My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Thirty Three

We all head out onto the road, destination Halifax, Nova Scotia. Daniel drives, Annabelle sits in the passenger’s seat beside him, Julian and Molly sit in the back, with Molly in the middle and me on the left side, behind Daniel. I figured that this was better so that I could see Annabelle and look out the window if I want to.

“How long is this going to take?” Julian ask, looking out his window.

“Six hours in total. Three hours there and three hours back,” Annabelle tells him, looking back at us.

Julian sighs dramatically and says, “That’s so long. I’m going to be bored.”

“No you won’t, we can play a game,” Molly tells him, smiling happily.

“What kind of game can we play in the car?” Julian asks, not sounding hopeful.

“We can play I spy. It’s a great game for playing in the car,” she says, almost jumping in her seat.

“How about we play a question game?” I suggest.

“How exactly do you play that?” Julian asks, sounding curious.

“You take turns asking a question, whoever answers the question first asks the next question,” I say with a smile.

“I want to play I spy,” Molly says, crossing her arms and pouting adorably.

“How about we do both? It’s a long ride so we could start with I spy,” Annabelle tells them.

“I’m okay with that,” Julian says. “Since it was Molly’s idea she can start.”

Molly smiles widely and says, “I spy with my little eye, something that is pink!”

“Hmm, what could that be? Is it the sky?” I ask, looking outside.

“Nope, it’s not the sky. The sky is blue,” Molly says, giggling.

“What could possibly be pink? There’s nothing pink outside,” Julian says, sounding grumpy.

“Is it a flower?” Daniel asks, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Nope, not a flower but that’s a good guess,” Molly says, feeling proud that no one figured it out.

“What could it possibly be?” Julian asks, feeling frustrated.

“Is it my sweater?” Annabelle asks her, looking down at her top.

“It is, I didn’t think anyone was going to figure it out,” she says, smiling widely.

“Okay, that’s enough of that game, it’s not that fun. How could we even be expected to know that answer. We can't see Annabelle's shirt. Let’s play Rose’s question game,” Julian says, looking over at me.

"We can see sissy's sweater, her jacket is opened. You might not be able to see it though cause you're behind her," Molly tells Julian.

"That's totally unfair Molly," Julian scoffs.

“Alright. I’ll start. But you two need to settle down. Molly didn't cheat she just picked something that would be harder to figure out." I say, looking over at Molly and Julian.

"Okay, fine. I forgive you Molly. But I will never play I spy with you again," Julian says, glaring at her.

I clear my throat and say, "What would you do if you found yourself lost in a forest at night?”

“I would start screaming and crying,” Molly says, seriously thinking about it. “What’s you’re favourite colour?”

“Orange,” Julian says, answering quickly so no one else could. “What would you do if you would have to choose between two people?”

“I wouldn’t. I’d choose both, because nobody should have to choose between one or the other,” Annabelle tells him.

“You can’t do that. You have to choose one,” Julian says.

“I would refuse. You shouldn’t have to. Rose said that you answer the question. She didn’t say you had to be happy with the answer,” she tells him, smirking. “If you walk into a room and standing across the room there's a person that lights a fire in your heart, what would you do?”

“I would run to her and tell her that she means the world to me and that I needed to know absolutely everything about her,” Daniel says.

Annabelle laughs, knowing he was talking about her.

The game continues on for awhile going back and forth between everyone till we decided to stop to stretch our legs.

Daniel parks the car on the side of the road and we all get out of the car.

“That was a lot of fun Rose, thanks for suggesting it,” Julian says, stretching his legs.

“How much further till we get to Halifax?” Molly asks, tugging at my jacket.

“Not much longer. Just another hour,” Annabelle tells her, looking down at her. She is the most adorable little girl.

“You’re very welcome, Julian. I quite enjoyed myself too. Took my mind off things,” I tell him, wrapping the blanket tighter around myself.

“Must you do that now in front of all of us?” Molly asks.

I look over at them, seeing the two of them locked in a kiss in an intimate embrace and smile, saying, “I think it’s sweet. It shows how they feel about each other."

“I think the baby shows that,” Julian says, rolling his eyes.

Daniel pulls away and stares into Annabelle’s eyes, smiling happily. “I love you immensely. Like an external flame that never stops burning,” he tells her, never breaking eye contact.

She blushes, looking adorable and says, “I love you too and I feel the same way.”

“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick,” Julian says, turning away from them.

I sigh, thinking about Alexia. I half smile at them and say, “You guys are really sweet. It makes me miss Alexia all that much more. She ignites a fire deep inside of me.”

“Can we find a gas station somewhere? I’m a bit hungry. And I’m super thirsty,” Molly says, walking over to them.

Daniel looks down at her and says, “I can do that. I’m sure Annabelle is too. We probably should’ve brought some snacks and drinks with us.”

“We definitely didn’t think about this trip all the way through,” Annabelle tells us.

“That would be my fault. I kind of sprung it on you this morning. It didn’t leave you time to really think about it,” I say, scratching my head.

“I thought about it, I just didn’t think we would need it as I figured we’d get something after dropping you off home,” she tells me honestly, looking over at me.

“It’s not a problem. We can stop and get something. But we should get back into the car so we can do that. It is winter, so it’s not exactly warm out here,” Daniel says, looking around at the snow on the ground.

We all agree and head back into the car. Daniel starts it back up and drives off, not going far when he sees a gas station and pulls over, parking the car in the parking lot.

“I’ll go inside and grab some stuff for everyone, then I’ll come back and bring it to you. That way we’re not losing anymore time,” Daniel says, taking his seatbelt off.

“That’s fine by me. Just don’t be too long. We don’t really like waiting around,” Annabelle tells him, then she leans over and lightly kisses him on the lips.

“Ewww, gross! Can’t you wait to do that?” Molly asks, visibly disgusted.

She smirks and says, “Mind your manners, Molly. It’s not polite to talk that way about people kissing.”

Daniel shakes his head, quickly kisses her lightly on the lips then gets out of the car.

“You didn’t have to look Molly. You could just read your book. I know you brought it with you,” Julian says, picking her book up off the floor by their feet.

Molly grabs the book and holds it to her chest. “Please don’t touch my book. This is my favourite… momma gave it to me before she died…” She looks down at her feet and starts to look sad.

“I wasn’t going to hurt your book Molly. I was just giving it to you. Please don’t be sad,” Julian says, touching her hand.

“What’s the book about?” I ask, trying to see what’s under Molly’s hands.

Molly turns to look at me and says, “It’s about a princess and her prince. The princess is just a little girl, and she’s scared that she’ll never be good enough for the prince that shall someday be hers. But he shows her repeatedly that he will always accept her and that she doesn’t have to be anything other than herself. I really love it.” She starts smiling again as she talks about it and wipes away a tear that had gathered in the corner of her right eye.

I smile and say, “That certainly sounds like a lovely story. I can see why it’s your favourite.”

Daniel gets back into the car and hands a bag off to Annabelle, then straps himself back into his seat and pulls out of the parking lot. “What did I miss?” He asks, driving out onto the highway.

“Nothing much. Molly was talking about her book because Rose wanted to know. And Julian was trying to distract her with it” Annabelle tells him and pulls out some water bottles from the bag. She put two of them in the cup holders then sends back the other three to the back with Molly, Julian and I. She then takes out some snacks and gives them to Molly then takes some for herself.

“Sounds like a good time was had then,” he says in response to what Annabelle had said.

“Daniel… Can I ask you something?” Annabelle asks him, opening her water to take a drink.

“Sure, you can ask me anything you want,” he tells her.

“How old were you when your aunt sexually assaulted you?” She asks him.

“I was six years old. She finally stopped when. I was 10 because she said I wasn’t young enough for her. She was really sick in the head. I was terrified whenever she would come over. I dreaded seeing her. Even after she stopped, I still couldn’t look at her. I always wondered, did she do it to other little boys,” he tells her, sounding hurt.

“Do you have any siblings?” She asked him, sounding curious.

He answers her question, but I can’t hear what he’s saying because he’s telling her in a low voice so that only Annabelle could hear him. It sucks because I wanted to know what he was going to say.

“That’s horrible. And it’s so sad. Your parents should have protected you. That never should’ve happened to either of you,” she tells him, in responds to whatever he had just said. Now I really want to know what he said. “What was your mother like?”

“She wasn’t all there most of the time. My father beat her too. But I was his punching bag. She didn’t have the strength to fend him off. She feared him. And I did too. I think before my dad, she was a kind person. But I don’t know. She was already broken after I was born. But he never left any scars. He just made sure we were sore,” Daniel tells her, speeding up the car a bit.

She places her hand over his and rests her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to go through that Daniel. Nobody, especially children should have to endure that,” she tells him.

Everyone in the car falls silent and we spend the rest of the drive to Halifax that way. Not really saying a word. Just watching the scenery go by and being around each other. Hearing about what Daniel went through as a child kind of silenced everyone. It made me glad for the good parents I once had, making me missed them all that much more. If only evil people didn’t live in this world, they would still be here.