The Book

Chapter 1

"Hey mom, whatcha doing?" I woke up this morning feeling very energized for some weird, unknown reason. It's been 8 years since the day of my dad's death. August 4th.

"I'm at the florist, sorting out your father's favorite flowers. Why? Do you need something?" His favorite combination of flowers were roses and sunflowers. He used to say he represented the sunflower, optimistic and always looking at the bright side of things. Mom represented the rose, sophisticated but stubborn.

"I'm fine, just a bit hungry. Want to meet up at dad's and eat after?" She agreed.

By the time I arrived, my mom was on her knees, shoulders shaking. I arrived a bit too late. The sunflowers and roses were separated and kept away from each other. She does this all the time, to subconsciously represent her loneliness through the separation of the flowers.

"Ma, get up. He wouldn't want to see you like this." She reached for my hand but was too weak, they fell to the ground, beside her feet.

"I miss him Mil. I miss the way his eyes would smile with his lips. I miss the way he'd rub my hand to calm me down. I miss his laugh and the way he'd be able to make anyone around him smile. I miss hearing him read to himself while I was trying to sleep. I miss him."

Listening to her shaky voice made all the energy I woke up with drain. "I know you miss him, mom. I know, I miss him too. I miss him just as much." My dad and I were best friends. I was 12 when he passed. Being 12 when the closest person to me died wasn't easy at all. It was the first day of middle school when I got called to the office. My mother was on the floor, the way she is now, but crying harder.

Hearing about my dad's death really changed something about me. I isolated myself, causing me to lose almost all of my friends. I used to laugh and smile at every person who'd pass by me. I know his death changed me, but I don't care. I changed because that's the only way I would have been able to deal with the pain.

Good things came out of my personality change. I turned to books as an escape from reality. The reality of pain and despair. I made a goal to myself, to read 500 books before I turn 21. Those 500 books had to be books my dad read and would keep a list of. Now that I'm 20 and my birthday is in 2 months, I have one book left. That's another story, for now though.

I gently lift my mom from the floor and let her lean on me. We stared out towards the pond my father wished to be buried by. His 4 turtles were resting on separate rocks. That's when I noticed there was barely any water and the water that was there was green and stinky.

"Come on, mom. Let's give our respect and leave to the main office to tell them about the pond." I knew my mom would listen because she cares a lot about the turtles. They were hers and my dad's before he stated he wished to put them close to him.

I grabbed the flowers from his headstone and arranged them so the roses and sunflowers would be together again. I put them inside the grave vase and gave his headstone a kiss goodbye.

"I love you, dad. I'll be back soon."

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"Excuse me? Why would you guys allow that?"

"Sorry, ma'am, but you're going to have to keep your voice down. We've been recently told to drain the pond because of the current drought we're experiencing. We aren't responsible for those turtles, since they're not ours. The ducks, yes, but those turtles were put there by some irresponsible people who didn't want them. Not our problem."

"Those 'irresponsible people' are me and my mom, and we didn't put them there because we didn't want them. It was a dying wish from my father, asshole."

I turned on my heels, flipped him off behind my back, and walked out the exit. "C'mon mom, let's go get the turtles."

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I rolled my pants up the furthest they could go, just a little above my knees. "You grab them once I get to you. Don't forget to wrap them in the towels we have."

I handed her the first turtle I encountered, he was trying to crawl to the water but his shell was starting to harden. I went further in, the water touching my knees. I was playing chase with the 2nd little bastard, but I was able to catch him and hand him to my mom. Each other them were being poured water onto. The third turtles was sunbathing on a rock, so he was easy to catch. The 4th one gave me some trouble, though. It took me half an hour to find him. He was stuck in a plastic bag.

"Damn these people. Not caring about anything but themselves. It's okay, little cutie. You'll be okay now."

I got out of the pond to find that my mom laid towels in her car for the 4 turtles. Too bad there wasn't a left over towel to put in my car.

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I woke up with a headache. "God dammit. Again."

3 weeks have passed since my dad's deathversary and school is starting in 4 days. I haven't had the chance to get my textbooks for this year. With this being my last year, I really need to focus on what I want. My own bakery.

Since my dad died, my mom let out her sadness through baking and cooking. I'm a sucker for sweets. I gotta admit, my mom burnt a lot of the Nutella brownies but...they're still Nutella brownies.

Anyway, I started helping her out around the age of 15, when I was going through my own personal problems as well.

Freshman year of high school. Man that brings a lot of bad memories.

*5 Years Ago*

Angelina put her arm around my shoulder and turned me around. "C'mon girl, David wasn't worth it at all."

David, my boyfriend of 2 years, had just broken up with me because of a new girl he became interested in, whatever that meant.

"I just don't get why he'd leave so suddenly. We were doing so well. He went on a camping trip with his family and the moment he sees me, he decides he doesn't want me. What happened on that. god damn trip."

"He met a girl hotter than you. You just got to accept that and move on." Ouch. That hurt. Angelina has always been blunt, but she'd never make me feel bad about myself. Obviously she didn't think about her words this time.

Angelina and I walked around the mall for a while more, before she had to leave because she was meeting with a friend.

"Alright then, I'll see you later."

"See you later, cutie." She blew me a kiss.

Angelina and I have been best friends for 2 years. My mother and I moved places to get a fresh start, so I began middle school as a new shining object. I met Angelina in the girl's bathroom, where she had shyly asked if I could pass her some toilet paper, hand sticking out from below the stall.

She later introduced me to David. We instantly felt like we knew each other and we started dating.

Now we're freshmen in high school and, while I'm still friends with Angelina, I'm not friends with David anymore. I can't be. I wish I could message him and apologize for not being good enough, for not being what he wanted, but that I would try harder. But I can't be pathetic.

I wonder why he left. Who was it? Why? I don't think I'll ever know.

*back to present time*

Well, Mildred, you found out shortly after Angelina left you at the mall that day.