Perfectly Wrong

1. Destination

Taking a deep breath, Camila looks around the empty house she grew up in. It looks lifeless without all their furniture and memories hanging on the walls, nothing like the place she spent her childhood in. Her eyes scan the large kitchen and spot a purple hair clip on the ground next to the fridge. She bends down to take it in her hands, wiping off the dust as she remembers her dad giving it to her. 

 She must have been around five when she stole her mother’s scissors in the bathroom and cut off a strand of hair, then cried five minutes later when she realized it didn’t grow back as fast as she believed it would. Her dad found her and calmed her down, placing the hair clip in hair in a way that would hide what she did. He promised he wouldn’t tell her mom, so she used the hair clip for months without her mom ever realizing what she did. Of course she knows now that he did tell her mother, but they let her believe she didn’t know anything.

 Camila is taken out of memory lane when Sofia enters the kitchen, walking backwards like she does all the time. Her younger sister is quite a strange kid, but she couldn’t love her more. Sofia is always doing the whole backwards thing, not only walking, but also talking and taking dessert before the actual dinner whenever she can. With such a big age difference and no other siblings, she understands why her nine-year-old sister tries to find ways to entertain herself somehow.

 “ Hurry to says Mom, Camila!” Sofia says backwards, so Camila places the hair clip in her back pocket and walks out of the door with her sister, locking up her home for the last time.

 The two of them walk to the driveway, Sofia excitedly getting inside Sinu’s car while Camila stops in front of her Jeep and rolls her eyes. She looks again at the house, knowing she’ll be leaving behind eighteen years of memories, all of which include her dad. It’s been six months since he passed away. Long enough that Sofia doesn’t cry every time his name is mentioned, but recent enough that they’re struggling financially now that he’s gone. They couldn’t afford to stay at the huge house they lived in Miami anymore and her mom had been offered a nursing position in a small town in Michigan by Amelia, a friend she had from school. It was a no brainer, according to Sinu they needed a fresh start and she would also earn a lot more over there, being able to afford a comfortable life for the three of them.

 “ Camila, stop being such a downer.” Sinu says, opening the door to her daughter’s Jeep and making her get in. “ I think you’ll love Michigan.”

 “ Mom, stop being such an upper. I’m going to hate Michigan.” Camila says, immediately regretting when she gets a known glance from her mother. Sinu has always been able to deliver an entire lecture with one single glance.

••••

 For the next two days, Sinu and Camila drive the two cars, stopping once at a hotel to sleep and rest. Sofia switches between the two of them, riding with Camila in the final part of their road trip. When they arrive in their new town, Camila takes in her surroundings and the fact that it’s still September but the heater on the car is on, which means she’ll need new clothes. As she drives into their street, the GPS tells her she reached her new destination.

 It’s a residential neighborhood and she can see about eight small brick houses lined up on each side of the street. The lawns look taken care of and there’s a basketball hoop in one of them, but she already knows she’ll miss the beach and the palm trees. They had seen pictures of the house before, so she knows which one is theirs. She pulls up on the driveway right after her mother, noticing how small it is compared to the one they had in Miami. This one has too much concrete and garden gnomes for her taste.

 “ Sof, wake up.” Camila whispers. “ We reached our destination.”

 Sofia stretches her legs out and yawns, looking through the window at their new home.