Sunny:
I woke up that morning and checked the date on my IPhone, ‘Sunday’ it read. Sundays were my shopping days, I needed an outfit for the school dance the week after, so I took my allowance money and put it in the pocket of my jeans. I slipped on a graphic tee with ‘Tickle me Elmo, I dare you’ on it and grabbed my coat.
“Sunny, bring your brother,” My dad yelled from the bathroom.
“Do I have to,” I whined walking into the bathroom, he was shaving.
“I’ll give you twenty extra dollars,” He bribed. “I have a meeting today.”
“You mean a date,” I asked rolling my eyes.
My mom ran off with the father of my best friend when my little brother turned two. It was tragic; Kenzi didn’t grow up with a true mother. Sometimes, I wonder that if he had if he’d be as obnoxious as he is. Now my Dad dates, we both know he can’t find anyone as amazing as Mom but he still tries. Mom was a professor at a university and she got paid quite a bit. We live in a huge house that’s in the middle of nowhere. Only issue is that Dad is stuggling to pay the bills. Thank goodness for inheritance.
“I’ll take Kenzi but don’t you think he’s old enough to stay home alone,” I wondered.
“You don’t remember what happened last time,” Dad laughed.
“Oh yeah, I totally forgot.”
Last year Kenzi was left home for one night, and he completely trashed the place. He invited 100 middle school kids to have a party inside our house. We were finding silly string for weeks.
“Mackenzie Jonathon McDonald, if you’re not ready and mall appropriate in two minutes you’re going bra shopping with me,” I yelled into the room next to the bathroom.
Five minutes later we were out the door. Dad dropped us off at the mall and we watched him drive off. I wrapped an arm around Kenzi in an embrace. “It’s okay Buddy you know it’s not going to work out.”
“But what if she’s just like Mom?”
“She won’t be, let’s go.”
We walked into the mall and my cell phone buzzed. It read:
Sunny, if you want to find your mother you must find the amulet, battle pirates, and escape Yirokas clutches.
Kenzi looked at me, “That from your boyfriend,” he teased.
I rolled my eyes, “I don’t know.” I put my phone back in my pocket.
*****
When we got home, I put away all my clothes, grabbed my phone and went and sat on the couch. I texted my best friend his dad ran off with Mom.
Carter, my boyfriend doesn’t exactly approve of Bennett and I being so close friends, but Carter isn’t going to change anything. Bennett and I went out in middle school, but we decided we’d just be better off as friends. I broke up with him in front of Carter which must have caused him to like me. Dad doesn’t like Bennett or his family either, but for more obvious reasons.
*****
The next day, I woke up and showered. It was February so I needed to dress warm but stylish, not very hard for me. I blow dried my hair and stared at myself in the mirror. I have dirty blonde hair with bangs, glowing green eyes covered with glasses. I look a lot like pictures I’ve seen of my Mom from when she was younger. Thinking of my mother brought the text back into my photographic memory.
