Abigail watched the moving man haul away the last of her boxes. She glanced around her bedroom, it was so empty. She turned to follow the man out of her room and nearly collided with her mother.
“Abby, they’re almost finished loading the van, we’ll be leaving soon.” She smiled, but Abigail could tell that it was forced. Ever since that day, two weeks ago, when Abigail had learnt that she would be moving, the relationship between her and her mother had never been quite the same.
“Coming.” Abigail solemnly followed her mother out of her room, flicking off her bedroom light for the last time. She turned back to glance once more at her bedroom, a thousand memories rushing through her mind, snapshots of her life. She had grown up here, this was her home, and now she would have to leave it. As it had been so often recently, her heart was aching within her chest.
A voice with a heavy French accent interrupted her painful reminiscence. She turned in the direction it was coming from and her eyes landed upon a stout man with a moustache that curled slightly at the ends.
“Excuse me Mademoiselle. Vhere ees your muther?” He was standing at the foot of the stairs, a friendly expression painted onto his face. “Ve are ready to go, moving van ees all packed.” He smiled. A very jolly smile it was, it made Abigail hurt even more inside, knowing that not long ago, she had been that way, happy, carefree, but everything was different now.
Abigail swallowed a hard lump in her throat “Oh, isn’t she down there?” She watched the moving man shake his head. She paused, trying to keep her voice steady. “Maybe she’s in her room; I’ll send her down if she’s up here.” She tried to return his smile, but she knew that it must’ve looked more like a scowl.
“Merci.” He turned and left, whistling a rendition of ‘Ode to Joy’.
Abigail watched him leave and then yelled down the empty upstairs hall. No answer. She considered checking every room, but figured that her mother would show herself eventually, after all, they were moving today. Abigail grimaced at the thought; she just wouldn’t let herself accept that fact that she was moving. She started to descend the narrow, spiraling staircase, when she heard a soft weeping coming from the direction of her mother’s bedroom. She paused at the top of the stairs, her hand on the railing, and her foot hovering above the first step, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Quietly, on hand and knee, she crept towards the sound, the door to her mother’s room was slightly ajar, and she caught a slight glimpse of her mother perched on the edge of her bed, tears streaming down her face. She had something in her hand, but Abigail couldn’t quite make it out.
For a while, Abigail just sat there, leaning against the wall, listening to her mother. She could sense regret and sadness radiating off of her and it made her feel guilty to know that she was the cause of some of those tears.
Suddenly, the sounds of crying stopped and Abigail could hear feet shuffling across the floor, she got up quietly, not wanting her mother to see her and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over her feet in her haste. She pretended to be leaning nonchalantly on the wall by the banister as her mother came down the stairs on heavy footsteps, wiping tears from her eyes, her purse slung over her shoulder. She gave a start when she noticed Abigail.
“Hey mom, the moving man wants you; he says the van is packed.” Abigail tried to act normal, so as not to further hurt her mother, despite how much she herself was hurting.
“Thanks hon.” She paused as if not sure of what to say. “You ready?”
Abigail stifled her anger and sadness “As I’ll ever be, I guess.” She tried to smile, but to no avail. She righted herself and walked past her mother, out the door.
Her mother watched her go; she followed more slowly, sighing deeply. She stepped out the front door and locked it for the last time.
For a moment, mother and daughter both stood staring at the old house, their hard feelings towards each other melted away for that brief time. Abigail’s mother awkwardly hugged her daughter, kissing the top of her head. Abigail succumbed to the comforting gesture, breathing in her mother’s sweet perfume. She wished that things hadn’t happened the way they had. Ever so slightly, she hugged her back, hoping that one day, she could forgive her mother for what she did, and that her mother could forgive her.
Another moving man, tall and gangly softly cleared his throat.
“Here we come” Abigail’s mother replied, gently releasing her embrace.
She walked over towards a young couple, man and woman, standing by the moving van. The keys jangling as she walked. As she reached them, she placed the keys gently into the palm of the man’s palm.
“Please. Take good care of our house”
They smiled warmly. “Don’t worry, it’s in good hands.”
She nodded and walked back towards her daughter, head slightly lowered.
Abigail could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she blew an air kiss to the house that they were leaving behind.
The back door of the van rattled shut with a metallic slam. Her mother led the way towards their car, the one they would be driving across the country in, to their new home. They both got in and the doors closed with a snap.
“How long is this trip again?”
“A while. We’re staying at a few different hotels along the way; we should get there in a few days.”
At this, Abigail groaned, that’s right. She would have to spend basically eight hours a day in a car. How fun. She tried to get comfortable, reaching into her bag that had been packed earlier and pulled out her iPod, jamming the earbuds into her ears and cranking up the volume. She watched her mother give the thumbs up into the rearview window and heard the moving van behind them start up. She felt her seat vibrate as their car too, revved into life. With that, they drove away; Abigail managed one last, wistful glance out her window at the house which was rapidly growing smaller as they drove into the distance.
YOU ARE READING
(You are Never) ALONE
Jugendliteratur"Sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, it takes more than just yourself to do it." It's a story about love, about hardships, about hope, but most of all about finding yourself especially when you never thought it was possible. Because ever...
