Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Prologue// Avocado

I watched my mom throw her clothes into two suitcases at once. "Mom." I whispered. No answer. She huffed and huffed, as she did. She ran her fingers through her hair, stressfully. "Mom?" I asked again. She didn't answer. That was when I'd had enough.

"Mom!" I screamed, standing from the wall. She stopped her movements, and turned to me. Before I knew it, she burst into tears. "Oh! Mommy, I'm so sorry." I rushed to her, and grabbed her slumped shoulders, and pulled her to me. "No, no. Ari, it's not you." My mother pulled away from me, and smiled through her tears. "T--then what is it? Why are you packing?" I asked. "Because we're leaving here." My mom said. "No, what? What do you mean?" I asked. "Avocado." She whispered. My heart sunk. Avocado...

"If we ever go back, we have to have a codeword, Mom." I had smiled over at her, as we drove. "Oh, yeah? And what should that be?" My mom grinned over at me, before turning her eyes back to the road. "Uh... Avocado?" I asked. "No, no, no. It has to be something we don't say on a daily basis." My older sister, Kat said from the backseat. I laughed. "We don't say "Avocado" on a daily basis." I had frowned, jotting it down in the tiny journal I had at the time. "Well... I guess, Ari." My mother chuckled. "But, you won't be hearing it for a while."

"Avocado?" I questioned. "Yes." She answered, squeezing my hand. "We're going back." I said. "We are." Mom confirmed, releasing my hand to finish packing.

"Why?" I watched her, as my heart pounded. "Something's happened." Was all she said. "What. Happened?" I enunciated the words clearly. "It's Nina." Oh, no. What happened to Nina? Was she in rehab, or something? I'd always expected something like that would happen. Especially to Nina. Yes, she was my cousin, and I loved her, but she was a wayward girl, who loved parties, and liked drugs and alcohol even more.

"What is it?" I asked. "It's... Uhm, Nina's... she's gone, Arielle." My mother grasped the edge of her suitcase so hard, I could see her knuckles turning white. "What do you mean, she's gone?"

"I mean... dead, Arielle. She's dead."