Dare to Fall

Chapter I

I opened the scrapbook my mom made me when I was just three which she ended up giving it to me as a birthday gift for my fourteenth birthday.

She started filling the scrapbook with pictures when I was just three. It was filled with pictures of us as a family, which makes me miss my dad even more by just looking at it.

My dad died when I was just thirteen and I have been living four years in agony without him. I think of the last memory I had with him which was when he took me to a place somewhere in southern California when it was summertime and I didn't know that it would be our last road trip together.

I flipped through the pages of the scrapbook and smiled to myself as I reminisce the past. The memories of my dad were as fresh as yesterday, making it harder for me each and every day to let the thought of him go.

I grabbed the scarpbook that was sitting on my lap and placed it on the bed beside me as I gathered all of my strength and stood up from my bed, slipping on some slippers as I walk out of my room. I was met with the aroma of marinara sauce down the stairs as I instantly made my way down. I find myself walking towards the kitchen but ended up stopping midway when I saw my mom applying make up to her face in the hallway mirror.

I cocked my head to the side and studied her figure, "What are you doing?" I ask as I continue to stare at her. She drops the foundation that she was holding and placed it on the table in front of her as she turns her head towards my direction.

She gave me a questioning look as I gave her one of my own as well, "The usual," she says. She turns her head back towards the mirror and started applying foundation onto her skin, dabbing the product lightly to her face with the use of beauty blender.

The usual = every two weeks, my mom goes on dates with a bunch of guys she met online, inside and outside her workplace. I have met a bunch of men that my mom brought inside our house and in all honesty, just the thought of her dating another guy makes me sick to the stomach.

My mom has been trying to move on about what happened to my dad. At first, I tried stopping her but I stopped trying when she keeps on ignoring everything I say, especially whenever I express my feelings towards what she's doing. She says just wants to forget about dad and move on with our lives and her solution to that is by dating random guys.

But as for me, it wasn't a reasonable answer. "I bought pizza, by the way," she says as soon as she was done applying red lipstick to her lips. I tilt my head towards the wall and gazed at the clock on the wall as it reads 7:15. "Please wash the dishes on the sink and do the laundry."

I scoffed at her remark, rolling my eyes along. "I'm about to go outside and meet Ethan," I say in a whining tone.

Ethan is my childhood best friend.

I met him when we were both in kindergarten back when we were both here in Pennsylvania. My mom was friends with Jen, his mom. My mom and Jen decided to introduce us to each other since we would be good friends and so, they did and we both ended up liking the presence of each other.

I left Pennsylvania when I was just seven and ever since then, we kept on moving to different towns and cities every year, leaving Ethan and the friendship that we have built behind. But then my mom and I moved back here in Pennsylvania just three years ago and decided to stay here for three or more years longer, thinking that it was probably safe this time to stay than to leave again. I rekindled my friendship with Ethan and promised to never leave him.