Never Again

Chapter 7: Switzerland

The flight to Switzerland had been a short one and it had been surprisingly pleasant. There had been no turbulence, no crying babies and no clingy neighbours who wanted to talk. Keira put the book she had been reading back into her bag and made her way off the plane. The weather in Switzerland was even better than back home. The sun was shining brightly, making the hills looking even greener than they already were. It felt strange to be back in Switzerland without being accompanied by her parents and her sister. Matter-of-factly, she had never travelled all by herself before. A strange feeling of freedom settled in her stomach and she felt somewhat invincible.

She was looking forward to see her parents again, she hadn't seen them since graduation. A guilty feeling grabbed hold of her, she had wanted to go back to Belfast to meet them, but she never had made real plans to go. It was no use to dwell on it now, because she was going to spent the next couple of weeks in their presence. How that was going to work out, she didn't know. It had been several years since she had been home for this long and even then her sister had been there to take most of the attention. She grinned when she thought of her sister, she was such a attention whore, but she loved that about her. Hopefully her sister would come visit too during her stay.

The taxi had dropped her off right in front of the chalet. The driver had been kind enough to get her luggage out of the car and she was now standing in front of the wooden door. Was she ready for this? There was certainly no way back now, she thought. With some reluctance she rang the bell and it didn't took long before the door swung open.

'Pumpkin, there you are!' her mother shrieked while kissing Keira on both cheeks.

'Hi mum,' she said awkwardly.

'Hi baby doll, how are you?' she saw her father walking up to them.

'I'm good dad, how are you?'

'Still old,' he sighed disappointingly.

'You'll only get older, so get used to it,' she stuck her tongue out at him. At the same time she felt something attacking her legs, when she looked for the source she gasped in excitement. A small dog was wagging its tail and clearly wanted to be patted. 'You have a dog!' Keira exclaimed.

'Yes, we do. Do you like her?' her mother said elatedly.

'She's perfect!' Keira had already lifted the puppy in the air to get a better look and it licked her nose and wagged its tail again. She softly stroked its fur and couldn't stop looking at the puppy, it was a small black Labrador and she had the most gorgeous eyes. 'Why didn't you tell me?' she asked indignantly.

'We only got her a week ago and wanted her to get accustomed to her new surroundings first.'

'We were going to tell you,' her father added, 'but then suddenly you decided to come here, so there wasn't any time!'

Keira pulled her parents and the dog into a hug. 'Best surprise ever! What's her name?'

'Molly,' her mother responded while looking at the dog with a fond expression on her face.

'Hello little Molly, do you like me?' cooed Keira at the puppy. It licked her nose again in response and she reluctantly put her down on the floor. It ran back into the living room and Keira followed the dog inside.

Everything was still as she remembered and the wooden interior was really nice. Her mother put a large teapot on the table and her father followed her with a biscuit tin. They sat down at the table and her parents interrogated her about life back home after graduation. Molly was resting on her lap and she stroked her lightly while taking part in the conversation. Her parents also wanted her to find a job, but her father eased her worry by telling her that it had took him two years to finally decide on what he wanted to do. This brightened her mood and she told her parents about Abby and Tom moving to other parts of the country. Not that they would be too far away, but everything outside of London felt like the other side of the world to her.