Crossing Lines

Scarlet fought the tears once more where she sat waiting for her Mom’s attorney and their family friend to finish his appointment so she could hear what her future held. Maybe she could stay with Aunt Betty, their next door neighbor in the apartment they lived in, who would always babysit her when she was younger and her mother had to work late. She still felt broken over losing her mother to death. It had been a long battle for her mother, who had hidden it from her for almost two years, before she came across her while she was coughing up blood. Honestly, she still wasn’t sure what had killed her mom, but she knew that it had taken her too soon; she hadn’t been ready to lose her mom at seventeen. It had always just been her and Mom against the world after her father had left when she was nine. It had been tough at times, but Mom had always managed to turn the hard times into happy moments; like the time she hadn’t had enough money for a birthday cake and had stacked four doughnuts on top of each other with a single birthday candle stuck on top. They had then competed in picking up the doughnut with their teeth while standing with their butts in the air, their hands behind their backs and their heads on the other side of the coffee table. They had laughed so long and hard with their faces covered in chocolate ganache that she had decided she never wanted a birthday cake again. Doughnuts and the doughnut challenge have become their thing for every birthday since then. Scarlet smiled sadly at the memory. Who was going to do that with her now? The door to the office opened then, stirring her from her bitter-sweet memories. A man shook Attorney Allan’s hand with a few last quiet words before he strolled past her without sparing her a glance. Mister Allan smiled at her kindly and indicated to her to come into his office. She caught his secretary’s pitying smile when she reached for her bag and came to her feet. She would probably have to get used to the pity in people’s eyes now. They would probably all look at her like that when they heard she was an orphan now; one parent abandoned her when she was nine and another died when she was seventeen, leaving her all alone in the world. Mister Allan smiled at her when she approached him. “Miss Jenkins, how are you doing?” He asked kindly. “I don’t know how to answer that, Mister Allan.” Scarlet answered honestly when she walked past him and sat in the chair he indicated to her while he closed the door to his office so they could have some privacy. “I know this is a difficult time for you, Scar, but your mother wouldn’t have wanted you to be sad forever.” He answered kindly, slipping into her nickname now that they were alone, while he sat down in the chair behind his desk and folded his hands on the desk in front of him. “If you need anything, I am here to help you with that. You know that, right?” He held her gaze earnestly until she gave a faint nod of understanding. She didn’t know what he expected her to ask for – other than to have Mom back. And he couldn’t change that for her; no one could. “Now, I know you’re under-aged for another six months and, according to law, you still have to have a guardian even if you are a smart and independent young lady. Your Mom had actually considered that in her will and she had already decided where you would go.” Mister Allan stated. “Everything she had is to be sold, except for the things you want to keep. The funds are to be put in a trust along with the money she had put together for you to use as soon as you turn eighteen. You won’t be rich, but you’ll also not be poor. Now she stipulated that you will not have full access to the funds until you are twenty-one, but you will get a monthly allowance from the trust until then. I would suggest we continue it like that after you come of age, but we can discuss that later along with everything else when you turn twenty-one.” Scarlet nodded silently as she felt the tears threatening again; she would rather have had Mom with her and worked to earn her own money, than what she currently had to do. Mister Allan gave her a sad smile and pushed the tissues on his table closer to her so she could retrieve one. She gave him a grateful watery smile, since she couldn’t stop the tears anymore and her hands and sleeves of her old sweater were doing a horrible job of clearing the tears from her face and helping with her stuffy, runny nose. Wiping her nose and face, she nodded for a concerned Mister Allan to continue with her mother’s last wishes. If they had to wait until she could stop crying they probably would be there for quite a while, since she hadn’t really stopped crying since she’d found her. After a moment of keeping an eye on her to be sure she was not breaking down completely again like she had when she had first called him about her mother’s death, he finally glanced down at the papers in front of him. “She willed her car to you after it has had a service and repair, now since I have already sent it in for that, it should be done within a week or so. But you will have to be in your guardian’s care before that, so I will have them deliver it for you when they are done. Anything you want to go with you that you can’t carry, we can send with the car.” He took a deep breath and met her gaze earnestly again. “Now, regarding where you will live from now on until you finish high school...” He hesitated a moment as if he was not looking forward to his next words. “Your mother has asked that you stay with your father.” “What!” Scarlet demanded in anger and leapt to her feet. “No! He left us! He left without a second thought! I will not live with him; he didn’t want us before, so he won’t want me now!” “Scar, this is your mother’s final wishes; I’m sorry, there’s no way around it. He is your only surviving parent and, since he never signed off his rights to you, he is the person the courts will appoint to you as well.” “He left! Was that not enough to prove that he doesn’t care?” Scarlet demanded angrily. How could they decide that he was the best option after leaving them without a second thought or any more communication? Mister Allan had known her since she could remember, so he knew how she felt about her dead-beat dad who had left them without a backward glance. He sighed. “Scar, sometimes things are not as they appear. Perhaps this is why your mother wanted you to stay with him, so you can build bridges and repair your relationship. She never wanted you to hate your father; it hurt her to know that you wanted nothing to do with him.” His tone was gentle, yet firm, but she wasn’t prepared to back down on this. “You know he doesn’t care about me. He never did, otherwise he would’ve been here for her funeral.” She snapped. “I’m sorry, Scar. I’ve already sent word to him to expect you by the weekend. That means you have tomorrow to work through what you’d like to take with you and then you leave the morning after.” She slumped back in the chair. “Can’t I just stay here and finish high school with my friends?” “I’m sorry, Honey. I’ve already signed you into your new school and you can start on Monday. We both know it will help you to get on with life so you don’t fall into a depression. Maybe it will be a brand new start for you.” “I doubt it.” She muttered morbidly. There was no way that she would enjoy the next six months living with her father. “Try to make the best of this, Scar. Your mom always wanted the very best for you; maybe it is good to go there with your mind open to the possibilities.” Mister Allan urged her kindly. Scarlet scoffed and then sighed tiredly. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice of where she would live for the next six months, but at least she was already accepted to a college far away from the man that had been a loving dad up until she was nine and then suddenly decided he wanted to be away from them. Well, after those six months she would grant him his wish and get as far away from him as she possibly could, but for now she had to live with him. But no one said she had to like it. *** The whole afternoon after she had left Mister Allan’s office, she packed up her things and then went through the food that she would donate to the homeless shelter, all except the cupboard that contained her snacks. Those she packed into a box to take with her. She spent the night at Aunt Betty’s home across the hall because she had insisted that Scarlet should not sleep alone in that empty apartment like she had done since her mother’s death; she was grateful for it, since she had insisted she sleep in the spare room so she would not have to face the silent apartment. So the next morning when Aunt Betty went off to work, she was faced with sorting through everything in the apartment. She had already piled the boxes meant to be donated, all except the things from her mother’s room. The shelter would come and collect it, since she knew Mom would want to help someone else in need with her clothes and the non-perishable food. The perishable foods she had brought over to Aunt Betty’s place, since she was also not well-off financially. She wanted to help her a little as well, because of all the help she had given them over the years and especially after her mother’s death. She had also brought over some things that she knew Aunt Betty would need that she didn’t want to donate to strangers. Once she had worked through most of the house, she had to face the one place she dreaded more than going to her father. Then she stood for long moments staring at the door that had been closed in the hallway. This door led to her mother’s room, where she hadn’t gone or looked at since the coroner had come to collect her body. Taking a deep breath, she finally laid her hand on the cold doorknob; she hesitated one more time before she slowly pushed the door open. Her mother’s perfume was the first thing that hit her. Then it was the sight of the empty room where she would never be able to sit and read to her mom while she had trouble falling asleep. Everything looked like her mother would soon walk through the door and they would spend some time together after she had taken off her necklace and earrings and that wedding ring she still wore religiously, while they laughed and danced to the music they played wherever they were. Tears were brimming in her eyes, while she dragged the boxes behind her. Three boxes, one for the things she wanted to keep, the second for donations and the last for the things to sell. This was how it all ended, memories and empty things that seemed less without her mother being there. Scarlet started with the closet and slowly went through the things, sorting some of the clothes into the box she wanted to keep, including her mother’s beige wedding dress. Some of the things went into the selling box, like the pairs of shoes and brand-name clothes that her mother had had before her father had left. She only kept a few of those that she adored and knew would fit her. She found a wooden box wrapped in fabric with her name on it, but since she knew she was running out of time before the charity would come to collect the donations, she put it in her box to look at later. When the closet was completely empty, she went on to the drawers. Taking her mother’s favourite necklace, which was a gold tree with crystal quartz stones in different colours, she put it around her neck. She would never be able to get rid of this, even though every little thing held a memory of her mother. By the time she was done with her mother’s room, she was cried out and exhausted and she just wanted to forget everything that was happening. She missed her mother so much; if she could just hold her again, she was sure everything would be well in the world. Scarlet heard the doorbell and she went to open the door while she wiped her face. Catching sight of herself in the hallway mirror, she noticed her skin was blotchy and her eyes and nose were red. She looked horrible, but who could blame her at that moment? Turns out it was the charity coming to collect the things she had set aside for donation. Scarlet showed them the stack of boxes and once they had loaded everything and left, she glanced around at the empty apartment that was left after their years of living there. Their life here was reduced to boxes and furniture moved into a corner. With a heavy sigh, she marked the stacks of boxes that were for sale and what was for her. She had asked Mister Allan to have her things loaded into her car so they could be brought along when her car was delivered. She would take one suitcase, her schoolbag and a backpack with a few personal items with her, including some of her snacks. The rest of her things had to wait until later. Maybe she would be headed back before her car would be delivered; it wasn’t like her father wanted her anyway. So if that were the case, she had no intention of bringing all her worldly goods on a bus ride, only to bring it all back again. Maybe she could convince him to sign himself free of his responsibility to her and she could come home where her friends were. A girl could hope, couldn’t she?