The Choice

Secrets and Lies

The best morning I wake up way earlier than normal. I turn over and the clock on my night stand reads 7:00 am. I groan and wonder why I am up so early I think back on this day the first time around and realize I had gotten home late from my date and slept in until nearly noon but not today.

I figured since I’m up I might as well shower and get ready for my day. When I get out of the shower and stand in front of my closet trying to decide what to wear I realize I don’t have mom bod anymore. I can wear whatever I want! I sift through all these clothes some of them I have to laugh at because styles have changed! I decide on a pair of low rise jeans and a simple pink tank. It’s been a long time since low rise jeans didn’t give me a muffin top that would make the pills bury dough boy jealous of. I grab a purse and make sure I throw the key I found last night into it and go to grab my door knob when I hear my parents arguing no hushed tones. It’s weird my parents don’t really argue hardly at all and when they do it’s not quiet. There are a lot of slammed doors and my mom can make a sailor blush with the steady stream of profanity that she throws at my father during a fight. But this is different it almost sounds panicked. I quietly turn the knob and pull the door open just about an inch to see if I can hear anything as I am putting my face near the opening the phone rings and I jump and have to stifle a squeak. I huff to myself and hear my dad answer the phone and start arguing with the person on the phone with the same hushed tones. Then I get this pot in my stomach and this overwhelming feeling like this is important. So I try to remember Celestes advice and listen to my intuition and sneak out the door and quietly go down the stairs to try and listen in.

“No, no she doesn’t know. I am not going to tell her! It’s my choice I am her father! You can’t and don’t get a right to force me to tell her anything! Stop calling and leave us alone!” My dad whisper yells at the person on the phone. I take a deep breath and think, what don’t I know and why doesn’t he want me to know? As I get ready to make my presence known and ask I hear my mother say “They can’t have her, they can’t get to her if she doesn’t know and we aren’t giving her up to them. I know we made a deal but I don’t care about them or the consequences! She’s my daughter and that’s it!” My dad agrees, “I know sweetheart we didn’t plan on loving her so much and after being away so long and building a life here they don’t matter anymore! She can live a quiet life here and we will all be happy.”

That’s when I think to myself, “What the actual hell is going on?” “What haven’t they told me?”

I decide to quietly head back to the stairs and then head to the kitchen making enough noise to make it seem like I just came down. I get to the kitchen and mom comes in after me her eyes are red and slightly swollen like she’s been crying and she sniffles so I ask, “hey mom everything ok?” She replies, “of course jelly bean just sad you are growing up. College is in a couple of months and I know you will only be an hour away but it feels like you are leaving forever.” The sad look in her eyes is quickly replaced with a smile that doesn’t quite each her eyes and she say, “so what are your plans today? Are you an Angela getting together?” Oh yeah I have friends and a social life, something seriously lacking in my own time. I wrack my brain trying to remember if we had plans all those year ago. After a little too much silence I shrug my shoulders and say, “haven’t talked to her since graduation yesterday I think I might just head over to her house and see what she’s up to. Also just out of curiosity have you and dad been to Summerset Station recently?”

The moment the question leaves my mouth and I see the look on her face of shock, fear and denial I knew I shouldn’t have asked. “Why, you aren’t planning on taking a train anywhere?” She spat out super fast. I replied, “of … of course not I was just curious Dylan said that we should all take the train to the lake this summer and wanted to know if it was fun.” She seemed to calm and her face changed to one of slight concern and a vague whisper of disbelief crossed her face before she said “We haven’t been to the train station or on a train in a long time. There are better ways to travel! The lake is only a few hours by car you guys should drive if you want to take a trip up there.”

Why is she so concerned about that station and why did I find this key in my room? I got that feeling again in the pit of my stomach that told me I needed to got there and find this locker.