Wanderer: a life span

One

Grace had just lost her mum in a fire accident that turned their house to ashes, her belongings to nothing and the earth had just shook under her feet. She was torn down, her aunt had taken her to her house at the other end of the city for a while, she was yet to settle down even if it was the most welcoming place she could be in.

"I don't know what hurts the most, if because she died or if because the last conversation we had was an argument"
"What did you argue about?"
"A boy, she wanted me to stop seeing someone"
"You can't blame yourself for that you're a teenager you have emotions. This are normal arguments that ensue between mother and daughter"
Grace crashed into her aunt's lap with so much pain that ordinary tears can not express. "Would I go live with my father?"
"If he wants you"
"I don't want to, the man knows nothing good of me. Throughout my lifetime my mum was always given report of my next bad deed, he despises me and I'm sure he thinks I'm the cause of the accident one way or the other he thinks I'm the fire or the gas explosion"

"Don't talk like this child. Whoever knows you would know you're such a sweet child. Stubborn, strong willed but sweet"
"Thank you aunt Dee"
"It's okay"

After that conversation she went straight to her room to think about what next with her life. The question racing in her head was what next, she didn't feel anything for school so she didn't even think one day she would go to school get a degree and be a doctor, a lawyer or an accountant. She just sat down her whole face in her hands.

Her cousin Marc came in, he touched her shoulder gently. "I have some weed" she looked up at him with confused eyes and then they broke into fits of laughter.
"Who told you I smoke?"
"I just know. Common let's go"

Her aunt's house was a farm, it was huge and there were stores everywhere, when they were a little bit far from the house she looked back and just scanned the whole view, this would be a great place to live she thought to herself. When they were very far from the house she saw her other cousins , Sin and Cage sitting on a pile of grass.

"Who knew aunt Dee's children would all be stoners" she teased and they all broke into laughter. Marc was four years older than her, he was a computer wizard but still works at a bakery, very funny. He has lots of shoes which obviously he didn't buy with his baker's assistant salary, he did hacking jobs, fixing and programming.

Sin, Sinclair was just Grace's age and she appeared the saint of the house, her quiet looks and good grades made her a mystery.

Cage, cage is two years older than her and is obsessed with his body, he says he wants to be a model, coming from such a narrow minded family his mum would always ruin his evening by saying"wash the damn dishes for once in your life, you won't spoil your nails fine boy" this would always piss him off and it made everyone around laugh.

He was in his last year in college nice that he chose to school in the same town with home so he could be with his siblings, he called them his best friends. Their mother had maids, and workers who ran the farm because her children were less interested. She called them careless "they would let all the poultry escaped kindly pick the eggs yourself"

Sinclair ran to hug Grace, "you know I've missed you so much. It's like we live with you, we know when you do something wrong, your mum would always call ours and they'd be screaming and calming each other's nerves"

"She literally told the world I was a sinful egg, always reporting I found it very disgusting and that's why I stayed at home less, the more she did it the more she pushed me away"

"At least now you can come home, she's gone" Cage said laughing none of the others laughed. "You just open your mouth and spit rubbish, is that supposed to be a joke" Sin hissed.
"Yeah it is. A bad joke maybe, but a joke" cage tried to defend himself
"Lol, it's okay" Grace said.

They enjoyed silence for a while, just inhaling and exhaling. "This is some good shit" Grace said.
"Yeah, Marc grows it in some part of the farm we would show you soon"
"That can be real business" Grace said making them laugh.
"Are you going to move in with us?" Cage asked
"I would love to but I don't know yet, I still have to figure what my life would be like"
"It's okay baby, just know we got you" Sin said.
"Sin ain't got herself" Cage laughs at her earning a smack to the back.

Grace was already picturing a life here it would be fun but she didn't want to see to be the bad influence on her cousins especially since their mum didn't know they were stoners, if their parents found out they could think she taught them.

After spending two hours in open air, they decided to go back indoors, so they could bath and prepare for dinner. Sinclair pulled Grace to her side and walked side by side with her. "I really missed you, remember when we used to steal money from Cage and Marc and made them fight in suspicion"

"I heard that, I knew it was you all along" Marc said and they all laughed "only the dumb Cage would think I stole his dollar" making them laugh again.

When they were inside they tried to walk quietly so they didn't run into any adults smelling like that. Grace went to her room as well as her cousins.

They were literally laughing throughout dinner, aunt dee said Cage was eating like a thief and they all laughed knowing why he was that hungry. It was starting to get fun and Grace has almost forgotten her pretentious, over exaggerating mother had died. She really hated the fact that many people took her mums words over hers and now her name is tainted and the woman had gone not coming back to rectify that. She still didn't know where it had gone wrong, her parents separated when she was like ten and at that time her father still loved her he would come around and take her for ice cream and a Sunday turkey.

At first her mother would lie that she was sick just to see him come around, then that she had broken something but the woman lived a sad life always trying to be a victim, always looking for pity. "Oh Dee life is terrible, I don't have money"she never has money. "Oh Dee, this child gives me headache, she always gallivanting with different boys" and then she would pour herself a glass of whiskey and talk drunk around the house. "It's so sad we didn't choose our children"she said to Grace one day "it's also sad we can't choose parents" Grace said back. The two had a cat and dog relationship. She would spend nights crying and calling all relations if Grace step away from home for a minute, still she made home hell for her. She was the definition of toxic but can you really hate someone you love and she was her mother she owed her love, she had no other place to go to and it was hard shutting her out.

She looked up and realized she had zoned out , playing with a green pea. She hoped no one noticed but surely they did she was gone for too long. She fought back the tears burning her lids and swallowed it. For ten years before her parents separated her mother was an angel and for the last eight years she transformed to a demon. Now she was gone forever and she was sad, did she want her back?