The Phantom of Venice

     I didn’t want to open my eyes.

          “Please God, just a little bit longer.”

     It seemed that every day it was becoming harder to leave the comfort of my dreams and face whatever damaged mass of shit that was apparently my new life.

     The social worker had said that after the accident, I might have a few nightmares. I wasn’t sure if the fact that I hadn’t was comforting or just meant I was seriously screwed up in the head. My dreams were one of the only things that hadn’t changed. My entire life turned upside down, but they remained constant. We were still a family in them. I wasn't an orphan due to the face that someone chose to get wasted and then get behind the wheel of a car. In reality, I was.

          “Liv! We are leaving in about an hour! Come down for breakfast!” called a female voice from downstairs.

     With my alarm clock so rudely choosing to not shut up and Penelope’s mother yelling for me to get up, I mustered enough will-power to separate myself from my pillow. My cat, Tybalt, meowed disapprovingly of this movement from the foot of my bed.

          “Sorry fur-ball, I don’t like it anymore than you do.” I replied as I slipped on a pair of slippers and headed downstairs.

     Penelope had been my best friend since middle school. After the funeral several weeks ago, social services had allowed me to stay at her place until they were able to contact my official ‘guardian.’ To say the very least, I was forever grateful to Penelope and her family. They had tried to make everything easier on me, and helped make ever day a little bit easier to face.

     On the kitchen table was an assortment of breakfast goodies. Penelope's mother had apprently wanted to have a sort of proper "going away meal" to make my departure perhaps a bit less stressful of a situation. My stomach growled in anticipation as the strong scents filled the room. The tension of my upcoming flight didn't stop the fact that I had a serious weakness for bacon.

       45 minutes later, I was dressed and waiting by the front door with Penelope. In front of us laid several suitcases. 17 years of life was somehow able to fit in these bags. The thought was rather depressing actually.

      Penelope and I had been sitting in silence for the last few minutes, neither of us really knowing what to say to the other. She was now anxiously twirling her curly blonde hair around her index finger. A habit she seemed unable to stop whenever she was upset or nervous. 

   The quietness broke as we both tried to make Tybalt go in his kennel that the airline required for pets. To say the least it was not a task for the faint of heart.

   After several minutes of fighting with him, we succeeded in having one very pissed kittylocked in his kennel. 

 “Livia, you don’t know how much I’m going to miss you.” Penny finally said, her voice shaking slightly.

     Livia. Penelope never used my full name. It was always just Liv.

After a brief pause and a deep inhale of air, I replied.

           “I’m going to miss you too. But we can always mail each other, and there is Skype.”

     I was trying to prevent myself from breaking down in front of her, and blinked several times as my eyes began to burn from tears poking their way through.

     I had no idea what was about to become of me. My life was here. My home, my friends, everything. I had plans and goals. I wanted to grow up, go to college, marry the man of my dreams, and finally just be happy. Fate seemed to have different plans at the moment.

           “It will be like I never left.” I finally said, barely over a whisper.

     That was a lie. I was leaving.  Earlier that week, social services finally contacted my guardian. This turned out to be my estranged grandmother whom I had never spoken to in my entire life. She also happened to live in Italy. I was really given no option. I was to leave on the next flight available.

          It was goodbye Virginia, hello Venice.