In a Million Lifetimes

Prologue

NOTICE: This is not the writing style of the book, there will be more dialogues and interactions between characters, this prologue is just an brief introduction and provides readers with a backstory.

  After the death of my father, our house went from a sunny and blissful place to a reminder of the pain and sadness that we all went though in the last six months, which were a blur of hospital rooms, doctors with worried expressions and the thin, pale face of my father who kept telling us he was going to be okay. But the stage four cancer in his lungs said otherwise, and we lost him only six months after his diagnosis.

  I was there, holding his hand, when he took his last breath on the dull grey hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines that made a monotone sound, as if assuring me that my father was indeed gone forever. To say that my heart shattered into a million pieces would be an understatement, and although I knew that my father was no longer in pain, I couldn't bear the fact that I would never see his big goofy smile or hear his loud joyous laugh ever again.   

  Shortly after my fathers death, my mother came up to my room and told me she had decided to sell our house. "We cannot afford this lifestyle anymore" she explained, and when I asked her where we were going to live, she held my hand, and told me that she had spoken with her sister, and that she was sending my ten-year old twin brothers and I to live with her. "Only temporarily...I cant work full time and raise you and your brothers simultaneously..." she whispered, with a voice filled with hurt and downheartedness. I had a million objections to her plan, and was about to start arguing with her, but the instant I looked into her  grief-stricken , puffy red eyes, I held my tongue. I knew that she would miss us, and her life would consist of nothing but work to provide for us, but above all, I knew it was the hardest decision she has ever made. I remembered how she used to tell us that everything she ever does is for us, and only now did realize the truth in her words.  So, instead of arguing, I pulled her close to a tight hug. 

 The next month was filled with nothing but packing and planning, as we prepared to leave for Ohio, to our Aunt Maisie, whom we have only seen a few times when we were young. The distance between our states prevented us from visiting each other, and the fact that both of our families couldn't afford to travel didn't help. However, despite the fact that they barely saw each other, my mother and her sister were very close. Aunt Maisie was always there for my mother, no matter what. I always thought of her as an ideal older sister, and I always hoped to be as good an older sister to my brothers as she is to my mother. 

 The month passed quickly and before I knew it I was hugging my mother, saying goodbye, as tears streamed down my face. After we said our farewells for the hundredth time, my brothers and I boarded the plane that soon took off. As I looked down at my city from the sky, I muttered a "goodbye" to my home, and to everything and everyone I was leaving behind.