You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 2

Chapter 31: Exogenesis (Or, The Movement of Life Elsewhere)

The names of the sections in this chapter correspond to something VERY specific. I literally took the names from their names. Wondering if any of you know what it is...

Hints: they're from an album. All 3 songs are in a row. They are NOT the only titles of the pieces.

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The City, 2007

Overture

The emptiness around me buried its way into my skin, deep into my mind as it whispered threats and echoed memories of how life once was. The armoire doors kept the reminders behind them, the neatly-made bed lacking even a single wrinkle. Everything had this brand-new sheen to it, as though it had never been touched, the toys never played with, the books not once cracked open and scanned over vigorously. The loneliness of it all enshrouded me, attempting to use forceful hands to pull me in and get me to stay forever. I didn't dare try the other room downstairs, the wounds somehow still fresh. It had been five years since that room had last been used, and now it, too, was used as nothing more than a museum of a life that had once been. Three rooms now stood useless in this home, never sealed off, but haunting enough to discourage most visitors.

Unfortunately, it's hard to ignore the siren's song of the tableau right across from what would soon become my own.

It was only when the bitter sting buried itself so deep into me that I thought of nothing else that I made the decision to turn around and resume my own activities. My dresser drawers and closet stood wide open, nearly emptied of their contents. They played a sad, hollow song, lacking what gave them life, as they creaked with the shifting that comes with any old house. It was trying to get me to stop for a moment and reconsider, but I was unwilling. Soon, I would have nothing left here, and I knew that. Other opportunities were opening for me in other places, far enough away to keep me from having to run into someone who would just ask why.

The only difficulty came from making the announcement to the head of the household. These days, I wasn't even sure he would notice I was in the room, but I still felt it a common curtesy to assure him the fourth empty room wasn't the result of a kidnapping or disappearance. It was all in the name of attempting to move on.

"Hey, Mina."

I jumped as Klaus slammed his hands against my doorway, peering his head in and disrupting my thought process. Still, as I turned around to look at him, I couldn't be angry.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." I flashed him a smile, assuring everything was good between us. "The old man's unoccupied, so if you want to break the news, now's your chance."

The moment the possibility of my declaration became reality, I began to tremble. Could I really do this? Could I stare down the demon and say those four fateful words?

"Dad, I'm leaving tomorrow."

He let Diego go without much of a fight, but then again, Diego wasn't prone to what I was. I knew there was something wrong with me, understood that I was hurting myself and putting myself at risk, but I couldn't stop. And that was the worst part of it all. I tricked myself into believing that if I left, I would start to get better.

But, with no one left to talk to, would that really be possible?

Noticing my distress, which I'd never been very good at hiding in the first place, Klaus made his way over and pulled me into a tight hug, trying to remind me that everything would work out in the end. Like it or not, there really was nothing Dad could do to stop me. He could protest and hurl his insults and lack of belief in me right into my face, but at the end of the day, he wouldn't leave that office to keep me from going out the door. Not to mention, I was stronger than him, even now.