The Owl

Away

  "Mel, come down for breakfast!" my mom Teresa bellowed from downstairs. "Coming," I said as I rolled from the warm place from beneath my covers to the floor the brown wooden floor creaking under me, I pulled my way too big sweats over my legs and pushed dark brown hair behind my ears. Grabbing my phone off the charger I bounced down stairs to the warming smells of coffee, eggs, bacon and waffles.

   This wasn't normal for an Tuesday morning and seeing my mom this busy moving around the kitchen, placing a bowl of cereal down in front of Colin on top of a already eaten plate of grits made me wonder how he could fit all of that in to one body. When mom spotted me she turned her head quickly to fix my plate, humming a little bit. My mom looked like me but was taller with a light brown pixie hair cut that reached just below her ears, she was rail thin but had a nice figure which I inherited from her, I also got her muddy brown eyes so did Colin even though he was adopted you couldn't tell unless you looked at me, my mom, and dad who all had some shade of brown hair and Colin was the only one with blonde hair.

   I sat beside him and watched him eat his cereal humming along with my mom to the beat of a up tuned version of the song Sunshine, "Morning buddy,' I muttered rubbing his sandy blond hair " Morning Mel," he hummed back to me giving me some splatters of milk on my hand from his mouth full of cereal. "Don't talk with your mouth full Colin, you'll cover me in spit." I wiped my hand on my sweats and focused on the food in fount of me. "What's everyone so happy for?" I aimed the question at my mom but he answered instead "Mommy told me it was a happy day for you Sis, your birthday! Happy Birthday to you," he went on singing the birthday song to me and I shook my head " Its not my birthday Colin, mine was in April remember, we went to the water park?:" he looked stunned for a second the quickly recalled the day he threw up on the TIL-A-WORLD, "Oh, yeah. Then if its isn't your birthday where are you going?" my eyebrows knitted together and I turned to look at my mom who was quite all this time leaned up against the counter in the kitchen.

      "Mom what is he talking about?" her round face looked up at me, a small smile that looked forced was there " Well your dad called last night while you guys where asleep," I flinched I haven't heard form my dad since January when he told my mom that he wanted me and Colin to come stay with him not her because he felt that she couldn't handle us but my mom yelled back " These are my children you hear me Jackson, MINE and you wont take them from me." and drove off in a cloud of smoky dust leaving him there on the road outside of the house. I came back from that painful thought

      "Thought you guys weren't talking after what happened the last time you two seen each other." the words came out from between tight lips and I glanced up from the now cold and hard grits and bacons to see her glowering at me then quickly push forward of the counter to sit beside me in the chair. "He wants to see you dear, he misses you and Colin. Last night we put aside our...differences and talked about you too," she looked to Colin who was more focused on his red toy truck playing in his empty cereal bowl than anything else. "He thought it would be better for us too take turns, I keep Colin and he keeps you, until school starts anyway." I tensed up at this " You want to separate us," she took a deep breath "Melanie don't be that way I love you and you know I do, but right now its hard-" "Well its not my fault you want to move all the way out here to run away from your problems-" SMACK" a hand came across my face and I heard the sound of Colin dropping his truck in the glass bowl.

     "Mel I- I'm sorry." she got up as I held my face she rolled my black suite case into the kitchen and looked at me "You HAVE to go Mel, it's for your own good you'll understand soon." I silently got up, my mother never hit me before and if she did it now she was truly losing herself. I walked to the stairs with my back to her I asked "What about Colin?" I heard her rather than saw her step closer to me, when I took a step away she stopped and sighed "Colin needs me Mel, he's still too young to know what's going on right now," that's all I needed to hear I went upstairs to pack the little belongs I had, most where still in the boxes pushed into the closet. It was unfair and unnecessary that I had to leave but like I said before I had no reason to stay especially in a place I wasn't wanted. Around 2:45 I said my goodbyes to Colin a short tearful one I kept saying I would see him again but a low dull pang in my heart told me I wouldn't, not for a while anyway.

     I didn't bother saying goodbye to my mom but we exchanged looks as the taxi pulled away from the house that was never really my home heading to the airport. This felt to strange to me but it felt better than being somewhere without meaning, maybe wherever I was going I would have some meaning or no meaning at all.