A Glimpse

Chapter 3

Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she saw her states welcome sign come into view. 

"I'm back."

No one else heard her, if anything it was more to finalize the anxiousness that had slowly started to grow. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "It's okay, you're going to be with your best friend. You're going to be fine."

Her words did little to calm her down, feeling her pulse thundering in her neck. 

Her anxiety continued to raise as sites became more familiar, feeling her hands start to tremble on the wheel. The music that she had playing did little to comfort her anymore, now being the only thing that stood between her and the downward spiral that she could find herself getting into. 

She pulled up next to a house, turned the car off and simply sat for a little bit, trying to calm herself. Her black car soaked up the sun, making its driver uncomfortably warm in a few minutes. She sighed and opened up her door, glad at least for the cool fall air that greeted her. 

Hearing footsteps, she turned around and couldn't help but smile. Her mom was rushing towards her, soon engulfing her in a warm embrace. "Welcome home."

"Thanks mom." Her heart calmed a little, for which she was thankful. 

"Come inside, come inside."

""Alright, let me grab my bags," she laughed. 

Once inside she took a deep breath, her homes scent a bittersweet memory. She carried her luggage into her room and sighed, glad to be in her safe room. She flopped down on her bed for a brief moment before she forced herself up with a groan, knowing she should go upstairs. 

"Hey," her dad said when she made it up the stairs. "How was the drive? The car still running okay?" 

"Yep," she smiled. "The drive was good. We have a lot of good fall colors this year."

"Helped that we got some rain near the end of summer."

 She nodded in agreement and sat down in a chair, her anxiousness still pounding away in her veins. 'I should really go see a doctor about-'

"How's your sister doing?"

"Hm? Oh, she's doing good. Got her car back a couple days ago."

"Yeah, she told us. How's school? You keeping up with your classes?"

She internally flinched as the mental image of her D's and C's came into mind but she simply smiled and said, "Yep. A's and B's."

"Good." Her dad nodded approvingly. "Make sure you don't let those B's slip. A community college is no university, but you still need to make sure to keep your grades up in case you decide you want more education."

One of her fingers twitched. "We'll see."

"I still don't understand why you wouldn't choose a job that pays more."

Another twitch. "I'm not going to be an electrician or a plumber dad."

"No nothing like that. But you know your sister's job field will pay her a lot more than a simple vet assistant job will."

"Vet tech."

"Same thing."

"Not even close."

"Would you care to explain the difference then?" her dads sharp eyes pinned her to her spot, his normal blue seemingly turning icy as they challenged her.

"Vet assistant is what it sounds like. They mostly do desk work. They don't do blood tests, urine samples, dental cleanings, or administer vaccines. The vet tech does."

"Then what's the point of the vet?"

"What's the point of a doctor?" she shot back. "That's all you need to think of it as. The vet is the doctor,, the tech is the nurse and the assistant is the desk receptionist."

"Watch your tone with me." 

She bit back a sigh and instead fell silent. 

"All I'm saying is that your sister will be more financially stable than you will be. And that you should think about getting more education to become a vet so you can be payed more."

"I'm not doing six years of schooling." She said firmly. 

"Have it your way." He picked up a book and silently started to read, shutting her out. 

She sighed, not bothering to bite it back this time. 'It's always like this. And they wonder why I don't visit more.'

Her mom gave her a pitying look, understanding that every single time the questions were the same and that it got repetitive. 

'Why can't he still accept what I'm doing?' she thought sadly. 'If I get an ESA, how will they react? It's bad enough that they harp... no. Bad enough that he harps on me about my B's. How would I explain an emotional support animal? He would never accept that.'  She sighed. 'I've just gotten here and yet I can't wait to go back to the freedom of my own apartment.'