Taunt

Chapter 9- Taunting Places

[] A M E L I A []

Home.

For many people, home is where the heart is. It's a place where one can unwind, relax, feel at ease; but for me, home is simply where my parents are.

As for my heart, I didn't know where that was now.

I feel like I don't even have one anymore.

All I feel is constant numbness.

And I don't know how to feel about that.

I parked in the driveway of the place I had grown up calling home, and turned off the ignition in my car. I sat in the silence of my car for a few moments, and stared ahead at the average brown brick house. No thoughts consumed me, as I only stared and breathed out evenly.

I had already let my parents know 2 days ago that I will be coming on Thursday evening, and they had agreed greedily. After all, they hadn't seen me since my abrupt shifting nearly 3 weeks ago. They had been extremely worried about me since I had never really been away from home. Ever since graduation, I had stayed with them since I had decided to go to the local college for my first year. But since I had to move from my last college, and no other place was willing to accept such a late submission, I had to move out.

Honestly, they were more worried than I was.

To me, the move didn't make much of a difference since I had pretty much the same routine I did when I was back here. I'd wake up, have breakfast, go to classes, then have dinner and eventually go to sleep. For them however, this meant that they would be seeing another empty chair at the table, dad wouldn't have to wait for me at night after my 9:30 class, and overall, it would be much quieter in the house. It was a change for me too, but just bigger for them.

After a few minutes to myself, I finally breathed out, and made my way out of my car. The familiarity of the place made me smile to myself and I slowly made my way up to the porch.

I rang the same bell I had nearly a billion times before, and patiently waited. Nearly a minute later, the door burst open, and I was face-to-face with my dad. As soon as he opened the door, I stepped inside and threw my arms around him.

No words were exchanged, as I simply hugged my dad, grinning at his familiar scent. He hugged me, wrapping his large arms around my shoulders.

We pulled away after a minute, and he grinned at me.

"Before your mother says it, I will, just to look like the better parent," he started.

I stared at him in confusion. A moment later, he lunged forward and pinched my cheeks.

"Look at how skinny you've gotten young lady!" he said in a high-pitched voice.

I chuckled and swatted his hands away.

"Dad!"

He pulled away, laughing himself. Then he stopped and stared at me with a small smile on his face.

"Welcome home sweetie."

* * *

To say my mother had quite a more drastic reaction to my entrance was an understatement. By the time I made my way up the stairs and into the kitchen, the sound of my mom's sobs were already within hearing range.