioned for me to play.
I got to the seat and took a deep breath. I sat and poured my heart out into mom's favorite song, "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack. I couldn't hold back the emotion which is why it felt so good to sing my mom's song. I hope she was watching because it said everything she ever said to me right back at her.
The service ended an hour later, and the burial was to happen with only close family and friends we felt she'd want there. As we made our way through the cemetery, I couldn't help but dwell on the lonely years to come.
As the casket was being lowered, we said what we needed and left. We hopped in the big blue and white truck and drove away, never turning back. I held all emotions in me, and advised myself to avoid people for awhile or hell would be paid.
We arrived to the overseas shipping company in which all the verifications and papers had already been filled out and on file ready to go (curtesy of my aunt). We dropped the stuff off, watched it get reassembled, and put onto the boat. We left slightly after, heading for the airport. Once we got in, we checked to make sure we had everything, and went through all security stations that were necessary.
We boarded our plane and that was that. Off to Europe.
I'd be a liar if I said the flight was peaceful and the best time of my life. Actually it was quite the opposite. I got stuck in a seat between an obnoxious little girl and a little screaming boy. We didn't have first class, more like last. And the whole flight I listened to the boy and girl argue about every little thing. It started off with the kids arguing about the names from the seven dwarves. Just so you know, these kids are only 5 or 6 at the most. They had no clue how irrelevant this was for a girl who just lost her only real parent figure. I sat in my seat and attempted to fall asleep,but couldn't due to the bickering. I swear that flight lasted longer than they said. So, yah. I sat with two bratty kids the whole flight and tried to act as if I wasn't fuming with emotions that would make these two little beast cry. They were animals. Once the plane landed, it was even worse. Once we got off the plane there we're people swarming the airport. I heard all kinds of accents as we landed in Belgium. My aunt actually lived on the border of the Netherlands and Belgium, so that's where we would be driving to. We made our way through the airport, collecting our luggage. My aunt stopped at a concession stand to get a coffee, which bothered me because I just wanted to go to her house. We continued to my aunts car, dreading the walk. We had organized the boxes and furniture to be moved to the house, making everything easier on us. With everything happening I hadn't had time to actually think about my mom, but now that I've been sitting in the car for twenty minutes, I've been left alone with my thoughts.
I couldn't help but think of the accident that led up to here. My mom had been on her way home from work, and of course it being New York she had been running late for dinner. It was a downpour. We had flood warnings and everything else that could affect a New Yorker's night The police said that apparently when she was crossing the street, someone was speeding and didn't bother stopping. I winced at the image going through my head, and turned the music on. It took awhile to find a station that was in English AND had good songs, leaving me no room to think about mom.
Me and my aunt drive in silence and I could feel her tense every time I moved or made a noise, as if a reminder that I was still in the car with her. We stopped at a stoplight and my aunt turned towards me.
"Riley, would you like something to eat while we're out?" She asked. I turned towards her.
"I'm fine with whatever you want to do. I don't care." I said and turned back to the window of the expensive car. We continued to drive in silence. As we drove into Brussels, Belgium my aunt parked outside a McDonalds. The place looked so fancy I could've laughed if it were in any other circumstance. We got out of the car and walked towards the building. If it wasn't for the sign saying McDonalds, I would have thought this was a five-star done in restaurant. This was unbelievable. I had no clue how I was gonna make it here if I couldn't even eat at my typical fast food place. When we got our food, I realized it wasn't much different as far as taste. We finished about 15 minutes later with very little conversation, and headed outside. I could tell my aunt was trying but it was still hard to adjust to everything. And as far as I was concerned, she didn't give a damn about anything but her job, money, and social status at work.
It took a few more hours to get to my aunts house but when we arrived, the moving truck wasn't there. I noticed there was also no patio furniture. When I went to unbuckle my seat belt my aunt was already out the door. She went inside and came back moments later with all her boxes. Wait? All her boxes? She opened the trunk and I was quizzically staring at her.
"Why are you loading your stuff up?" I asked, she just looked at me before saying anything.
"When I found out I had legal custody of you I decided the house was too small for both of us to be there. So I bought a new house a little farther." I was shocked to hear this and it surprised me greatly. My aunt finished packing as I watched. I got back into the car when I seen she was almost done. How she managed to fit all the stuff in her car, I may never know. I sat with my eyes closed till I heard the trunk slam and the car jerked forward a little. I peeked one eye open and stared at my aunt for a second. She started pulling out of the drive and we were gone. It took about another half hour till we got to the new place. I was shocked beyond belief.
The house we pulled up to was a historic country house you would only see in a horror movie or a movie based on an older era. I was shocked by how beautiful it was though. There was a small porch on the side of the brick house, a sidewalk surrounded by flowers, and a fountain placed in the middle of a flower arrangement. The house looked old, yet young, as if attended to daily. I hadn't realized I'd stopped walking till my aunt passed me. We made our way up to the side porch to enter the house. You would not believe the interior. No words can describe how beautifully everything came together. My aunt started walking up the elegant stairs, and you better believe I followed. We got upstairs and took a look around all the bedrooms. The bedroom at the end of the hall was by far my favorite. My aunt must have noticed my liking to the room.
"You can have the room at the end of the hall on the right." She said eyeballing the master bedroom. I just nodded and went into the room again. I was looking outside the large open windows when a moving truck pulled in. I went back outside to start retrieving my stuff so I could get situated. I started with the smaller boxes, leaving all the big stuff to the movers. I put the boxes in my room, waiting to put the stuff away. I decided I'd wipe everything down, try and get all the dust and dirt out of the smaller places. After everything was wiped down I started putting clothes away. Once I finished putting all the clothes away, the movers had already carried all the heavy boxes upstairs and what not. I had them put all my heavy boxes in my room. It felt weird situating all my stuff in a new place. I decided to wash my bedding again before putting it on the new bed. It took me till dark to  get everything together including my bed. I was exhausted. I sat on my bed and grabbed my phone from my back pocket for the first time in hours. It was weird seeing so many notifications on my phone. I unlocked the phone and started going through everything. I got to my text messages and started drifting off. I felt my phone buzz against my cheek but I was already gone....