GONER

1 • The Departure Announcment

When I came home, I was shocked to see that my mother had made brownies. They were sitting aimlessly on the coffee table, and I raised my eyebrows at the randomness of it all. She only made things like this, voluntarily, when something drastic was happening and she wanted to butter me up. Any other time, I had to ask her. Therefore, something important was happening, and I was going to know what it was by the end of the night.

"Hey, Tyler," she exclaimed, making me smile weakly. I've never been one for happiness or smiling. But she didn't need to know that. I mean, she obviously didn't care. "How was school?"

"It was alright," I answered cautiously, setting my bookbag down on the floor of our apartment. "Got soaked all over again. But I didn't expect much more from Seattle."

My mother and I have lived here for a pretty long time, and so I was used to the constant rain and lack of sunshine. I didn't really want to be used to it, but I was. Not much that could be done about it. Because of this, my skin was stunningly pale and I had very little knowledge in things that happened outdoors, besides how to use an umbrella.

"Well, I have a surpise for you," she smiled, biting her lip. She was still grinning, and a trickle of worry spilled through me slowly, spreading throughout my body. In all honesty, I had no idea what was about to come from her mouth.

"Which is what?"

With a deep sigh, she spit it out. "We're moving."

"What? Why? Where? When? Why?" I sputtered out immediately, confusion finding a home on each of my words. The suprise was evident in my voice, and I stood there, in the middle of the living room, soaking wet and trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

She shrugged vaguely, making her way to the table and picking up the tray of chocolate goodness. Holding it out to me, she motioned for me to take one. "Brownie?" She asked, and I just moved her hand away. I never really ate anyway.

"What on earth do you mean we're moving?" I exclaimed. "I can't move. Not from here."

"And why not?" Her back was to me as she moved to the kitchen, making me sigh deeply. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I looked after her, trying to get inside of her crazy, twisted way of thinking. What was this supposed to do? Like, what was she hoping to accomplish by moving us to where ever she was planning on? "Why're you so against the idea? Don't you think there's just too many bad memories here?"

Moving my way down to where she was, I replied. "I don't. But, obviously you do. It was five years ago," I groaned. "There's nothing you can do about it. He's not coming back."

"Well, Tyler, I know that," she breathed. "But being in here just reminds me of the fact that he could, while also knowing he won't."

"Fine," I surrendered, crossing my arms in bitter defeat. "Where are we even going?"

"Back to Ohio."

At that, I snorted. I snorted so hard that my nose ached, and I felt like a bee had just flown into my brain. Because there is no way in hell that I'm moving all the way back to Ohio. Or at all. Why should I? I mean, despite my obvious lack of friends and the feeling of hatred everyone always handed me, I had a few significant things to leave behind. This is where I grew up, for goodness sakes. This is where I learned to play the piano and the ukulele, where I learned to ride a bike (despite the obvious lack of use for it), and all that other good childhood stuff. Why throw that away? For essentially no reason.

"Would you quit laughing?" She commanded, causing me to attempt to stifle my laughter. It was still there, but I bit my lip, because this was stupid. And, I wish it was laughter that reflected happiness and not the sheer stupidity of what my mother just said.

"We leave Sunday morning, so I suggest you pack your stuff."

"That's tomorrow."

"I know," she smiled, before stalking off towards her room.

And the thing was, it only took me a four minutes and seven seconds to understand she wasn't kidding. And when I did figure out that she was serious, after that impeccably short amount of time, my mouth hung open lifelessly and my eyes were stinging with tears I knew I wouldn't dare let out.

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A/N: Ayye :) I've had this written for a long time, actually. But then TØP came out with the new album and I kinda freaked. So, I hope you guys like this one. It's a joshler, obviously lol.