Torn Souls

by Cattabriga, crystal

  “Hey, Dad, what’s up?” I asked while waiting for Mom to come around the corner any minute with a bowl in her hand saying, “Honey, please use a bowl, you’re not an animal.”

  “No much, kid, just watching a little news. Where did you run off too?” He asked even though he seemed more involved with his ice cream.

  “I went for a walk through Mr. Andrews’s field just to get out of the house and on my way back I stopped to talk with him.”

  Lifting his head he turned to me and said, “Oh that was nice of you, Julia. You know, ever since he lost his daughter he’s been really lonely. He must have been happy to have company.”

  “Yes, he was. I mentioned to him that we were leaving for New York and that I’m going to miss living here. Do you think maybe sometime next year we can come back here and visit him?” I asked hoping Dad would say yes, but then I realized he wasn’t even really paying much attention to me. It seemed like nowadays my parents were so caught up in their jobs and moving to even listen to anything I said. I was going to ask where Mom was, but I was so disgusted that I just went to bed.

  The next morning rolled around and I got ready for school. Usually, I could care less to even go, but I was actually happy to have a break from the craziness in my house. None of my teachers bothered to give me homework knowing Friday would be my last day. A couple of kids in my class asked where I was moving to and after telling them New York, they seemed like they were a little jealous. They were even asking if I could send them some pictures on their phones. One girl who had never even spoken a word to me and who was the head cheerleader gave me her phone number and said, “Oh, you’re so lucky. Wish my parents were that cool to move us to NY. Here’s my cell number. Send me some pics, k?”

  What was going on? I thought. Now people want to talk to me? Now, I have phone numbers to actually store in my phone? It didn’t really matter though. I wasn’t going to send pictures to any of them. I was moving and would never see them again. I knew deep down they still could care less about me, they just wanted to see New York. I was sure none of them even knew my first name never mind my last.

  The week passed by pretty fast. It was Friday and my last day at school. Every teacher from each of my classes had hugged me and wished me luck at my new school which was a little weird. I mean, don’t get me wrong, to the average student who they had always paid attention to would consider it nice, but me, I just found it plain weird. The more I thought about it the more I thought it must be a policy. It’s probably a code in the handbook for a teacher to say those things to a student when they leave.

  There was only a half an hour left of school and I’d be free. As I sat in my last class which was my homeroom, I found myself daydreaming and when my name suddenly boomed over the loud speaker I jumped in my seat.

  “Julia Stone, please report to the principal’s office,” the lady in the front office announced not only once, but twice.

  I felt bad not remembering her name, but then again we never spoke. I just knew her as the lady announcer. When I reached Mr. Riley’s office his door was closed. As I raised my hand to knock on the door it flew wide open and I jumped back yelling, “Oh, my God!” while holding my hand across my chest. I could feel my heart pounding fast.

  “Julia, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were there. I was just sneaking across the hall for a minute. I thought I had enough time to…”

  I wasn’t sure why he stopped midstream while talking to me. Did he not want me to know where he was going? What did I care? I mean, really. Who was I going to tell? Looking at him, I did notice he was a bit fidgety. Almost like a kid who needed to use the restroom. Boom, then it hit me. That’s where he was heading. Trying not to laugh I asked, “Mr. Riley, did you need to go to the restroom?”

  “Yes, Julia. That’s where I was heading,” he answered as his face turned a shade of red like he was embarrassed.

  I couldn’t imagine why he found it embarrassing. Maybe it was the fact that he was dancing in front of me like a child. Whatever it was I didn’t want to stand in his way any longer.

  “Oh, by all means, go. I’ll sit and wait in your office,” I said with a slight smile while turning to walk into the room.

  I was hoping he’d be back soon. The bell was about to ring and I wanted to get the heck out of school. After sitting for a minute or so I found myself getting a little antsy, so I walked over to the window. Looking out I could see all the buses lined up in front of the school. Moving to the city meant I probably would have to ride the bus to get to school. I couldn’t imagine there were many kids who walked.

  “Sorry about that, Julia,” Mr. Riley apologized as he closed the door behind him.

  “What’s up, Mr. Riley? The bell’s about to ring and I need to get home on time.” I felt bad fibbing to him about having to be home on time, but I wasn’t about to stay any longer then I had too.

  “This will be quick, I promise. I just need to give you one other paper for your new school. Apparently, it was mixed up with all the other papers I had on my desk. Here you go, Julia,” he said.

  “Thanks, Mr. Riley. Now, if that’s all, I really must get going. Don’t want to keep my parents waiting.” I reminded him so he wouldn’t keep me any longer.

  “Sure, I understand. Don’t worry; I didn’t have a long goodbye speech prepared. Just wanted to wish you all the best and hopefully you’ll come back and visit,” he said as he opened the door and walked with me out into the hall.

  “Well, I don’t know what the future holds for me, so I can’t make any promises, but if I ever do come back, I’ll make sure to stop on in,” I said with a slight smile as I began to walk away.

  Chapter Seven

  When I arrived home, I saw that my mom had left a note on the table letting me know she’d be home late and Dad would be home around six. It was nothing new that I was home most of the time by myself. Today out of all days, I was kind of glad. This would give me time to just relax and watch a little TV. Knowing Mom wasn’t going to be home until late I made myself a sandwich, grabbed some chips, a bottle of water and headed to my room.

  While devouring my pre-dinner, I found one of my favorite movies on. For me personally, maybe and because I’m a girl, this movie always seemed to make me cry. I mean really, who doesn’t love Sleepless in Seattle. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were perfect for the roles they played in this movie. I remember a couple of years back, after watching it for the first time; I had asked my mom if we could move to Seattle. Of course, she laughed and said, “Julia, why do you want to move to Seattle?”

  “Maybe that way when I get old enough to date, I could possibly find a man like Tom Hanks,” I said with all seriousness.

  Of course, in the end, we never moved and Mom just thought I was being foolish. I didn’t care because I told myself that when I was old enough I’d move there if I wanted to and no one could stop me. The movie ended just as Dad got home.

  “Julia, I’m home, ” Dad called out to me.

  Collecting all of my trash off my bed, I headed downstairs. I found him lying across the couch with his shoes kicked off and the TV on. “Hey Dad, how was your last day on the job?” I asked trying to sound sympathetic seeing he looked wiped out.

  “Let’s just say, I’m glad to be home, Julia,” he said while letting out a deep breath.

  “Well, Mom left a note saying she’d be home late, so it’s just you and me.”

  “I know. She called me at work harping on me saying, “Did you call the movers to make sure they’ll be here first thing in the morning? Remember to move all the packed up boxes into the living room to make it easier to load up the truck. Of course there was more, but I’m too tired to go on and on right now, but I do need your help in a little while,” he said not looking thrilled at all.

  “Sure, no problem, do you want me to cook you something?” I asked knowing he wasn’t going to get up and make himself something for dinner.

  “That would be really nice. Maybe a couple of grilled cheese
sandwiches with extra cheese,” he said with a big smile plastered across his face.

  “I can do that for you. Be back in a second.”

  While I was making Dad’s second sandwich, I could hear him on the phone saying, “Yes, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll get it done. Yes, all right.” I knew he had to be on the phone with Mom. I bet she was asking him if he had even started moving the boxes to the living room. Mom has never been the type of person to wait for the last minute to do something. As for Dad, that’s something he’s good at, especially when it comes to something around the house.

  “Here you go. Two grilled cheese sandwiches with extra cheese,” I said handing him the plate.

  “Thanks, kid, you’re the best.”

  I headed back into the kitchen to clean up while Dad ate. I really didn’t want to move any boxes into the living room, but I knew if I didn’t help Dad do it, he’d never move off the couch. After Dad finished his sandwiches and I let him settle his stomach for a few minutes, I marched myself into the room saying, “Come on. Let’s get moving before Mom goes crazy.”

  “Yes, I’m getting up. Just give me two minutes, though. I want to catch the rest of this debate,” he pleaded while tapping the cushion next to him for me to sit.

  Of course I gave in, sitting next to him. I never really followed much politics. The only thing I really knew about that subject was what I’d learned in school. My plan wasn’t to follow either one of my parents’ career choices as I got older. Nope, I wanted to be a columnist for a huge magazine. Something like Sarah Jessica Parker did in the movie Sex in the City.

  I was glad Dad kept his word shutting off the TV so we could get moving. It was just before eight when we finished moving almost every box into the living room. In total we stacked seventy three boxes against the wall. Mom still wasn’t home and I wasn’t about to wait up for her either. I wanted to take a quick shower and wash off my nasty sweat. Maybe do a little reading on my IPhone before bed.

  Once I had showered and changed into my old worn out t-shirt and shorts, I climbed under my covers and opened my Kindle app on my phone. I was sure glad Dad bought me this phone, because I was still able to read a book now, even though all my books had been packed. I didn’t have any particular book I wanted to read currently, so I searched for one on Amazon.

  While looking through all different genres, I came across a book called Scent of a White Rose by Tish Thawer. It sounded really good, so I downloaded it. When I was about fifty pages in, I realized it was eleven o’clock. I couldn’t believe how good the book was. I didn’t want to stop, but I knew tomorrow was the big day. The day I’d leave Ohio and head to New York to start a new life that I still wasn’t ready for, so I shut my phone off and went to sleep.

  The next morning, I woke up to Mom telling someone to take the couch first. I looked over and saw that it was seven in the morning, I wanted to just curl up and die, and but instead I forced myself out of bed. Not knowing for sure if Mom was talking to the movers or to Dad, I decided just to get dressed. I didn’t want to take the chance of going downstairs and have strange men staring at me.

  “No, turn the table to the left then slide it out the doorway,” I heard Mom commanding to someone. Gosh, I knew this was going to be an awful day just by the tone in her voice. I snuck past her and into the kitchen to get something to drink before she started commanding me to do something. When I noticed the box of donuts on the kitchen table, I knew she had been up for a while. She must have gone to the store really early.

  As I ripped the box open and reached in for a cinnamon doughnut, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It startled me causing my doughnut to drop on the floor. Yep, my day was only getting better, I thought.

  “Boy, someone’s jumpy today,” Dad said while picking up my doughnut from the kitchen floor.

  “Sort of, I guess. It’s just, Mom’s scaring me,” I said hoping he wouldn’t get mad at the comment I’d just made.

  “Yep, she’s scaring me too,” he said as he threw my dirty doughnut away and handed me a new one.

  “Do you think I have time to eat this before she comes looking for me?” I asked.

  “Sure, your mom’s too busy telling the movers how to do their job,” he said while laughing, but not loud enough for Mom to hear him.

  Once I was done eating, and finished up my milk, I greeted my mom with a smile on my face asking her what she wanted me to do. “Please grab the boxes from the living room and put them out on the front lawn. This way the movers can load up the truck faster. We need to get on the road within the next two hours,” she said.

  I knew all of the lifting and bending was going to kill me, not to even mention a long car ride. Dad said that driving from Ohio to New York was supposed to be an eight hour trip, but that wasn't counting for us having to stop for gas or food. Mom planned it where we would be in New York around the same time the movers were supposed to arrive at our new place.

  Once the last box and piece of furniture was on the truck, Mom said it was time to get on the road. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind if I went to my room one last time. Reminding me we were on a schedule she said, “Okay, but hurry. We really must get on the road, Julia.”

  Before I even entered my bedroom, I took my hand and counted all the line’s on the doorway frame from where I had grown over the years. Tears started to trickle down my cheeks. I knew if I went in my room, I’d only upset myself more, so I looked in for a second and left once and for all. Mom and Dad were already in the car waiting for me as I closed the house door. I told myself not to look back and I didn’t.

  Chapter Eight

  After being on the road for three hours, Dad decided to stop so we could stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat. There were a couple of restaurants to choose from, but Mom said we needed to just get something at through a drive-thru. Personally, I wanted to eat at the Cracker Barrel we saw, but I wasn’t about to say so. Instead, Dad grabbed us a couple of value meals from Burger King and headed back on the road.

  I found it quite funny that neither one of my parents bothered to turn on the radio while we drove. Instead they sat in silence like two strangers in a car. Maybe it was because Mom was letting Dad concentrate while he drove, or maybe they were just tired of talking to each other. In any case, I was fine with it. I had my phone and I was just going to continue where I’d left off the other night while reading my book.

  I couldn’t believe how interesting the story was becoming. I was so involved in the book that I didn’t even realize we were stopping again. Had I been reading that long? I thought.

  Looking around I noticed we were just crossing into Pennsylvania. The sign on the side of the highway read “Pennsylvania Welcomes You,” and had the name of their governor underneath it. I found it to be very plain unlike ours back home which read “Ohio Welcomes You to the Heart of it All!”

  “All right, everyone get out and stretch,” Dad said while cracking his back, which sounded like it hurt.

  I was just glad to be out of the car for a few minutes. One of my legs had fallen asleep and I had pins and needles going through my foot. I tried stomping it hoping it would go away, but it didn’t. It just made it feel worse. It wasn’t long before Mom was barking at us to get back in the car so we could get to New York already.

  Dad filled up the car and we were back on the highway. There wasn’t much to look at except a lot of trees, so I dove back into my book. I think the best part about this story so far is the girl named Rose. She’s in love with a vampire, of course, named Christian. If I was ever in love with a vampire I think it’d have to be Eric Northman who stars in in the HBO series True Blood. I’d definitely let him turn me, so we could be together. After reading for another hour, I decided to rest my eyes even though I wanted to find out what had happened to Rose’s mom.

  “Julia, dear, wake up, we’re here.” Mom said with the softest voice.

  I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not, but then when I heard my mom tell me to get up again while ta
pping on my leg, I knew it wasn’t a dream. My eyes felt so heavy and my body was hurting. Opening my eyes slowly, I couldn’t see much except darkness.

  “What time is it?” I asked seeing as I fell asleep when it was still light out and now it’s dark.

  “I’ll tell you in a second,” Dad said while he pulled his sleeve back to look at his watch. “It’s just about eight o’clock, honey.”

  After climbing out and walking around the car, I see that I am standing in front of a brown building. I wasn’t sure if this was where we were staying for the night, or if this was where we were really living. Looking around I noticed there were green lamp posts up and down the street. “Okay, is this a joke? Do we really live here? Please don’t say yes. I’ll just die,” I said as I raised my hands to cover my face.

  “What’s wrong, Julia?” Mom asked concerned about my reaction.