The Boomerang Effect

~6~

It's time for me to go. It's been a few days, and It's time to leave, but when I leave the hospital I realize I'm also leaving my dad. And my mom. Oh, mom, I'm sorry.

Since I'm not stable to stand on my own, the nurse holds me up and helps me to the taxi in front of the hospital. Somehow, when they found our car, they were able to find my suitcase along with my iPod, Walkman, and headphones. The nurse is trailing the suitcase behind her. She helps me into the taxi, and then puts my stuff inside.

"Pardon me," I say to the nurse, "but I didn't catch your name."

"Lainey," she says. "Lainey Wesley."

Then, the taxi door shuts and I'm off to my crazy aunt Suzanna's house.

I touch my Walkman and decide to play the song that is currently in it. I forgot what song I had in there. Until it starts playing.

"Sherry, Sherry, baby," at first it's just one of the many songs I like, but then it starts to remind me of the accident.

"Sherry, Sherry baby," the memories are too much and I punch the side of the taxi with frustration. I scream without ever opening my mouth, more of a guttural sound, and continue to punch the door. The cassette is still rolling and I pause it. I guess the music I love now will remind me of that day. I look at the driver who seems fine, like he didn't just see a crazy girl lashing out.

The drive wasn't that far away from the hospital, really it wasn't, but it sure felt like it. I had so many things on my mind that trip, that it stretched on forever. When the taxi finally arrived at Aunt Suzanna's, I sighed. She was sitting on the front lawn, waiting to greet me. It's not her looks that I don't like, I'm not that type of person. The thing about Aunt Suzanna is that she looks so young, she's around 50, but she looks 30 or so. The reason why I don't like her is because she has some... mental issues. She says random things sometimes.

When she saw the approaching taxi, Aunt Suzanna leaped off of the lawn and came to greet us.

"Ellena!" she says.

"Hi Aunt Suzanna," I say.

I try to get out by myself, but I can't and she reaches out to help me. She holds me up as we walk slowly to the house. Somehow, she has my suitcase in her hand. I never saw her reach in to get it. She puts it down, and opens the door. The smell of cat and cat feces comes into my nose. It reminds me of Philito, but stronger. I crinkle my nose, the smell too much.

"What's with the smell of feces?" I ask.

"I believe that since we took these animals habitats from them, we should give them a little bit of their habitat smell back."

God, she is as crazy as I remember.

"Also, I don't want to clean it."

And lazy.

I roll my eyes. If I have to live here, I'm not going to do it with it smelling like animal crap. I make a mental note to clean the litter box later.

"Come with me, let me show you to your room."

I follow reluctantly. After all, how do I know I'm not gonna be one of her lab rats for a ritual of some sort?

I follow her up a staircase into a long hall. The wallpaper was cerulean blue with a geometric pattern, with a long cerulean blue carpet down the center of the hallway. Huh, I'll admit she has a good taste in style.

As we approach the end of the hall, Aunt Suzanna stops in front of a wooden door. There is a fake peephole on the outside.

"Welcome to your room," she says as she pushes the door open.

I gasp. It looks nothing like the last time I visited here. Last time, the whole room gave off a princess aura with its pink wallpaper and white over the top fuzzy rug. This time though, the room was decorated in a more me sort of way. The wallpaper was black with a white floral design. There was still a rug, but it was cerulean blue. There were Panic! at the Disco, 5 Seconds of Summer, and other posters decorating the walls. There were also white curtains with an aesthetic floral design and a king sized bed that had a red comforter with matching pillows. 

"Like it?" Aunt Suzanna said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah... it's amazing!" I said.

She smiled, "I knew you'd like it."

Huh, maybe Aunt Suzanna wasn't that bad after all.

"So... wanna play some Taboo?"

Well, scratch that.

"No thanks, I'd like to stay in my room for awhile."

"Okay, that's fine."

It was around three hours later when Aunt Suzanna came up with a tray of food. I guess it wasn't really food. It was a cookie and a carton of boxed milk. Yep, she doesn't even have the decency to buy a big gallon of milk from the store, just the type of milk you receive when getting hot lunch at school.

"I brought some food," Aunt Suzanna said.

"Thanks, could you leave it on the dresser?" I asked.

"Well... I could... but then you wouldn't see what's underneath the carton of milk."

"Fine," I reluctantly said.

She walked over with the tray in hand.

I sat up on the pillow and she brought the tray close. She handed it to me and I lifted the glass. There was a $50 bill underneath it. The ring the water made on the glass had cause the water to seep onto the bill. Although the bill wasn't completely soaked, I didn't exactly expect it to hold together well.

"What is this for?" I asked Aunt Suzanna.

"It's for you to go out, buy a decent meal, get some stuff for yourself, and make some friends."

"Oh... okay," I said, not really knowing what to say back, "but I'm good up here."

I put my headphones on and as soon as I did, the music started playing, but as soon as it did, it stopped. She had yanked my headphones off.

"Look, Ellena, I know you don't like socializing... especially with people you don't know... but you're going to be attending school here and-"

My mind trailed off. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not school. Why school? I'm not at home, why do I have to go to school?

"-so I think you should go out," I heard when I zoned back in.

"Um... no thanks, I'm good I-" I started to say.

"You're going."

There was no changing her opinion.