A Monster's Love

A Monster's

Love

By Mindy Ford

PART ONE- LONDON, ENGLAND

CHAPTER 1

I imagined visiting the beautiful London, England multiple times in my childhood. It's even on my bucket list, right after Ireland and Greece. Any other time, this plane ride would have been a dream come true. Right now though, I want nothing more than to be back in my hometown of sweet Nashville.

It's ironic, actually. The thought of ever being able to leave Tennessee when I was young made me ecstatic. Being able to see the world in a different way, in different places. I would look at pictures on the internet of the greenery and ruins of Ireland to the crystal clear water in Bora Bora, imagining that one day, when I'm older, I would have the funds to do so. And now here I am, 37,000 feet in the air, hating for the moment we land in this foreign country to yours truly.

"Would you like a drink, Miss?" the flight attendant once again asks me.

"Another, please." I raise my whiskey glass in the air. I can tell by the unsure grimace she gives me that she thinks it's a bad idea. But hell, it's my liver, right?

Any other time I would have the window open, but it was as soon as I sat down that I had closed it. It's an almost ten hour flight to London. I wish it was twenty. My glass soon arrives and I slowly sip on the dark liquor. This is exactly why my Mom sent me here, well the booze and the drugs. It's not like I'm addicted. I just met the wrong crowd, and the fun crowd, to be honest.

I reminisce on the memories I had with my best friend, Emily. She is older than me, so I looked up to her in an odd way. That was, until I was arrested, twice. Public intoxication will get you every time. Honestly, I still somewhat look at her as my role model, twisted but true. She's my best friend, as crazy and wild as she is.

I swipe through my pictures of us over the last two years in one hand while I continue to sip in the other. Guys, drinks, parties. It was the works. My Mom is sending me to my stepdads as messed up as that sounds. He is honestly the only fatherly influence I know of, though. Well, ex stepdad, technically. It's crazy that one relationship can affect others in a thousand types of ways.

Basically, my biological dad wasn't a dad. They fell in "love" for a month or two and she got pregnant with me. I mean it was the 70's, right? And then he was gone. I laugh at the thought of my Mom being one of the hippie gangsters back in the day.

When I was five, she married Daryl. That relationship lasted a little longer, two years to be exact. But in that time, Daryl became the father that I didn't know I needed. We had an even healthier relationship than he and my Mother did. Still do, even though they're divorced, which is why I'm headed to London. After their toxic marriage had ended, he had evidently met his "soulmate." Turns out though, she lived halfway across the map. Daryl still helped me with my college funds and apartment over the last year. He said he didn't want me living in the atmosphere of a dorm, and I completely obliged. I mean, what 19 year old wouldn't have wanted their own apartment? And two years later, Emily was living with me and we were throwing the most extravagant parties anybody our age could have, which is why I was forced to come here. Daryl had threatened to exempt my funds if I didn't come and stay with him and his family, which meant taking a break from my classes, but it's not like I was attending them anyway.

"Cabin crew, please take your seats for landing." The captain of the plane announces. I quickly swallow what's left of my alcoholic beverage and wait for the awkward moment of seeing Daryl after so many years and his snooty wife, and daughter. That's right, evidently miss innocent April had a daughter before marrying Daryl. I never cared to ask what happened to her ex. I just figured it failed like most married couples do.