The entire day, I remained curious about Josie and what she was doing in the chemistry lab. Once school finished, I went home with Dad who picked me up. Unfortunately, I didn’t tell anyone about what had happened last night, not even Josie. I wanted to talk to her but there were other things going on and I didn’t have much time to spill all of the details.
When I returned home, I learned Mom was out grocery shopping so I helped Dad unpacking his things in one of the guest rooms in the house.
My parents didn’t sleep together. They had been living separately since a while now. My Mom had problems with Dad and to keep the family together, they made the decision to separate their lives from each other. Dad still provided for most of the things and Mom worked here and there to keep the house running.
“How was the trip?”
“It was stressful but once the work was finished, I saw plenty places there and travelled around the city. It’s perfect for spending summers there.” He replied, removing the last pieces of his clothes from the suitcase.
I grabbed onto the smaller toiletry items and placed them inside his washroom. “When are you leaving for Prague?”
“By the weekend. I’ll be there for a week. They want someone to represent us there and if it works out, I might have to stay there for a bit longer.” He explained to me, his voice dull and sad. It was constant, the trips, the traveling and the packing. He barely stayed at home for more than a couple weeks.
I pushed my hair back over my shoulders and walked out of the washroom with disappointment in my face. I wished he could’ve stayed for longer, at least for once. I enjoyed whenever he was here.
“What’s wrong, Miranda?” He asked, walking over to me. “Don’t be sad. I’m here for you and I’ll always be.” He stretched his arm and placed it around my shoulder. “And this all will be over soon. Not now but soon.”
“I miss you, Dad.” I pouted, feeling miserable from within. The feeling struck me, he was going to leave again, this time maybe even for longer.
“I miss you too, baby. Come on, don’t be sad now. We have plenty to do.” He patted my back, and continued, “I found this place online. It’s an hour drive away from here but it’s this new amusement park that was recently opened. Maybe after unpacking we can head there? Just you and me?” He suggested, trying hard.
I rose my head, looking into his eyes and smiled at him, “Yes. I would love to.”
“Good. Let’s finish this and then we can rush out before your Mom comes and ruins the day.” He chuckled while going back to the couch and closing the empty suitcase.
I laughed along with him, “She’s going to be here soon.” I reminded him.
Once we had done unpacking, I headed upstairs, back to my room whilst my Dad got on a call with someone from his work. He told me this was going to take a while and after that we could leave for the amusement park.
I got on my computer in hopes to do some homework but instead I became curious about what I had seen in the morning, in the chemistry lab. I still couldn’t forget the scene even though I tried hard to remove it from my head.
I searched the term sex online, hoping to find information. I had knowledge about it but it wasn’t vast. Usually Josie would give me a sex ed class every year, here and there but it wasn’t detailed.
Unfortunately, when I looked up sex, every site on the net was blocked. I couldn’t access to anything as there was a parental lock on the term it self. I groaned and closed all of the tabs.
Though, the whole ordeal took my mind of the man in my head who I couldn’t hear anymore. His voice didn’t linger behind my ears. It had been a few hours, almost ten hours since I heard him.
Was he gone?
“Miranda!” Mom voice rang in my ears and I quickly sprinted away from my computer, switching it off and heading downstairs.
My heart beat hard and fast. Did she see what I was searching? Was that even possible?
“Yes, Mom?” I asked as I reached down and walked into the kitchen where she was taking care of the groceries.
Dad stood by the counter, frustration over his face and wrinkles over his forehead. Something seemed tensed between him and my Mom and I wondered what it was.
“Didn’t you tell me you have a test by the end of the week that you need to prepare for?” Mom asked as she tucked away one of the brown bags.
I fiddled with my fingers and nodded, “Yes. I—I was preparing for it.”
“And are you done studying?”
I shook my head, “Not yet.” To be honest, I hadn’t even started studying for it. With everything going, I had forgotten about the test completely until Mom reminded me of it.
My Mom looked over at my Dad and said, “She has to study. You can’t take her out today. Once she is done studying, then you can.”
Dad was annoyed, “It’s just going to be a couple of hours and she was excited to go. She can study later.” He argued with her.
Oh.
I understood what this was all about. Mom didn’t want me to go with Dad to the amusement park. She didn’t like when he took me to new places.
“Doesn’t matter. She still has to study and this is her last year. She can’t waste her time on some stupid park. You can take her at the weekend, if you are here.” Mom spat out, her voice strict and cruel. She turned over to the stove and switched it on while Dad glanced at me.
I frowned and shrugged at him. He motioned me to speak with her. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth, “Mom, it’s okay. I did most of the studying and I would really want to go to the park.” With every word, I felt my throat tightening and closing up.
My own mother terrified me more than anything.
“Please?” I knew there was no arguing with her but I still tried.
She spun around, glared at me for a long minute and then shook her head again, “No. Your previous results weren’t great. You need to study more so go back to your room and study. You can go enjoy some other day.” There was barely any tenderness in her voice, just cold. She was truly cold but there was nothing any of us could do about it. “Bruce, you can take her some other day.” She turned to my Dad and said.
There was nothing more to do. She had dropped her intention and neither of us argued anymore.
Dad knew it would get heated if he did argue with her. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. On the other hand, I didn’t have any courage to stand up against my mother so instead, I left the kitchen and headed back to my room.
I closed the door behind me and suddenly, tears pricked at my eyes. It wasn’t fair. I wanted to spend time with Dad before he was going to Prague but it seemed like none of that was happening.
‘Baby girl,’ A voice whispered in my head. ‘Why are you crying?’