She woke up from the dream, her forehead dripping with sweat and her cheeks streamed with tears. Her bangs were plastered to her face, and her heart was pounding out of her chest. Another dream of her father had crept into her head. They were different every night. In some of the dreams, he simply abandoned her. In some, like tonight, he was killed and hurt. Her father. The man who stood laughing over the stove as he flipped smiley face pancakes and stirred together chocolate milk with striped bendy straws.
Claire stood up slowly, feeling the ground with her bare feet, the cold wooden floorboard chilling her from her feet to her head. She felt a little more alive, but not quite, the dream still flashing behind her eyes, making silent tears drip down her freckled face as she walked into the kitchen to make herself breakfast. Despite not having an appetite, she poured herself a bowl of cereal, and ate it slowly, staring at the wall.
She silently thought to herself as she cleaned the dishes in a mix of soapy water and silent tears, as she stared out the window above the sink.
He's out there. I can feel it. I just have to look for him harder. I just need to find him if it's the last thing I ever do. I won't let him just be forgotten like mom.
She finished up, walking around the apartment getting ready, and nothing more. The life was drained out her eyes, the blue color looking dull and sad. Packing a small bag, with an even smaller pin on it that read, "Always Blue". The pin was a little paint chip, and she had simply chose it only last year because blue was her favorite color. Now it was how she felt. She slipped a wallet into the bag, as well as headphones and a folded sweatshirt. Right on the top, she placed a small photo of her and her father at her Junior prom, both of them looking like they were ready to take on the world. She didn't want to ever come back, unless her father came with her. But she couldn't leave everything. She needed one last piece of him, just in case.
As she walked out the door, she traced her finger along the copper number next to the door frame. 43. No matter how far the two had moved across the world, it had always stuck with them. From the small country house on 43 Maple Ave to the small apartment in New York City labeled the same. If her father had been standing next to her, she would've asked why. But for now, Claire could only simply wonder.
YOU ARE READING
together at last
AdventureHe was gone. She knew that, but part of her wanted to believe that if she really tried, she would find him again. She would walk to the ends of the Earth just to get him back. She despised sitting alone in the dark empty apartment, his bedroom door...
