Dear Father,
I need to clear my head for a bit. I'm gonna spend some time with Mom.
I love you, I'll talk to you soon.
~ Charlie
This was the letter that Charlie wrote to her father. It took so much of her, but it was something that needed to be done. She got up from her spacious desk and grabbed her pre-packed bag she had laying out on her bed. She sighed and looked around her room, possibly for the last time. She walked out with the letter in her hand as she hauled her bag down the stairs of her Seattle home, into the living room. She put the letter on the coffee table, then walked out of the door. The Seattle air was brisk and cold in December. She tugged her coat tighter on her and watched her breath. Soft, almost like smoke. She hailed a cab and shoved her bag into the back seat.
"Where to?" the man in the front asked.
"The airport, please." she replied and pulled her phone out.
"You heading out of town?" he asked. He sounded desperate for conversation.
"Yeah, to the UK." she said setting my phone down.
"Now.. That's quite a ways out of town." he said. And she nodded. The rest of the drive was silent. When they got to the airport, she prayed, and got out. She politely waved and he drove away. The walk from the check in, to security, then to waiting was slow. It felt too slow. Time dragged on even longer until boarding finally started. She was one of the last people to get on. The safety video was something she drowned out faster that a high schooler in a Geometry class. As the plane started taking off, she looked out of the window. She wondered what her Dad was doing. Or what her Mom would be doing. Her Dad wouldn't be home for a few more hours. He's a doctor. That's how her parents met.
Her Dad was studying medicine and was sent to India when he volunteered with the Peace Corps. He was helping in New Delhi, and met her Mom. She was studying a design and writing at a school near him, and they met. After months of dating, they got engaged. And my mother got pregnant. 9 months later she was born. Charlotte Mae Alexander.
Like every relationship, they had their ups and downs. Charlie's Mom came from a well off family, and her parents didn't want her to have a child so young, whereas her Dad really wanted a kid. In the end, after careful consideration, and countless hours, tears, and being stuck between a rock and a hard place, her father came back to the states with her when she was only 4 months, and her mom finished her schooling and moved to the UK. She now runs her own magazine and is the Editor and Chief. Charlie has only seen her three or four times a year. She comes down, and always has presents, like things she gotten that were deemed perfect for her, or things from around the world. With all of her traveling, everyone is surprised at the fact that she can even run a company.
All Charlie's really known was her father and his side of the family. It was always weird with them. All of her cousins are blonde, tall, and beautiful. But Charlie is a brunette with a 5,3 height. "She's not beautiful." "She's not that special." That's how she thought of herself. She was just different. She never really fit in with her family. Her Father had Charlie homeschooled and she'd draw and write in her free time. He encouraged her and even bought her sketch pads and writing stuff, but sadly, she left them at home. She felt so stupid now. But now she couldn't go back. Literally. She's thousands and thousands of feet above the ground. She grabbed her phone and put on her headphones. She didn't care what she listened to at that point. She was in solitude.
She fell asleep for the remainder of the flight and woke to the bumping of the airplane as it landed.
"Did you have a good rest?" asked the guy sitting next to her. She rubbed my eyes.
