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I smile, though it never fully makes its way to my lips. "I wish I didn't have to."
"Will you text us when you get there?" Leena walks over to me, curling her arms around my waist. I bury my head into her neck, inhaling the scent I've grown up with. My second home. Her and Sacha. Since a few years ago, I've been with at least one of them more than I've been with my own mom. More than I've been at my own house. I'm being pulled away from the only thing I know, shoved into a place I don't want to be.
"The moment I get there. No, scratch that. I'll text you the entire way."
Sacha walks up behind me, and they both sandwich me in between them, squeezing me tight and holding me close.
"I'll miss you guys." My eyes burn, but I dare not cry. My mom is a witch and doesn't deserve my tears over this.
"We'll miss you, too," Sacha says.
"Vera, we have to leave! Now!" my mom shouts from downstairs.
We all sigh together, our bodies inhaling and exhaling in the same breath. Separating from them, we all walk toward the door. I bend down, curling my fingers around the strap of my bag and sling it across my shoulder. Our steps are somber as we walk downstairs, and I want to do nothing except fight and resist every step of the way.
My friends walk ahead of me and step outside. I linger in the doorway, glancing over my shoulder and staring into my room. The empty walls, the empty floor. It's all gone now, shoved into a trailer already on its way across the state.
With one last glance, I slap the light off and turn around, walking away from my life, and stepping directly into the unknown.
My ass hurts.
Like, literally, it’s throbbing in pain. I didn't realize that sitting for this long would make my butt ache as bad as it is, but I want to jump from the car that's flying seventy miles per hour just to relieve myself of this torture.
"Are we almost there?" I groan, shifting onto my side. We just passed Duluth. Not much to see. Big city crammed into a small area. The water of Lake Superior glistened in the distance. It looked almost like an ocean, it's that big. Except there's no beach, at least from what I could see as we drove by. It just looked like a whole lot of water and a rocky shoreline.
It only took minutes for us to pass Duluth, and it seems like the world continues growing darker and colder the farther we travel north.
"Not too much longer." Her hands grip the steering wheel, her blood red nails freshly done only the day before. I watch as they clench, unclench, clench, unclench, over and over again.
"What's got you so nervous?" I ask, barely turning my head her way. Not that I care, because I really don't. She could have bubble guts, or period cramps. I'd probably laugh, to be honest. She's dragging me here, maybe she deserves just a twinge of suffering.
She sighs, her breath a little shaky. The trees are growing denser, the sky a little more ominous with every minute that passes. "There's something I wanted to speak with you about."
"Do I even want to know?"
She looks at me, and I can tell from her heavy glare on the back of my head. "Samuel has a son, who also lives at our new house."
I roll my eyes. "Great, so I'm going to have a snot-nosed kid breathing down my neck every second of the day? Just what I fucking wanted." I can at least thank my mom for making me an only child. A sibling is not something I've ever been interested in.
She pauses, not saying anything for too many seconds.
"What aren't you telling me?" I finally glance her way, and her tanned skin is a little pale from whatever she’s holding in. "Never mind, I don't want to know." I don't, I really don't. If she's this nervous about it, it's definitely going to piss me off.
She takes a deep breath. "He's eighteen."
My black fingernails press into my bare thighs. They’re smeared and a complete mess compared to my mom’s, but I love them.
I love my imperfections.
My head tilts back, and I bark out a laugh. "This is so fucked." I bring my fingers down to the leather seat below me, scratching my nails along them in irritation.
"Stop scratching my leather!"
I whip my head toward hers. "Screw off. You lied to me."
She scoffs. "I did not lie."
I squeeze the leather. It's cool from the air conditioner my mom has been blasting for the last hour. I wish my nails would puncture the thick fabric.
