Tear Those Pictures Off The Wall *Kind of on hold*

Chapter 2: Going, Going, Gone

Hey, Sorry about the length between updates, I was in Atlanta for a week, and then I was sick and it sucked so... better late than never I guess. Sorry this is so short too. :(

~Gingie

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The bus ride home was a lonely one. Katrina sat alone next to the window, watching the images outside the window blend as the bus drove on. She'd miss the on again and off again rain and sun. While it was still summer, dark clouds loomed in the distance. Just like her attitude, the day's weather would only get worse.

As she rode Katrina reminisced about all the memories created in the small western Washington town. Katrina remembered Ev's fascination with grapes and fictional characters; Mellie's extreme and irrational fear and hatred of oranges; Cinder's inability to keep her giant boobs out of wandering elbows; Sebastien's dire need to attend to every girl's needs; and Eryn's occasional days of being high at school. Katrina's lips curled into a ghost of a smile at the mental recall of her friends: whom she'd miss intensly once the days had passed.

Katrina fought tears as she tried to sum up good memories. Last summer, she along with her cousin Charlotte; and Mellie and Ev, all went to Wildwaves. They had a blast, and Katrina gave a bitter smile at the memory of the laughing that the four had exchanged while sliding down tubes into pools. She also remembered going to several concerts with Mellie, Ev, Cinder and Nana. She remembered the tight squeezes and the sweat of getting up close; nearly touching the lead singer.

They had made some crazy memories in this boring little place. Like the time they were at Jason's birthday party and his half brother snuck booze into the party. Or the time Mellie snuck Ginger ale into school during a state test, the late night horror movie marathons that she only attended to hang out with her friends.

Katrina attempted to push those saddening thoughts out of her head as the bus pulled to her stop.

She grabbed on to the seat ahead of her and pulled herself up and into the aisle.

Katrina kept her gaze raking the bus's floor as she made her way to the front where the bus driver was sitting with a sad smile and a hand on the lever to open the bus's doors.

She passed the buss driving man and gave him a small wave as she exited the giant yellow monstrosity.

During the walk home Katrina let her mind wander. Her point of focus danced from subject to subject, from the new neighbors she would gain in the move, to the ending to the book she finished that morning.

She was debating the possible release date of her favorite band's new album when Katrina came to the giant moving truck, obscuring the view of her driveway.

Katrina maneuvered around the giant vehicle half full of her family's crap, only to go through the obstacle course of the driveway. She dodged stray boxes left right and center as she neared the front door.

Katrina didn't even have to touch the door for it to fly open revealing Mrs Johnston, Katrina's mom.

Mrs Johnston was a short and kind of stout woman. An intestinal disease during her mid twenties had her hospitalized and on steroids that bloated her up for treatment. A couple months later she became pregnant with Katrina and after that her younger brother Ray so She never really had time to lose the weight she had gained. Not that it really mattered to her, she was a very cheerful woman, very unorganized as well. Katrina normally got along with her mother, when Katrina's grades began slipping last year they had fought on almost a regular basis. The both of them had handled it very poorly and their relationship was still recovering.

Mrs. Johnston gave a small smile when she saw her daughter standing on the small wooden deck outside the front door.

" Hey mum." Katrina mumbled as her mother pulled her into a hug.

" How'd the test go?" Her mother asked. Katrina shrugged from within the hug.

Mumbled from the secured arms of her mother came Katrina," I personally felt it went ok."

Katrina pulled back from her mother's grasp.

" Well at least that's something."

Katrina sighed as she passed her mother in the small entryway at the front of the house that separated the stairs to the top floor and the stairs to the basement of her house. Although it wasn't her house for much longer.

She continued to dodge boxes full of various household items as she walked up the stairs, turned left at the top of the stairs and continued to her room at the very end of the hallway.

Katrina shoved the door open, dropped her backpack full of personalized school supplies at the frame of the door, and stumbled a few steps before collapsing face first onto her unmade bed at the other side of her room.

She turned herself so she was laying on her back, and stared around her room.

Katrina looked from wall to wall imagining the posters that currently were packed away in boxes, were back on the pale yellow walls. They had documented the concerts and movies and plays she had seen. She lay there remembering each event as she visualized the poster in its rightful place on one of her walls.

The rest of the miserable day was spent packing up remaining things and getting ready to leave the next day. Every once in a while, Katrina would feel a tear or two fall down her face. She let them fall, of course, but never let her mother or father see them. Everything was packed up into the moving truck by the end of the night. Except of course for the clothes and the items that were to be taken in the car on the drive to Vancouver.

Katrina hugged her father goodbye as he got into his own car to lead the moving trucks up to the new house. She watched the trucks drive away, and continued to stand morosly. A thin mist fell over the yard, as if the sky itself was upset for Katrina moving. Katrina hugged herself as she wished her age old home goodbye, as it would be the last real day she'd see it. 

She went to bed on a loaned inflatable mattress with a thin quilt wrapped around her shivering body. Now that she was alone, Katrina finally let her tears out. 

Hours later, she finally fell asleep, curled up into the corner of the mattress clutching her pillow, worrying about the coming day.