A Difficult Kind of Love

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Watching my house grow smaller and smaller behind me is a tiny bit painful. All of my childhood memories are stored there, including the time where Dad fell off the trampoline, he spent a week in hospital for that. And how Mum would always have her morning tea in front of the back window and watch the birds bathe in the birdbath she got on one of her birthdays.

Dad looks over at me from the drivers seat and I smile back at him.

"You know that I am proud of how you have coped with the last two years. I'm sure your Mum will be proud too." He ruffles my hair, making it go over my face. "You know you can always go to sleep at anytime."

I reach over to the radio and turn it up. "I don't think so." I say before I start singing along with 'Once'. A song by one of my favourite bands, On Your Marks. Halfway through the song, Dad drives straight through a pothole making the car bounce around and for me to grab onto Dad's shoulder. The moving van is behind us and swerves just in time to avoid the it. Parts of the dream I had this morning replayed in my head as I scrunched my eyes.

"It's ok Sadie, we're alright now." Dad's voice takes me out of my nightmare and eventually I let go of his arm and look out the window to try to forget the scene that just played in my head.

I try to imagine my new house. I still don't know where it is but I've seen pictures. While looking at houses, I would have the tendency to research everything about the place and present all of the cons to Dad. In the end he just went looking himself. It sits beside the beach and has two stories. That's all I really know.

Even though I said I would stay awake, I loose the battle with my tired head and I drift away.

Black, my vision is gone, I'm dying! Oh wait, it's just a blindfold. I'm guessing Dad wanted the reveal to be a BIG surprise. He is unique that's for sure. A pair of soft yet calloused hands pick me up from my seat. Dad worked a lot with ropes when he would go out on the ocean before he met Mum but I don't know how he softens his hands so well. I'm getting very jealous of his hands again as he leads me down a very sandy path blindly. I trip over what I think is a small log or a root of something, Dad just catching me before I fell on my face.

"Daaad" I draw out sulkily as I flail my arms about trying to hit him.

"Saaddieee" He echos back with the same tone. "Almost there"

"Couldn't you have just dropped me off in front of the house?"

"Uh no because there is no road." He pulls off the blindfold and he is right, it is mostly either sand or grass. My mouth hangs open when my eyes fully adjust to what stands in front of me. A beautiful white Queenslander home with a large staircase leading to the second floor. I run up the stairs, my hands hauling me up with help from the very handy wooden rail. I run around the wrap around porch and stop when I see how close we are to the beach. I can feel sea spray on my face, that's how close I am!

"You know the door's unlocked right?" I turn to see Dad standing at the back door.
I run into the house and try to find my way around the hallways. I slide on the wooden floorboards and slip near a bathroom on my left and move on. I can't wait to show Jess this place! Just as I reach a door that somehow already has an S hammered into it, my bladder turns me around and pushes me towards the bathroom. Damn it, the sea, this is going to be something I have to get used to. As soon as I see water it makes me have an instant urge t-. Anyway, after I finish I race to my room and it is at least twice the size of my other one. There is already a little study nook on the side and three French doors leading to the porch.

"So was this worth waiting for?"

"Hell yeah!" I race up to Dad and hug him. "Mum would have loved it!"

"Now before we get comfortable, lets unpack and then I can treat you to something."

Unpacking is almost as bad as packing. Although we weren't actually taking stuff out of the boxes, still I won't be doing this anytime soon.

"Dad!" I try to get his attention by waving my hands in front of his face. "Can we eat something? It's seven and I need food. I can't just plug myself into a wall and charge up!"

Dad puts his box down, makes a stupid face and starts to robot dance.

"Go wait by the car, I'll be there in a sec." He says while ruffling my hair. By a sec, he means 247 seconds. I'm sorry OK numbers and time mean a lot to me. Mum didn't get enough.

"You took too long, my stomach is eating itself!" I say while dragging him into the car and turning the key in the ignition.

"OK, OK, Alright Sadie! Well are you in the car yet lets go!" He puts his foot on the accelerator and revs it impatiently while it dive over his body every so gracefully, like a trained seal (might be stretching it a bit there) and land hard on my side with my face pressed against my door.

"I couldn't have a normal kid could I?" Dad sighs. Gosh, I'm offended! Normal kids are boring!

***

Do you know how long lines are to just order your stupid meal? 30 minutes just to reach the counter! The guy in front of me looks like he is about to lose all of his patience but his mum keeps on tapping him on the shoulder to keep him quiet.

Finally we reach the front of the line and place our order. I think it will be a long night before I can eat.

A/N hi really really sorry for the very slow update (I admit that May to October is a very long wait)