savior

twenty nine

DAY TWENTY; ELEVEN DAYS TO GO

I had spent so much time thinking about all of the news I had received that day from Michael, that I almost forgot that I invited Ashton to my apartment. To be honest, I kind of didn't want him to come over, because I had planned to call Anna and confront her about the whole situation. None of it was right. Michael didn't deserve to have to have his heartbroken because Anna couldn't make up her mind.

I was right when I said she would never be loyal. She wasn't loyal to me, or Michael, or even Calum. I wonder if Calum had any idea what was going on. Surely, Anna was playing it cool and acting like the whole scene had never happened.

As I stepped through the front door to my apartment, I heard voices in the kitchen. Kaitlynn and my mom were standing there, in the middle of an argument. "It's my decision, Mom! You can't tell me I can't!" Kaitlynn screamed, her face red in anger.

I pretended as if I wasn't there. It wasn't cool to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help myself. I hadn't seen my baby sister in a little while, and I wanted to know what was on her mind, and either way, I would've heard it because she wasn't refraining from using a loud voice.

"You think you can just leave like that?" My mom shouted back. Her words were a bit slurred. It made me wonder whether or not she had been drinking. "And I am your mother, and I can tell you whatever I want."

"Well, you're sure not acting like one," Kaitlynn shot at her, sarcastically. Then she ran down the hallway to her bedroom. I quietly avoided my mother, scared that she'd say something to me, something about Kaitlynn, and I'd get mad at her. The two weren't on the best terms right now. The last thing I needed was for my mom to try to pull me against my sister, once again.

So I crept down the hallway as Kaitlynn had, and opened my bedroom door. Then I threw my school bag on my bed. I could hear Kaitlynn screaming in anger from the other side of the wall. She was really mad.

I decided to join her, and maybe see what was going on. When I opened her door, she whipped her head around to face me, and when she noticed that I wasn't my mother, she sighed in relief. "What's going on?" I asked, coming in farther. On her bed was a suitcase, half-full of her clothes.

"Just packing up; you know, getting out of this hell-hole," she said, chuckling a little at her words. I could admit that she was right, but I wasn't sure why she was leaving.

"And where are you going to go?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

We were just starting to return to being on good terms, and she had been gone from home for at least a week, and now she was packing up to go to who-knows-where. I was starting to feel disappointed. Kaitlynn invited me to sit on her bed. She looked ready to have a proper, important conversation with me. "I've been talking to Dad for the past few days," she quietly stated.

I could feel my heart start to beat a hell of a lot faster. Dad had called? And I wasn't there to talk to him? Anger boiled in my veins. Why hadn't she told me sooner?

"We've just been talking about our lives, and all. He's, uh, his new girlfriend, Christy; she moved in," she said. "He misses you. And he said he wants to visit but he can't really with his new job down in Florida, and all of that adult stuff."

"Okay, but, how does that explain why you have a suitcase?"

Kaitlynn didn't answer me. Instead she stood up and returned to her closet, like my comment had reminded her of what she was previously doing. She stole shirts from their hangers and threw them into her suitcase, and then the hangers were thrown on the floor.

With every shirt she threw into the suitcase, I picked them up and placed them back on their hangers. If she wasn't going to answer me, she wasn't going to leave. It wasn't right for her to be avoiding my question, and it especially wasn't right that she wasn't continuing the conversation about our father. She couldn't just tell me that she talked to him, and then not give me full details about it. It was like murdering someone for stealing a grape from a supermarket; stupid.

"Kaitlynn," I said sternly, standing up, and walking towards her. "Answer my question. Right now."

She released a small sigh. "I'm moving to Florida. With Dad. He's gotten me a plane ticket and everything."

Suddenly my anger turned into fury. How could she just start packing? I knew she wanted to see Dad, and hated Mom with a burning passion, but that didn't give her the right to just get up and leave, especially leaving me behind, and especially leaving to someone that I missed as much as her. Why hadn't he asked if I wanted to come, too?

"You can't just leave to another state without an adult, Kaitlynn. You're hardly fourteen!" I yelled at her, my anger coming out with my words. I couldn't believe the situation.

Kaitlynn's lips blossomed into a smile. "Come with me!" she said, excitedly. I looked at her like she was crazy, because right now she was being crazy. "I mean, think about it, Regan. You can see Dad, the only parent who's actually cared about you. Plus, your eighteen; practically an adult. And in Florida, its hot a lot, so there will be even hotter guys with their shirts off."

Her statement reminded me of Anna. And then I remembered everything she was putting people through. If I went with her to Florida, I wouldn't have to deal with the boy-talk, or being dragged on dates (which I still hadn't asked Ashton on, but I doubted it mattered anymore), and having to listen to Anna making out with whoever she was with.

And then, I wouldn't have to constantly be bombarded by Luke, who just didn't seem to understand that even though I accepted the offer, I didn't want to be friends. I didn't want to see his face ever again.

I wouldn't have to deal with drama from anyone. I'd finally be free. Kaitlynn's offer did make a little sense. I was eighteen, an adult, basically. And I did miss my father, as said, the only parent that actually mattered to me. I was convincing myself. The only problem was Ashton. How was I going to tell him that I was going to move thousands of miles away from him? I shrugged off those thoughts. He'd understand, right? This was my only opportunity to actually be happy and feel like I had a real family.

"Okay. I'm in," I said. Kaitlynn smiled, said she would call Dad and let him know, and then pushed me away so she could finish. A warm smile etched on my face as I made my way to do the same.

Life was going to be great.