We drove to my father’s home in silence, save for a few coughs, sneezes and sighs. I wasn’t really ready to talk about the whole moving thing, and even though I didn’t say that, it seemed as though my grandmother understood that.

By the time we got there, I was so tired of everything that I had decided not to try to talk to my dad about the situation and to just let him go ahead and listen to the message and call me when he was ready. My grandmother and I got out of the car and walked up the pathway to the front door. I pulled the keys out of my purse and opened the front door and walked in.

I decided to get my laptop first since it was down stairs. I turned the living room light on by flipping the switch next to the front door and saw that the entire living room was in shambles.

There were books and DVD cases all over the floor and the coffee table was on its side. One of our antique wooden chairs was knocked over and missing a leg, which, after a quick scan of the living room, was found in front of the broken TV. The only things that seemed not to be out of place or broken were my CDs, my laptop, and the couch, that my father was sleeping on. I went and gathered up my laptop and CDs and began to head up to my bedroom.

Once I was in my room, I was shocked to find that nothing had been touched, except for a picture that had been sitting on my dresser of me when I was born in my mother’s arms and my father next to us kissing mom on the cheek.

Since that photo was gone, I grabbed the next best one, me, my mom and my dad at the park having a picnic. I placed my things on my bed and opened the closet and pulled two of my suitcases out of the back.

In the larger one, I laid my pillow on the bottom and then set my laptop, the photo, and my CDs on top of it. I pulled out 5 t-shirts and a couple of tank tops and piled them into my suitcase. I then grabbed a few bras and underwear and tossed them on the top. As I was filling the next suitcase with pants and shorts, Flora zipped up the large suitcase and carried it downstairs for me. I grabbed a book and my makeup bag and stuck them in my backpack and zipped both up and carried them down the stairs.

As I was headed out the door, I put my suitcase and back pack down on the floor and walked into the living room. I kissed my dad on the forehead and covered him up.

“I’m going to miss you, Daddy” I whispered as I pulled away from him “I love you.”

“Love you too, Firebird” My father mumbled, obviously still mostly asleep.

I turned toward my grandmother will my eyes full of tears and walked back towards my suitcase and backpack and picked them up. I locked the door and closed it behind us.

“Let’s get out of here, before I freak out, or somebody sees me.”
“No problem cupcake.” My grandmother responded softly.

We put my things in the car and before I knew it, we were back at Kayde’s, and he was packing his things into the trunk and sliding into the back seat next to me. He pulled me against him and held me, with his hand rubbing over my hair softly.