Life Turns On a Dime

Chapter three

"We'll go out for lunch tomorrow, okay Abs?" I said as we drove up to the house. "There's somewhere I want you to visit with me."

"OKay..." Abi responded hesitantly. "Where are we going?"

"Do you not trust me squirt? It might even get you out of the afternoon at school..."

"Good! I'm up for it then!" She said before getting out of the car and walking around to the trunk. I popped the trunk and went around to meet her.

We grabbed the painting gear we had just bought and brought them into the living room. Today was the day we were going to finish painting and start decorating, since the boxes with the few things we owned had arrived. 

Abi, of course, decided to paint her room Pink. She loved pink, she had a weird obsession with it, but I wasn't going to question it. I was going for white because I wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted with the room. It would always be a fresh start, which is what I felt like I wanted.

I went and started putting tape in my room. While I was turning to the final wall I could've sworn that I was 5 again and Lucas was beckoning me out to the yard. My knees buckled under me as memories washed over me.

One that was most prominent was when Lucas broke his arm. I had been four. Elena was over and we were all playing house, Lucas's friend Joey was with us also. Joey and Lucas were both 8 at the time, they were quite a bit older, but they would still play with us. I was the mom and Joey was the dad, I'd had a giant crush on him and was teased constantly for it. Lucas, Elena, Doug and Savannah were all out children. Abi still wasn't born then. I was running around with the two year olds singing.

I suddenly heard a scream from Elena and saw Dougie trying to bite her. "Doug!" I scolded getting into my motherly role. "That's bad! Leave your sister alone!" 

Joey laughed at me because Doug continued. "Douglas, listen to your mother!" He said and Doug instantly started to cry. 

"She's not my mother!" He screamed. "And you can't tell me what to do!" 

I went over and took Doug in my arms. "I know bud, it's a game. I'm mommy in the game and he's daddy."

"Ohh..." He stopped crying and ran over to where Savannah was sitting. They had truly been partners in crime. If one of them was up to something, the other was covering up. They wanted a cookie, one would cry while the other went and stole two for them. It was amazing how smart they were in their lives. To this day I still don't know what Doug was covering for, I don't know what Savannah was up to. Must have been something little, she never got in trouble for it.

"Reenee!" Lucas called to me from the swing. "Come over here! Watch what I can do!" He had obviously forgot I was supposed to be his mother, but he was eight so who cared. I ran over to see what he wanted. "I can jump off this swing and land on my feet! Wanna see?" 

"Yes!" I said excitedly. I'd always looked up to Lucas, he was my older brother. I loved him with all my heart. He would always hang out with me, even if his friends were over. He wasn't the type to pick on me because I was the younger one.

"OKay, three.... two... One..." He jumped but misjudged his momentum. I went flying forward and landed on his arm. I saw him start to cry so I booked it across our lawn to go get our mom.

"Mommy! Mommy! Luc is hurt!" I cried at the door. "Lucas hurt himself!"

"Oh, it's okay honey... He probably just got a bruise." She said trying to calm me down. I knew it was more then a bruise though, Lucas never cried.

"No! He's crying mommy... It's a bad hurt." And with this she followed me out in the yard.

The memory must've caused tears because next thing I knew I was shaking with Abi's arms wrapped around me. "It's okay Ren..." She soothed. "Everything is okay..." I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

"Thanks Ab... I looked out the window again and saw it was already dark. "Want something for supper?" I asked wipingthe last of the tears from my face.

"I already had some of the left over chinese and I was going to have a shower and head to bed. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... I'll clean up and then be right after you with the whole shower thing."

"Okay... Good night." She kissed me on the cheek and left. I started to clean up. God I missed my family.

I walked into Mr. Tomlinson's room at the beginning of lunch. "Umm.. Hi?" I said at the door.

"Ohh... Hello Reenee..." He said obviously not expecting me. "How can I help you?"

"I just wanted to let you know I won't be in class this afternoon." I said looking at my feet. God he was gorgeous.

"Ohh... You haven't transferred have you?" He sounded extremely disappointed.

"No... Of course not, you're an amazing teacher. I just... need a personal afternoon, that's all."

"Okay.. Well I'll miss you in class." He said with a concerned expression. Was she partially flirting with me? He couldn't be..

I walked out into the courtyard and saw Elena sitting against a tree reading. I walked over.

"Hey, Elena!" I said brightly.

"Leave, now..." She said to me.

"Wh-What?" I stuttered out.

"You don't need me here. You can be popular and liked. Leave before I ruin all that for you."

I had no idea what she was talking about. "No, I'm not leaving you alone because some idiots think you're weird or a loser."

Her face turned scared. "I'll talk to you later. Just leave for now, please." She was practically begging so I left. 

As I walked away I heard Courtney come over to her and start talking. Once I heard "Loser" and "Slut" I tuned everything out until I got to the car.

Abi was already there waiting for me. "You ready to go squirt?" I asked as I unlocked the car. She nodded and we got in. As we started to drive I felt that her eyes were on me. "What's up?"

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Well... We're going to subway first so you can get some food in you and then there are some people I think you should officially meet."

"Who?" She asked.

"You'll see when we get there."

An hour later I pulled up at our final destination. I got out and walked across a small patch of grass and waited for Abi to come up beside me.

I motioned to the five headstones and turned to Abi. "Meet out family squirt."

She walked up to one and read it out loud. "Lucy Hyden, 1974-2003. Beloved daughter, sister, wife and mother. She was always there for the ones she loved."

As she went down the line and read them all I went to the one I knew the best. "Hello Lucas..." I said. "I'm sorry for what I said last time I was hear, it's not your fault. You made a promise and I'm sure now that you're keeping it. I'm missing you brother." I put a flower on each grave and the went and sat down.

Abi came and joined me a few minutes later. I welcomed her in a warm embrace. She cuddled into my chest and the tears began to spill. We sat like that for almost three hours.