Romance Monsters

One.

I was an only child in a quiet life. I spent my free time playing volleyball and basketball, going to piano and cello lessons. My parents sent me to private tutors and had me start preparing for college the second they could. I had plenty of friends and plenty of experiences. We went on vacations, and spent every single night eating dinner as a family. I had two boyfriends who didn't last long because I was focused on school and sports and all around too busy to pay attention to anyone, let alone boys.

And yet, I never truly felt like I belonged. I always felt like I was just going through the motions and living a life that wasn't mine.

I was genuinely excited to be moving, To be able to start over and create something for myself and not live the life that my parents wanted me to.

My parents wanted me to go to Arizona State when I graduated. They wanted me to be a doctor and "live to my biggest potential." It's not exactly what I wanted, but their hearts were in the right place.

My dad was an amazing man. He gave me and my mom everything, had his own pool business and my mom was able to stay at home with me. She took me to and from school, sports, my part time job. She made sure I was kept and healthy and I loved every single thing she did for me.

My dad was traveling to see his parents, my grandparents, when the plane went down. They said it was a one in a million engine failure that caused the accident. There were over 200 survivors, a few injuries, and four fatalities. My dad was the closest to impact when it crashed.

My mom of course didn't take it very well. She spiraled like I've never seen anyone do. Granted, I lived a sheltered life anyways. I didn't even know that she drank until it got worse. She met up with "old friends" and started bringing men around constantly. She was going out and only got me my license and a car because she didn't want me to badger her with phone calls when she forgot to get me from school or work. I had to quit sports because of it. I started making sure the bills were paid because I was tired of taking cold showers. My mom was living off my dad's life insurance money and all of their savings. I only knew because I had to write the checks all the time.

In my eyes, I lost my mom when I lost my dad. She stopped taking care of me, and I detached myself from her when she stopped being there.

But, I'm finally going to get some structure again.

My Uncle Theo had always been around. He called twice a week, visited us once every three months. He was only in his late twenties, but as soon as he turned eighteen he made sure he came out to us as much as he could. I love spending time with him.

Theo booked the soonest plane he could and made it out to me the next morning after my mom passed. I was still on the couch in what I thought to be shock.

"And you are?" I heard this snide woman say. I glanced over to a crooked nose, high heel, power suit, lengthy woman who followed Theo inside.

"I'm Theodore, we spoke on the phone," He responded. He looked the same. He looked like he hadn't changed since I was ten. His long black hair was in a pony tail and he wore a flannel. I could see how bruised, scarred, and messed up his arms were from here. His eyes met mine and lit up. He ignored the business woman and came over to me and immediately pulled me into a tight bear hug.

"Hi Mia-bia, I missed you," He said and I started crying.

As much as I resented my mom, she was still my mom. I lost my parents in the same two years and Theo was all I had.

"So, I need you to sign and get this paperwork notarized for the formal guardianship and see a judge out in your home state. I've forwarded the case to the agency there. I know she's seventeen, but it's policy and i need it to all be done by the end of the month," The woman said from the door.

"Mhmmm," Theo said, still hugging me, "Leave it there and i'll fill it out."

"No," This woman responded, "I have to complete the checkup and make sure Amelia's okay and that she's safe-"

"Go ahead," Theo cut her off and turned from me, "She wants to come live with me. Ask her all the questions, leave me the paperwork, I'll have it done."

I could tell by his short remarks he already didn't like his encounters with this child services lady. He turned back to me and moved my hair, taking a good look to make sure I was somewhat okay.

"Start packing your things," He said, "I've got errands to run and stuff, we will be leaving in two days. Let me know what you want from this house. We can take it all if you want. We have a reading of your mother's will today as well. No time to lose Bia. But, I can also hire movers and you just say the word okay?"

"Uncle Theo I'll be okay," I responded, "I'll get to packing."

"Actually," The same woman still by the doorway interjected, "I need to ask you a few questions and I'll be out of your hair."

Theo rolled his eyes before saying he was gonna run his errands and be back. I wiped my face and invited the lady further into my home

I'll spare you the details from Tonya-whats-her-names questioning. She left after half an hour and gave me paperwork to give to Theo. I began packing my room and deciding what I wanted to bring. Theo showed up a few hours later with a moving truck and began putting my things like my bed and boxes of clothes into it.

I didn't want anything besides my personal things. None of it held any value or held anything to me. It was all memories that i didn't need to bring with me

Over the next three days we went to lawyers offices, real estate offices, and car dealerships. In my mom's will, she left me everything. Everything was paid off and Theo helped me sell some of it to have some money saved.

"You can keep the house and her car and stuff ya know?" Theo interjected as we drove her 2013 BMW to a dealership.

"I don't have much money saved. I can't pay you rent or anything and i don't have college money set aside and-"

"Mia," Theo cut me off, "You aren't paying me anything. Also, I have plenty of money to pay for any and everything you need. Plus, your mom and dad left you some money also that you can get to when you are eighteen. At least keep the house just in case."

So we did. Theo spent some money to get an alarm system hooked up and everything locked up before we left.

And we were off to my new life and I couldn't be more at peace.