I always enjoyed road trips, as a little girl I loved reclining in the car seat, watching the landscape go by, all the different colours that flew past in a blur. Not to mention that being in the car was safe, sheltered from the outside world.
We were all packed, the at was stuffed to the brim with all of our crap, moms Suzuki looked fit to explode. I peeled my eyes away from the ticking car bomb. I leaned on the archway, that allowed entry to the kitchen, I stared out the window, overlooking Greenland as far as the eye could see, I found it so comforting, like being in the car, but in this case in the house, feeling so cozy and sheltered from the big world outside my window.
"Nina, honey, it's time to say goodbye" mom forced a smile onto her face. I looked around the house one last time before pulling the door shut.
I climbed into moms car, feeling the boogey board that had featured in most of my summers, punching into my neck. We backed out of the driveway, I plugged my headphones into my ears and decided on One Direction for the long car ride ahead.
* three months earlier *
Dad. Was. Gone, his coffin was slowly being lowered into the ground, I couldn't bare to think what strange creatures would already be waiting in the soil, "Nina, I am so sorry for your loss" Mr Harvard, my English teacher, patted my back with his large hard, I stared at him before managing a small "thanks". He strolled off to where the other teachers were standing. My dad was a teacher at my local high school, fortunately, he had never been my teacher because how bloody embarrassing would that be?! He was head of the maths department and only taught extreme nerds, which in fact, I am not. I watched mom near them, she wasn't crying, just had a heartbroken look to her, it hit home then, he was really gone, I walked away barely able to walk, my body managed to get me away from the small crowd of people surrounding my dads coffin. The tears ran like hell down my face, I gasped and breathed heavily, my legs collapsing beneath me. I thought, how in heck will I ever be normal after this?
I woke from my sleep, noticing the car not moving. Mom was looking out the window. " where are we?" I asked groggily. " oh we are here honey" she jumped slightly. I had not been keen on moving, but after dads death, mom insisted a new start for both of us, she was quick to decide on the house, the only problem was moving schools. Our old house had been in Seattle and I could not have been happier there, I was fine with staying after dads death, after being there my whole life, I felt it was comforting, knowing that he was here with me, but mom was set on moving and trying to focus on us and our lives ahead of us, and after her constant complaining and a few arguments, I gave up on arguing, I didn't have the strength.
I peered out my window, the house was beautiful, huge actually. Much too big for two people anyway. The outside was white, with navy blue shutters. The door was the same, navy blue and the house was surrounded by a light brown fence, I tore the headphones out of my ears, Harry styles' voice exiting my ears. I pulled my tote bag out of the car, it contained my most precious things, a few photos of dad, a soft toy I had had for forever, my wallet and my one direction CDs.
I walked up the perfect stone path to the house, as mom got our stuff out of the car, " choose any room you want honey, apart from the one downstairs, I dibs" she exclaimed excitedly, I knew she was making an effort but I did not share that same enthusiasm.
