happy | s.m

9. change

Talia POV

The loud sound of my alarm woke me up at 2:30am the next morning. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched myself awake.

The boxes around my room had suddenly disappeared. The only thing left in my room was me and my blanket.

Since all of my clothes were packed, I had to wear my current outfit, black joggers and I hoodie, to the airport.

My mother, Jackson, and I were all in the car by 3:45 on the way to the airport. We stopped for a quick drive-through breakfast, but finally made it to our destination.

Security and bag check felt like hours long, but it was only a few minutes before we were all checked and seated on the plane.

I turned my phone onto airplane mode before I let sleep take over my body.

~

"Welcome to Toronto, Canada! The current temperature it 76 degrees. Thank you for flying American Airlines and we hope you fly with us again." The piolet spoke as we pulled into the gate.

I quickly pulled out my phone to text Shawn.

@okayitstalia; guess who moved to Canada, eh?

8:50

Shawn was quick to reply.

@shawnmendes; yayaaaaay

8:50

@okayitstalia; guess I'll see you around? Lol.

8:52

@shawnmendes; I guess so haha

8:54

I turned my phone off and followed my mom and brother out of the plane.

"What exactly are we doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Just wait, won't you." My mother groaned, rolling her eyes.

What was her problem?

We exited the airport and hopped into an Uber.

"Please take us to 1290 Ferry Lane in Pickering." (a/n idk if this is a place)

~

We pulled up to a small one story house with no garage and in a sketchy neighborhood.

"Welcome home." My mother spoke bluntly.

She got out of the car, leaving Jackson behind, and walked through the front door.

"Come here Jackson." I smiled at him while he unbuckled his seatbelt by himself.

I pulled him out of the car and rested his small body on my hip. Even though he was four, I carried him for his own safety.

"Where are we?" he asked looking into my eyes.

"Were home buddy."

Together, we walked through the chipped front door. The inside of the house was dull and dreary, nothing like our old house. If anything, this was half the size we had and our house was already small. The walls were a dark brown and green color and the furniture had rips and tears in the fabric. I stood in horror at the sight on another man standing next to my mother.

"Whose this?" I asked, eyeing the man.

"This is your new father." She replied, clinging to his arm like they were madly in love.

My grip in Jackson became tighter and he came closer to me.

"Um, can you show me to my room?" I asked, awkwardly coughing.

The man nodded his head and motioned me to follow him. We walked down the stairs that lead to the basement. The basement was fairly small and had two rooms.

"To the left is the bathroom and the door under the stairs is your room." He showed me around.

"Where does Jackson sleep?"

"Um, well your mom said there was one kid." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"It's okay. He can sleep with me." I gave him a weak smile before opening the door to my room.

"This is a freaking storage closet." I mumbled.

I set Jackson down on the ground, letting him roam in the small space.

The space was tight and the air was thick. Sharp wooden edges shot out of the shelves, waiting to give splinters. Luckily, Jackson was just short enough to not get hurt.

There was a small row of space, just tight enough to find a twin sized mattress, but nothing more. There was a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling with a sting hanging down from it.

"Wheres my room?" Jackson asked.

"We get to share a room buddy. Isn't that great?"

I knew if I told him flat out that he didn't get a room, he would start crying.

~

"Mom?" I called out.

"I'm in the kitchen." She replied.

"Is there a mattress or any pillows I can put in my room for Jackson?"

"That won't matter." She kept doing what she was doing, not turning her back to face me.

"And why would that be?"

"Jackson isn't living here. I'm sending him to your grandmother."

"What the actual freak mom. First, you move us away. Second, you put me in a closet. And now you can't even take care of your own son."

"He's not my son." She dropped the knife she was using to cut vegetables.

"What?" I whispered

"He's not even my son so why should I have to take care of him?" she rushed past me and down to my room.

Seconds later she came up with Jackson in her arms.

"Don't you dare hurt him, mom." I said through gritted teeth.

She put him in the backseat and drove off.

authors note // hello! Long time no update! This is kinda a weird chapter, but I wanted to take this book somewhere different. I don't know if ill regret this, but I have some, what I think is, great ideas for this book. Please comment and vote! love you lovelies!

Instagram; @freakishmendes