What We Lost In The Winter

Chapter 2 (Part 4)

I open my eyes, and instantly wished I hadn’t.

“Oh, Becca’s up!” Lily shouts. I sit up straight, blinking sleep out of my eyes.

“How was your nap?” Mom asks.

“Good,” I say bitterly, suddenly remembering why we’re here in this car.

“That’s good. You woke up just in time! Only twenty more minutes!” Mom practically sings. I roll my eyes. Twenty more minutes? I slept for a long time. Our new house was six hours away from our old one.

“Wow,” is the only thing I can manage to say. We’re so close, it seems unreal, just like my third grade teacher having a gun in her desk.

We enter a neighborhood filled with identical houses. All of them have the same architectural structure: only one floor and a screened in porch. The only difference is the color. Our car pulls up to an off-white house with a white picket fence. The grass on the yard is dying, but that’s typical of November weather.  

“Welcome home!” Mom shouts. We crawl out of the car and look at our new domain. This was where we were going to live? The air tastes cold on my chapped lips, but in a refreshing way. The front door opens and a tall, almost bald, figure appears.

“Daddy!” Lily screams. She flies through the front yard like a cheetah and pounces on my dad into a bear hug. He spins her in a circle, and then sets my little sister down onto the sidewalk path to the door.

“Becca, Lainie, come here!” Dad calls. Lainie, it’s so funny to think Alaina could have a nickname. I sigh and run up to him. My legs tense up from sitting for, who knows how long. Alaina follows behind me, her earbuds still stabbed into her ears. Should music really be pushed that far into your body?

“Hi, Dad,” I smile. I lean over to crack my back.

“Do you girls want to see your new rooms? Dad bends down to ask us.

“Yes!” Lily smiles a wide grin, showing off a missing tooth. I just go along and smile and nod. Smile and nod. Like always, Alaina shows no emotion.

“That’s great, now go help your mom bring in your bags,” Dad turns Lily around. I start to walk back to the car, but then I notice that my little sister isn’t right behind my.

“Lily, come on,” I snap and grab her arm. She makes an adorable little pouty face, like a cute Yorkie puppy trying to look like a big, mean Bulldog. It just doesn’t work. I practically drag her back to the car. I push open the trunk and start heaving out bags. Lily’s pink duffle tumbles around my feet. She runs over to pull it away from me. I help her lift it and get it on it’s wheels.

“Thanks,” she smiles. Wow, my little sister is more polite than my older one. Whatever, at least she’s using her manners. That’s a first.

“No problem,” I respond, grabbing my orange duffel bag from the bottom of the pile. Mom and Lanie’s bags stay in the car, they have hands, they can get them themselves.

I roll my luggage up to the front door. Mom and Dad sit on a white bench leaning against the house, kissing. I don’t shield my eyes and cry out in a fearful disgust like I did when I was little. No, I’m too old for that. I just look away, giving them their privacy. It’s understandable that they would need some romantic night together; they haven’t seen each other for a whole week, and that’s a long time to go without any contact with another Kingser. Even Alaina will occasionally look at us while we’re sitting at our old kitchen table doing our old home school work.

“Honey, Becca’s looking,” I hear my mom whisper.

“It’s okay, Mom.” After all this time, isn’t it just sad that they haven’t realized I’ve grown up? Even Lily doesn’t squeal when she sees two people in love. When will they realize that we’re not little kids?

I can picture my parents in about one week. They’ll be at a fancy restaurant, Mom wearing a blue dress, and Dad in a matching suit, the way they always dress when they go out alone. They’ll get their privacy for the first time in forever, and they’ll come home at midnight to a sleeping house, but that’ll be okay because they’ll be tired too. I can also picture Lily and I eating Domino’s cheese pizza in our new kitchen (even though I have no clue what it looks like) and then watching T.V. until 11, although we were supposed to go to bed at 10. Whatever happens, I can’t wait for that night, we all deserve it.

“Can we go inside now?” Lily jumps excitedly behind me.

“Okay, Lil’ Flower.” Dad smiles and lets out a small laugh. I personally love it when he calls my little sister Lil’ Flower. I think it’s adorable. He stands up and walks to the door, slowly pushing it open. “Come inside.”

A/N

This is the end of Chapter 2, sorry it was so long. I've found that barely anyone is reading this, which is sad because I spend so much time working on it. I understand though that some stories become big and famous, yet others disappear, never to be discovered. That said, it wouldn't hurt if you could comment how you feel about the story.

Question of the chapter: What do you think? Is moving going to ruin Becca's life? Or will it make it better?