LAUGHTER

Chapter 2 Nothing good lasts forever

Annabelle's POV

I cried until my chest hurt.It felt as though my tears had run dry,yet somehow they still kept falling.Food didn't taste like anything that day I couldn't eat,couldn't even drink.The world had tilted,broken, and I didn't know how to fix it.

What would happen to me now?I was only twelve.Bella was only fifteen.We were children trying to hold ourselves together while the most important people in our lives were gone forever.

***A week later***

The days dragged by,heavy and empty. One afternoon,I sat by the window,my chin resting on my knees,staring blankly at the gate.My thoughts spun in endless circles,questions without answers.What did life have in store for me now?Was there still a future worth imagining?

A sudden honk startled me.The creak of the gate opening followed,and I peered outside.A familiar red Golf rolled in,it was my uncle's car.Right behind it,a sleek black Benz followed.That one I didn't recognize.My heartbeat quickened.

I rushed downstairs,eager to see my uncle.He was the only family I had left the elder brother of my father,the man who now held our lives in his hands.But when I reached the living room,it was empty.The silence was unsettling.

I stepped outside and listened.Voices floated from the backyard.I followed them,careful at first,until I found the source.

There was my uncle,tall and imposing, gesturing with his hands as he led the other man,the owner of the black Benz around.His words struck me like a slap. He wasn't just showing him around.He was giving him a tour of the house.

My house.My parents house.

The man left eventually,shaking hands with my uncle before slipping into his car.I didn't even watch him go.My heart was pounding too hard as I turned to face my uncle.

"Uncle,are you selling my daddy's house?"My voice wavered,small but sharp.

"Yes,I am"he said simply,without hesitation."We need the money urgently”

I felt my chest tighten.“So...where will Bella and I stay then?”The question slipped from me,full of the kind of innocence that only comes before the weight of the world crushes it out of you.

He looked at me with something I couldn't read pity,perhaps,or annoyance.“You both will come to my house.Your cousins will be there to keep you company.”

The words were meant to comfort,but they only deepened the ache inside me.

After a while,he left,his car rumbling away,leaving the house emptier than ever.Bella and I stood in silence for a long time before we finally went inside. Without a word,we began folding clothes,placing them into boxes.We were packing away not just our belongings,but pieces of our lives.

We had one more week to live in my parents house,the house filled with memories,laughter,and warmth.After that,we would leave for my parents burial,and then move in with my uncle's family.

The week vanished quicker than I expected.Suddenly,I was no longer in my parents home.The burial was fixed,preparations whispered around me as relatives came and went,and my cousins and aunt tried to be kind.

For a moment,I thought maybe,just maybe,things would be okay.

But deep down,I didn't know that nothing good lasts forever.