Poppy & Mako [ONGOING]

Chapter 14: Uncovering the Truth

I woke from a nightmare about my mother. I haven't dreamt about her in ages. As you might remember, she left me, my sister and my father behind. But I suppose other than that, I haven't really gotten into it. In my old town, everyone knew she abandoned us. I should be grateful it was never discussed... well at least not in front of us. But it always created an uncomfortable 'elephant in the room' situation. You see, when a town is that close knit, the reasoning as to 'why' itches away at people. Dad never wanted to get into it, but can you blame the man? So when his job opportunity on the coast presented itself Dad pounced at it with no looking back. While this nightmare has brought up a lot of unaddressed questions and emotions for me, I feel like I can never go to my Dad with these types of inquires. I don't want to be like all of our old neighbours. I always forget how much worse it was for my poor Dad. Despite this internal battle, I head downstairs in search of any sort of answer that will put my mind at peace.

"Hey Popsy, how'd you sleep?" Dad asks. Poor thing doesn't know what's coming.
"Honestly, I had a nightmare about Mum." I share truthfully. Dad instantly retreats. Not physically, but definitely emotionally.
"Sorry about that kiddo." he says after a short silence.
"You know, I'd love to know more about what happened." I speak up, trying not to shy down.
"Your mother was always hiding in her study behind locked doors. Always had a secret she never wanted to discuss or admit to. She knew something no one else knew." Dad says, trying to say as much, but as little as possible.
"What made her run away?" This question may make or break this conversation.
"She said she was getting close to the truth. She wanted to hide herself and her research. But you know your mother's work it was always creating conflicts. I suppose this one was just too hard to hide from. She needed to disappear." Dad answers.

He was right. She worked as a private investigator which was always seeing her into tricky situations. As we lived in a small town everyone already knew the ins and outs of peoples lives. She was constantly travelling out of town, sometimes even flying across Australia for work. Her and Dad have always been smart, hard-workers. I suppose that's what brought them together in the first place.

"Thanks Dad." I reply. I don't want to confront him too much more.
"Let me know if anything else worries you. Sorry I don't talk about it much kiddo."
"No it's okay! You're an awesome dad, I don't need anything more." I smile.
"Thanks Popsy." he roughs up my hair, his go-to move. Typical Dad.

I flash him a silly face to lighten the mood. Already, we're laughing and pretending as if it didn't happen. Despite all this, it's going to take something drastic to shake the nightmare out of my head.

♡♡♡

There's less than 1 week until the full moon and I am less than excited. The full moon is going to land on a Sunday, which is not ideal as it's a school night. We should be able to get away with some sort of plan as it's technically a weekend? I don't know how lenient the gang's parents are, my Dad should be okay. Either way, we've got a whole week of school to get through before we start figuring out the logistics.

So I suppose it's about time I head off. I'm just about to start walking when I notice how dark the clouds look. Shoot, is it going to rain? I thought the Gold Coast was supposed to have beautiful weather. Just in case, I walk back inside to grab a small umbrella for my backpack. I don't know how much it would actually do in keeping me 100% dry, but it's worth trying.

Poppy: Did anyone check the weather forecast today? The weather looks dodgy.
Lewis: You're right Poppy, the weather is not looking great. My app says there's an 80% chance of rain from 11am until 2:30pm.
Emma: At least the rain will be all over before the end of school. It's not that bad, we'll just stay inside at lunch x
Cleo: Good idea Emma. Thanks for checking for us Lewis.
Rikki: Cheers guys.