APODEMIA ➣ ||P. PARKER||

•chapter one•

I tightly held onto the pink straps of my backpack, my light up Skechers shoes clicked against the cement as I walked past the bike racks. Kids hollered to their parents as if they haven't seen them in years, others waved goodbye to friends.

"Bye," I waved to a girl with short blonde hair, we had played together during recess, she told me her name but I had forgotten it by the end of the day. It was just with all the other kids at school, introduce yourself and play during recess and then forget all about them by tomorrow, a rinse and repeat process.

"Bye, Alisa!" she waved to me before entering her Dad's car, and I felt bad now because she knew my name but I forgot hers.

I arrived home at no time as I skipped and hummed a tune, my house was not far from the school, making it easy to walk. Normally Mom or Dad would pick me up by car, but they had not shown up this time.

I pressed the doorbell once and Mom opened the door, bringing me in the house after giving me a small peck on the forehead.

"How was school, honey?" She asked kindly, however her voice seemed a bit off today and it sounded like she was hiding something. "Dad and I were a bit busy and we couldn't pick you up, sorry."

"It's okay," I chirped in reply, not really minding because it happened often. "I have homework, bye!" I kicked off my shoes at the front and ran upstairs to my room.

Flinging my backpack to the carpet floor, I zipped it open and took out my folder, taking out my homework for today from my English teacher. It was a good thing that my math teacher forgot to give us homework, because I for one was not good at the subject.

I sat in my desk chair and took a hot pink colored pencil from a cup holder, the topic for today's writing homework was, 'What makes you happy?'.

I thought to myself and began to procrastinate, not really sure what makes me happy, I could just make something up but that would be too boring. Was it food? Disney movies? Mom and Dad? School? Well, school isn't enjoyable other than lunch and recess.

Many things made me happy, but putting it all into words couldn't be possible.

"Alisa, honey, dinner is ready!" Mom called from downstairs, making me realize that I had spent the entire time not writing down a word other than my name and the date.

"Coming!" I called back, setting aside the fact that it was only five, sometimes Mom would make dinner early because she had to go to work soon.

I got away from my desk and ran downstairs to the dining room.

A smile lit up on my face when I saw spaghetti on my plate, Mom's homemade spaghetti was the best thing in the world, it made me happy thinking about it now.

Mom smiled at me. "We're having dinner a little early, but your Dad and I have work in a bit."

"It's okay!" I replied, getting seated and grabbing my fork.

Dad placed a glass cup of water by me, "have a drink before you eat." He said.

I took a gulp of water and then stabbed my fork in my pasta. I twisted my fork like how people do in the movies, and shoveled them in my mouth, chewing and stuffing some more.

"Slow down," Mom joked, chuckling lightly at my face, but something seemed off, she looked sad, guilty even.

I wondered why.

Swallowing down the noodles, I used a napkin to wipe my mouth clean and took a small sip of water. Digging my fork into more of the noodles and sauce, I ate a couple more bites.