A Drop of Black

Chapter 2 - *Flashback*

"Maman?" I called downstairs. Since living in France, I had taken to using a lot of French, even when at home. 

"What is it honey? Mummy is very busy." I snorted at her patronising reply. I was 13 now - She didn't need to treat me like I was still a little baby. 

Despite that, the house was being closed down and she must have been quite worried that something would go wrong - she was like this every time we moved house, so I decided to ignore it. 

"Where is Millie?" Millie was my beloved pet. She was a beautiful shetland sheepdog - I was always scared we would leave her when we moved. I had had since I could remember and she was the little bit of home and familiarity that I took with me when we travelled. 

Mummy laughed "She's sitting down here by the front door, making sure you don't forget her." 

"I would never forget her!" I laughed and called Millie upstairs. She bounded into my room, panting from racing up the stairs and put her front two paws on my knees, nuzzling me. I giggled and pushed against her in protest to the onslaught of her licking my hands and face. 

"Get off you silly thing! I have to pack!" 

She whined a little, but got down. I smiled... She could always understand me. Sometimes the only person, I think.

I got up, leaving a bottom shaped indent on the end of my bed, creasing one of snow white's rabbits and the hem of her yellow-gold dress on my bed covers. I knew I was a bit old to still have Disney in my room, but I figured that seeing none of my friends could ever come round, and my mum would treat me like a baby anyway, there was no point in persuading my mum to let me change it. 

I walked over to my wardrobe and opened it, empting it of my clothes. I had a couple that I had grown out of that I decided to leave there, and there was one nasty grey top that still smelt of the factory it came from, as I had point blank refused to even touch it. That stayed in there too. When I finally had taken everything out of my wardrobe, I looked at the huge pile of clothes on my bed. I took the hangers off my clothes - I had quite a few. I pulled a face as I lifted up a black jacket up. I had never worn it - I hated the colour black, but it fitted so it went into the suitcase - I never knew when I might want to wear it. 

I finished packing my clothes, and moved onto my huge collection of soft toys. I was going to bring them all - after all, how could I leave them when they came to life when no one was looking. 

I laughed at myself - I didn't really believe that, but I did have a thing about cuddly toys, so they did have to come. 

I picked them up in clumps that filled both my arms and piled them into the remaining space, I felts a bit bad when I had to put some of them into uncomfortable positions so as to just about fit them in. I put a few toys into a small bag that I would have with me, as well as my Gameboy.

Millie had been watching me the whole time and was still sitting and waiting for me, her tongue hanging out and her tail wagging happily. 

I walked out of my bedroom, saying goodbye to it. I would miss this room - it was the biggest I had had, because dad had let me choose when we arrived. I closed the door and though about where we might be going - daddy only found out when we got on the plane where our next home would be. I grinned and went to the top of the stairs, bent my knees, and jumped down the stairs two at a time, Millie doing the same.

Daddy was clicking away on his phone - he was always on it. When I was younger, I had assumed he must have a really good game on there to want to be on it the whole time, but he would never let me see it or try out the game. Now I guessed he was texting his friends, or doing work, or something like that. 

He was wearing a suit again - it was his usual clothing for when we were going somewhere. I once asked him why, as my school friend's dads didn't wear suits. He would always say that first impressions count - I never really understood that. I told him my case was packed upstairs. He nodded, barely acknowledging me as he was so engrossed in the game on his phone. I sighed, and went and sat on the couch with Millie and waited until we were leaving.

Sometimes I didn't understand my dad - he always wanted to move country to country. It was fun seeing all the different places, but I hated making friends knowing that I was going to have to leave soon, and we were never allowed to talk about it out of the house. He also pretended that he had different names a lot, and we had to go along with that too.

I was suddenly jolted out of my reverie by a tap on the shoulder - it was my mum. 

"Honey, we're leaving now. Are you ready to go?" 

I just nodded and followed her out, Millie still shadowing me. There was a long black car waiting for us. I hopped down the stairs, excited about where we might be going to next - daddy would only tell us when we got onto the plane. We would wait excitedly to see if it was good or bad. As far as I was concerned, there wasn't a 'bad' - we were going somewhere new! 

I got in with mum and dad climbing in after me. The driver directly addressed dad. All the drivers did that, but it sometimes still annoyed me - it's not as if mum or I didn't exist. 

"Sir, I assume you are aware of your itinery?" 

"I am." was his reply. "and we are 10 minutes behind schedule, so I suggest that you start driving now and get us to the airport on time." 

I could tell that the driver was in trouble for being late, because dad was quiet. He is always quiet when he's really angry. 

"Of course, sir." the driver replied as he pulled out and drove down our driveway.

I twisted myself in my seat and leant my head against the glass window, feeling the cold hard glass against my cheek. I closed my eyes and listened to the low humming of the car's engine as we drove away from my home for the past two years.