Background Noise [HS]

TWENTY-TWO

Violet drove away from the city and into rolling hills that her car took with a sway in the suspension, feeling like it could fly off the rails with every dip and turn. The sun cast the sky in orange hues, blinding her through the windshield. Throughout, the radio blared some pop hits song. The words were muffled through the speakers, connection severed every now and then when the antenna fell blocked by an obscure piece of land.

Finding the music to be too loud and the surrounding plains entirely too quiet, she rolled the windows down. Her hair went up in a flurry of wind and sheering cold, whipping around her head, ends of the tendrils flying out the driver-side window. All alone on the open road, Violet sang along to the song with pitches in her voice and a steady hand on the wheel slowly guiding her along the canyon-like turns.

In the passenger seat, the screen of her phone came alight.

Harry
iMessage

Oblivious to anything but the sun streaming in and the music out, Violet let go of her worries and lost herself in a world of melody, the hum of her car, and blinding rays of sunshine.

It was not until the journey came to an end that the mini-concert reached its own demise. With a turning of wheel and crunch of gravel, the little car made headway down the driveway leading to her childhood home. Signs of life were scanned for as Violet approached, looking for movement, though nothing was detected of the sort but a gradual sway of tree limbs and strings of Christmas lights still yet to be taken down from the winter before.

When she came and went, Violet's mother, Scarlett, would often be found waving her both hello and goodbye. However, the driveway was vacant of both body and vehicle. Feeling fortunate enough to have won the race there against her, Violet quickly parked her car before rushing inside with suitcase in tow.

Once inside her room the luggage was thrown atop the bed, contents spilled out onto the duvet. Darting back and forth between the suitcase and clothing drawers, everything unworn was returned to its rightful place, everything else tossed into the hamper in the hall. Then, she tucked the suitcase away into her closet beneath the rack of long-sleeve shirts before running down the hall and into the kitchen.

The sight before her was as unbelievable as anything could be. Deeming the area to be too well-kempt, Violet mussed it up a bit, scattering various food items around the counters, taking a hand-towel from its rack and throwing it across the stovetop, near the sink.

It was a funny thing—normally, she would make an act of cleaning up before her mother arrived to find the house to be an absolute mess, food wrappers and bottles left in her wake. That day, however, called for a mess to be made.

The place was simply too clean; no one would ever believe she'd been home alone and left it looking so.

Scarlett arrived minutes later. The sun, now a semi-circle, peeked over the horizon. Trees and plentiful plains and pastures cast in shadows, the sky burst with a bold purple. Violet could see it through the kitchen window. She felt it to be somewhere between a finale and a welcome home.

Voices bled through the walls from outside. There were two: one female, one male.

A pair of silhouettes approached the front door. The suitcases that trailed them nearly busted with luggage. Such a common reoccurrence in her life, Violet looked to the commodity with distaste. In her world, suitcases were not meant for holidays. They were boxes designated to hold a small portion of her belongings, unable to ever fit them all.

No matter how hard she tried, Violet could never feel content leaving parts of herself behind.

The door swung open. Bustling in were a man and woman that disturbed the still atmosphere with their boisterous behavior, laughing at a joke, perhaps. Violet crossed her legs at the counter while her mother and soon-to-be-stepdad scuffled in carrying several bags, all packed with things that she hadn't seen. Would they have souvenirs from their trip? Sometimes, on trips far away from home, Scarlett would think of her daughter and buy some.