His daughter (Austin Carlile)

6

Erika

*next day*

Why was there beeping? Just continuous.."SHUT UP!" I yelled. I heard the door open and the beeping stop before I felt poking at my stomach. "Honey that was your alarm, you got to wake up or you'll miss you're flight."

Wow, I'm stupid. Didn't even know it was my alarm that was beeping. But my eyes shot open at the thought that today was my flight. I was moving to California today. Today was my new start. "When do I leave?" I asked Katie. I looked at the time and groaned, was it seriously 4:30 in the morning right now.

"Austin's coming at 5:30 and then your flight leaves at 7:00 so you have to get there early to get through security check and all that fun stuff." I rolled out of bed and sat on the cold floor trying to get my brain to work. "Shower." Was the first word I said and forced myself up.

I picked out my clothes before hand and stepped into the bathroom. I scrubbed and scrubbed under the hot water until my skin was pink. But I still wasn't satisfied, I just couldn't waste anymore time. I turned off the water and stepped out and dried off and put on some sweat pants and a hoodie.

I went downstairs to find Austin sitting there, eyes half closed, cup of coffee in his hand, I walked up to him and hugged him. He jolted awake and quickly hugged me back. "Good morning." He said. Katie came in and gave me a sad smile. I had a feeling it wasn't because she was sad to see me go. She knew about my past and knew my routines. She had to explain this to Austin. "Austin, I have to talk to you.." She said. She promised she would let me tell him when I'm ready! Not when she wants to! He immediately got up and walked over to her.

I sat there fiddling with my thumbs listening to the whispering that Katie was doing. At the end all I heard was "please take care of the only one I wanted to call mine." I felt the tears when she said that. My light was then blocked out by a tall figure that was obviously Austin standing there. "Are you ready?" He whispered and touched my arm. I looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I am." I got up and ran towards Katie. I hugged her so tight and cried. She returned and kissed my forehead.

"I'm going to miss you so much." She said as she let go. I just put my head down and turned around. I walked towards Austin. "I'll miss you to. I guess this is goodbye." She walked up to me and turned me around

"never Erika. Never goodbye. I'll see you soon." With that she let go of my shoulders and backed up. "I'll see you soon Katie." And I walked out the door with Austin.

~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~>~<~>~<~>~<

Security check was a huge hassle because they kept asking me a bunch of questions.

Since when does my date of birth and full name have to do with getting on a flight.

And since when is there ultra sensitive metal detectors that beep if you forget to take a dime out of your pocket. To say that I was annoyed was an understatement. "You ok little one?" Austin asked. I shook my head no and stayed quiet. "Security check?" I just nodded and laid my head on his shoulder. "I get it. It's gonna be ok." He said.

Before I could get an answer out our flight was called "Flight 1058 to Huntington Beach California now boarding, enjoy your flight." I stood up as Austin stood and grabbed his hand. The massive amounts of people were scaring me and I didn't want to lose him. He grabbed my hand right back and led me to the boarding door. "Enjoy your flight, enjoy your flight.." I kept hearing that repeated as the lady stood by the door collecting tickets.

I finally made it to my seat and sat down. Austin was behind me and I didn't like the fact that I would have some random person sitting next to me for 4 hours. Before I could see the stranger sitting next to me I let myself fall into a sleep that way I would probably be a little less tired.

~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<

I was wrong. Jet lag is a bitch. Cause while it's 11am over in Jersey. It's still 8am here. "Lets just go home and sleep." Austin said as he piled both of our bags into the trunk of the taxi.

I didn't have much. Only one suitcase that wasn't even filled with clothes it had a variety of things. It had pictures of my mom. And grandma. I had clothes piled on top of all the pictures. And then my little stuffed animals piled on top of clothes. It wasn't supposed to be a long ride. But all of this traffic was really killing it. But after two hours the taxi pulled up to a gated neighborhood. It looked expensive.

Like, really expensive. Lets just say unaffordable in my eyes. I gawked at the size of the house. It was HUGE!! There was a noticeable pool in the backyard and yard in the back. "Like it?" I heard behind me. I turned around and hugged him. "No I love it!" He ruffled my hair and led me inside. "Lets give you a tour of our home."
~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>~<~>

"And this is your room." He ended. It was absolutely beautiful. My style to. There were purple walls, a big black dresser to the side and then a purple area rug on the wood floor.

There was a queen sized bed with black sheets and purple blankets and pillows. Long story short it was purple galore. "I assumed that you liked purple so I orders everything purple and black." I loved the fact that this is my room. "I love it. Thank you so much." He just waved his hand and shook his head "you're my daughter now." I smiled and looked down.

I actually have people I want you to meet today. So if you want to nap, shower, unpack or anything just make sure you're ready by 5 because that's when we're leaving. And we have plans tomorrow." I nodded and stepped foot in my room.

My room. Everything felt so nice. This was my room. My home. My family. But I couldn't enjoy it because of the fact that I had to meet people Austin knows in 9 hours. It'll be fine. Right?