Inside Her Head

Chapter 1 Bye Willow The Tree

It was another windy day in a small town on a small street. The day was bright and sunny on a Saturday with a moderate wind for the locals to work. The women would clean the house and the men would mow the lawn as all the local kids that lived on Kent Street played soccer on the road, but one family wasn't doing the usual Saturday plan everyone else was doing. Instead in the house number twenty six where the Knight family lived they were rushing around putting their final boxes in the big mover's truck.                                                        

It was hectic for the mother of the house, Sue to try and keep her six kids in order. Making sure the twins John and Joel weren't fighting, making sure Joey wasn't slacking off, making sure her one year old Anne was being looked after, making sure Bella didn't wonder off to listen to music and to make sure Helena her oldest child wasn't lost reading her book under a tree. All was well as she went around her almost empty house to find the twins not fighting, Joey taking boxes to the truck, little Anne was being looked after by Bella and Helena was nowhere to be seen.

Helena was expected to do something like this. Whenever the house was too crazy for her or she couldn't think, she would walk to the end of the street to the old oak tree with a hole in the middle of the stem and sit and read a book. She loved getting lost in her books. Fantasy, mystery, history or a bit of romance where her kind of book, but if she wasn't reading she would sit and think for hours on end until her mother would come and tell her to go home and clean her room.

Helena was under the tree, thinking about how she just wanted to stay under her tree, Willow forever. Helena had named her tree Willow because of the soothing humming noise it made when wind passes through it sound like it was a whispering willow, well that what she imagined a whispering would do. She sat there for the last time listening to the humming coming from Willow. She would miss her place of solitude. Willow was always her place of peace, where she could sit and have no siblings running in and out of her room annoying her to death. Willow was just the best. She sat and thought of the many memories that she had had sitting under Willow, and she remembered the first time she sat under Willow.

Helena was eight at the time and her dad Jacob had started to yell at her for leaving her pencil on his work desk. So Helena had stormed out of the house, she thought she would run away and never come back. Helena had laughed at how emotional she was at the age of eight. But as she remembered storming down the Street getting closer to the end she stopped to think about what she was getting into if she ran away, then Helena heard a noise. Then it stopped. Helena waited for the next breeze to find out what is was and one minute later a strong breeze had come and it was clear that it was coming from the old oak tree. She loved the humming noise it made. It made her forget what she was thinking about and at that moment Helena thought this tree will be her peaceful escape place, it would be better than running away.

Helena laughed at the reason she had found Willow the tree, but she knew she probably would have never taken interest in Willow if it wasn't for that windy day.

Helena loved windy days it just always claimed her down when stressed. It was also the feeling of freedom of the wind on her skin, like when you drink water and feel refreshed. Helena would miss Willow and her childhood house.

So Helena snapped out of thought and continued reading her book called 'If I could fly' it was a story about a boy who wanted to fly away from his abusive life to a better one. It sounds boring, but it was a real page turner for Helena. She loved his hope that he could find his real parents and escape his violent care givers. It gave her hope that she could stay in Kent valley on Kent Street, but reality had caught up to her once she heard her mother coming.

"HELENA! Hurry up child we are leaving in eighteen minutes." The sound of her mother's voice had made Helena's heart fill with sorrow that she had to leave. Helena knew if she didn't reply back quick her mum would make her unpack all the boxes by herself once they got to their new place.

"Yes, I'm coming..." Helena muttered back just loud enough so her mum could hear her.

"NOW!" Sue said with impatience then soon running back into the almost empty house because baby Anne was crying.

Helena put a little box with the book 'if I could fly' in it so if another child like her decided to run away, her hope would be that that child would find willow the tree and read the book. Maybe history will repeat itself, Helena thought as she put the box with the book into the gap of willows stem.

Then she said good bye to Willow and at the same time a breeze came and blew through Willow with a humming that sounded sad. Must have been the box making the sad sound or Willow was actually sad to see Helena leave. That was a weird thought Helena had, but Helena always had weird thoughts so it was normal.

Helena walks along the foot path for the last time with a tear running down her left cheek as she watched the neighborhood kids run to little Tommy's house for a lunch time snacks, as the men have finished mowing to join the lunch snack.

She loved the friendliness of the neighborhood, but she just had to hope that she will have neighbors like that at their new place. Helena realized she didn't actually know where they were moving to. All she knew was that it was a rich area that was ten hours away.

Helena closes her eyes and stops walking when she reached the mail-box at house number twenty six; a moderate wind breezes by and all the friendliness and memories rush into her airways making each breath feel heavier and heavier with sadness. 

"Beep, Beep BEEP!" the car noise opens up Helena's eyes in shock, and the realization that this was her last moments at her child hood home became real. She looked towards the driveway and Helena saw her family already packed and already in the car. She knew that all her younger siblings already had fought to get the seats they wanted so there was no choice but to sit in the back of the van with John and Joel or as she thought of them as thing one and thing two, due to their annoying attitude of doing the opposite of what she told them to do.

"Hey Hel-Ena," Joel said in a mocking tone.

"What..." Helena grunted out.

"Has thy lady been crying?" John added in to the mocking

"SHUT UP, twiddle D and Twiddle Dumb, I bet..." Helena was cut off.

"Stop picking on to twins Hel." said Joey the second oldest who was in Helena's case 'a typically teen boy'.

"when did you become muture?" Helena questioned.

"I guess just now. Like because the oldest is acting like a child." he smirked knowing he ticked her of to a point that involved murder.

"JUST SHUt..." Helena was cut off by mum.

"all of you quite it or I'll knock your heads together."

Helena sat down in between Joel and John who gave her a teasing look with a tounge sticking out.

Helena thought of all the worse things in the world and sitting next to Joel and John for a ten hour drive was deffinetly number one. Coming in second was talking to a guy.

The car reversed out of the drive way and off they went with three moving trucks tailing them.

When you looked out the car widow you saw all the all the local kids and adults waving a friendly good bye and when the car got to the end of the street going past willow Helena swore she saw a little boy sitting under her tree. Huh, may history does repeat itself. peaceful thought of her tree being in safe hands were reassuring.

Eww, whats that smell Helena thought. she looked at Joel and he smiled.

This drive was going to be Hell Helena thought.