The Human Luna

Cinnamon and Firewood

"Guess who I found running for her life down the road in the middle of the night?" My dad said walking into the kitchen, dragging me along with my arm in his hand. 

My mum turned herself away from the sink, yellow gloves pulled loosely over her hands. Her face was etched with disappointment as she looked at me with anger in her eyes. I stood there in the middle of the kitchen, too ashamed to hang my head to the floor. There was nothing I could say as an excuse, my bag was full of the things that one would take with them if they were going to spend the night over someones house. This was all Jack's fault. 

"What were you thinking Ailani? After the talk we had over dinner, you still decide to go against your father's wishes and run away!" The tone of my mums voice was turning my stomach inside out. My mum was never one to shout, but this time, just in front of my dad, she was trading her gentleness for a bit of dominance. My shoulders sagged defeatedly, in my mind I was protesting against the way my parents were forcing me to go on holiday with the family, but my mouth stayed shut. 

"Do you have anything to say?" my dad asked, crossing his already massive arms across his chest. His tailored suit remained well-pressed, and I felt intimidated as he stared down at me with his dark, beady eyes, eyebrows in a tight frown that caused creases to form on his forehead.

I stood in silence, contemplating whether or not I should speak my mind to the both of them. The amount of cuss words that were forming in my brain were beyond measure...But I knew the consequences of saying such words in front of dad. The slipper or the soap? Which one will it be?

Without hesitating for too long, I gave one big cheeky smile to my beloved mum and dad, before saying..."So who wants the window seat?" 

**********

"So you're still convinced that it's my fault you got caught trying to escape your home?" Jack and I were arguing over the phone. I came to the conclusion that I might as well annoy Jack before it was too late and my phone screamed 'no service.'

"Yes. Of course I'm convinced. You were the one who put it into my head in the first place."  My suitcase was perched up in the doorway, and I was leaning against the pole just outside my house on the pavement, waiting for my parents to come outside. "Next time you advise me to do something like that, I'm not going to listen to you." 

"I think that's the best thing for you to do," Jack agreed. 

The sound of wheels against the pavement caught my attention and I turned my head towards the front door. Finally, my mum and dad were making their way towards me with everything they needed in their hands. My heart clenched, I really didn't want to go, not without my friends. But I smiled gently when my mum saw me on the phone, saying "Jack, I gotta go now, speak to you when I reach the airport," before hanging up and climbing inside the car. 

"See you when you get back Ailani." 

After about five minutes of waiting in the backseat of my dad's Jeep, the boot of the car clammed shut, causing me to jump a little. When we were all in the car, and the engine started running, I looked out of my window and really wished that I had jumped out of my bedroom much sooner. 

My mum placed a soothing hand on my knee, turning around to face me from the passengers seat, smiling softly. "It'll be fun," she said before turning to face the road as we pulled off the driveway. 

"It bloody better be," I thought to myself, mentally trying to figure out how to escape a car whilst it's moving on the motorway at 60mph.