Beyond My Reach(#Wattys2018)

Chapter 4

It's already been 3 days since I've had a proper conversation with Mom. It seems like she's avoiding any personal chats with me. At night, I've always heard high pitched voices coming from my parents room. I've never seen them argue about anything so much.
If going to Australia meant my Parents having a hard time, then I thought o calling off the trip. It wasn't worth it. Yet a part of me felt dissatisfied with my idea of not wanting to go to Australia.
On the last day of School before we headed for Summer vacation, Sarah gave me a body-crushing hug and ran off waving goodbye. She didn't even have time for a proper farewell. Her family was taking the evening flight to Paris since no more flights were available for the next whole week. Sarah promised to call and keep me updated every single day, but somehow it felt lonely without her around.
I was sitting in front of the Tv watching some program I couldn't keep track of. Out of nowhere Mom appeared in front of me and took a seat. Adam and Allie came down in a minute and sat on either side of me. It was Dad's final day at work, so he wasn't present for the god-know-what meeting Mom was about to have.
This is the best time to tell her to change the plans of going to Australia. But before I could utter a single word, Mom spoke out.
"Dad and I have been discussing about our Family Summer vacation trip." Really?? As if we didn't know. I'm sure the entire neighbourhood knew. They've been arguing in the middle of the night for Christ sake. I kept staring at her waiting for her to continue.
"I'm sure you 3 must have been restless. We had said that this year you could decide the holiday spot, so its only fair we respect your decision. So its settled then. We'll be heading over to Australia in a week's time."
When Mom mentioned Australia it was as if she was holding back in saying it. Like she was saying it only by forcing herself. But me, being the care-free daughter let my doubts slide past. I was too excited to worry about anything.
The next thing I know, Adam and I was squeezing the life out of Mom.

I spent the entire night surfing through the Internet on facts about Australia. I have never been so keen on finding information on the internet. It was always Adam who did it for me. I found really cool places to visit. I grabbed my notebook and took down all the best spots.
A pop-up advertisement appeared at the right side corner on famous people of Australia. Why not check it out right?

There seemed to be multiple photographs of celebrities, the prime minister and the leading wealthy families. Well nothing was special. The same old boring people each country had. But something caught my interest. More precise a name caught my interest. The "Simon's' seemed like the 4th leading family in Australia. I have no idea what got into me but then the next few seconds I started searching more about them. I googled up some information regarding them. Too bad they were only a couple with no kids. Man they're kids would have lead a life of royalty. I scrolled down the page and found a picture of the couple. They looked quite young compared to my parents. Duh... they've got no kids and Mine's got three.

I looked at the image intently, till their faces were practically imprinted on my mind. Zachary Simon had the looks of a gentleman. His gaze as he looked into the camera had a speck of kindness to it, but also as if he had lost something valuable. His wife beside him was the one I couldn't pry my eyes off of. She was a blonde, quite a beauty. She was totally the type the guys in my class would drool over no matter the age difference. Typical Boys!
Mrs Simon, or in other words Kate Simon had a beautiful set of eyes, in a deep shade of blue. Staring at it reminded me of my own eyes. I was the only one in my family born with blue eyes. But I didn't mind it at all, after all my Dad's were a shade of grey. Kate's eyes might be breathtakingly pretty, but anyone could see it was drenched with sadness. I could sense a feeling of longingness from her intense gaze. Snap out of it Amy. She has nothing to do with you.