I'd Sell My Soul

Chapter 3: The Triumphant Return

Song for this chapter; "Collide" by Howie Day

Allison Monroe's POV

I get the last box from the UHaul and pull the door shut. I walk up the gravel drive and climb the front porch steps to the one-story house. I close the front door behind me and step into the very '70s looking wood-paneled living room. Sophie comes down the hall to my right from the guest bedroom. She leans against the wall of the hallway and barries her hands in the pocket of her jeans.

"This is the last box." I nod at her before brushing past her down the hall to the second door on the right, the guest bedroom. I place the box on one of the stacks of my boxes and glance around the room. The barren walls are a plain white with a popcorn ceiling to match. The shag carpeting confirms the dating of the house that the wood paneling did. There's a queen-sized bed in the back left corner of the room and a small white wood vanity against the opposite wall with a matching chair. This is the room I stayed in, the few times I've visited, except Farrah always had fresh sheets and a comforter on the mattress. The bed has been stripped and is barren. Sophie takes note of me staring at the lack of bedding.

"I took the sheets off to be washed since they hadn't been in a while and the quilt...it's in the master bedroom...I just didn't really want to look at it." Sophie rubs her right shoulder awkwardly as she stands in the door frame.

"That's okay, I brought my own bedding. Thank you though, I appreciate it." I nod at her.

"Yeah..." Sophie sighs and adjusts her ponytail.

"Soph, if you want to talk about your mom, it's totally okay," I say as an address to the elephant in the room.

"There's a town meeting at six o'clock, I think one of the things they'll discuss is whether the High School is getting new textbooks. I was hoping we could go." Sophie brushes my comment off and crosses her arms. Everything about her body language tells me she's closed off and not in any mood to discuss her mother's passing. Quite frankly I can't blame her.

"Yeah, of course, we can go." I nod.

"Umm...we can get dinner at Dawson's beforehand. I'm sure people would be happy to see you." She shifts her weight from one side to the other.

"That sounds good to me. Let me get changed and we can go." I smile. Sophie simply nods at this and disappears down the hallway. I mull over the boxes until I find one marked 'clothing'. I pull out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a soft black long sleeve tee. I wander to my left and see a box marked 'shoes'. I rip the tape off and find a pair of black boots and stick them on my feet. I leave my room and cross the hallway to Sophie's room where she sits on her bed. Her room looks like what every modern day teen's room looks like. She has posters of bands I don't recognize, purple floral bedding, a tapestry, and a neat corner desk with her laptop on it. I sit on the bed, next to Sophie as she avoids eye contact an stares at her shoes. "You know your mom used to have posters of Nick Carter in her room." I chuckle and stare at the many posters.

"Who?" Sophie finally gives me eye contact.

"He was in the band The Backstreet Boys?" I blink. Sophie shakes her head. She has no clue who they are and I realize my own age. "Let's just go get dinner." I chuckle and we leave to get in the car. We leave the countryside and head into town before parking at Dawson's and walking in. A young hostess leads us to a small booth on the right side of the restaurant.

"Your server will be with you shortly." The hostess places menus in front of us and walks away. We sit in silence and take a gander at our menus.

"What sounds good to you?" I look up from my menu and at Sophie who's still staring at her's.