7:25am Monday 30th September 2024
With my window down the wind whipped my hair playfully as we drove into the car park of my high school. Mom had offered to drop me off because I’d been running late and had missed the bus…again. A breeze blew into the car, it had been unusually warm for autumn and the sky had a strange pinkish tinge to it like that of a late summer dusky sunset. I noticed it because I love autumn and I love the cool clear blue days that the season brings, but the weather had been neither cool nor clear. It was usually my favourite time of year, some aspects of it remained though, for example some of the trees had begun to shed their leaves and everything looked beautiful with golden and red hues. I enjoyed watching the colours of the leaves change and add a warm vibrancy to the landscape around the town where we lived.
The breeze caressed my cheek and I smiled and I looked over at my Mom. She had a slight frown on her brow, caused by concentrating on navigating the car park to get me to the drop off zone in front of school. With cars and students everywhere, the whole scene was quite chaotic.
Just at that moment, our favourite song came on the radio ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac and my smile got wider. Mom’s frown softened at hearing Christine McVie’s voice and she looked across at me now smiling too. Every time I heard the song my heart began to dance with happiness and it filled me to the very core with joy because it reminded me of our families love of music. Mom and Dad brought us up on a menu of bands like Fleetwood Mac and other bands from the 70s and 80s that they loved, of which there were many. I put my feet up on the dashboard and tapped my toes to the tune singing at the same time, Mom started singing along too.
Mom was a classically beautiful woman, she had curly chestnut hair that ran down past her shoulders and gorgeous big blue eyes that always sparkled when she was excited about something. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt tucked into tailored pants and bright red high heels, looking very professional. She worked at an art gallery in town and was dropping me off before continuing on to her job. Being an artist herself, she still practised when she could find time on the weekends, by painting and also modelling small sculptures from clay. But these days she really loved selling other people's work and made it her mission to know everything about the art scene in our little town plus working in the art gallery provided a reliable income. She'd helped quite a few artists gain traction in the art world and they were now successful in other areas, which made Mom feel proud that she’d been a part of their journey.
“Ariah, could you please get your feet off the dash?” Mom asked mock sternly, giving me the side eye in the process. I laughed and put my feet back down in the footwell and into my sneakers. Dressed in a Ramones t-shirt and jeans, my sneakers finished off my casual look for school. Mom said I looked a little too casual at times but I would retort with ‘being comfortable in my appearance helps me learn better’ which she found hard to disagree with.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
We pulled into the parking bay for the drop off zone and I saw that most of my friends had already congregated on the little grass verge outside of the main entrance of school.
As I opened the door to get out of the car, Mom gently grabbed my arm. I stopped and turned to look back at her.
“Remember, Roderick is going to give you a ride home after school.” She said as she let go of me. I nodded, remembering that my brother had offered to take me home because I was going to be at basketball practice after school and wouldn’t be able to get the bus.
“Thanks Mom, yeah, Roderick reminded me before he left this morning.” I said. Although he was a few years older than me, and ran in different social circles, I loved my brother. Or should I say, I adored him. Mom used to tell us stories about how I would follow him around when I was small like a little shadow and I would always want to be doing what he was doing. He would start swimming lessons, I would have to start swimming lessons. He would start skateboarding, I would have to start skateboarding. He would start wearing his clothes inside out, I would have to start wearing my clothes inside out and so on. When I got into basketball on my own accord, he was really encouraging because I think he thought that he would finally get some space from me to do his own thing too.
That was Roderick though, always supportive and kind, especially over the past year. Dad had disappeared without a trace one night on his way home from work and Roderick had been a rock for both Mom and I. Which made me love him even more. Mom had been a mess which was completely understandable, given that her soul mate and love of her life was…well, we just didn’t know. The police had no leads, there was no evidence, no trace. It’s like one minute he existed and the next he didn’t. Things had only just started to get back to normal, or the new normal that we had to live without Dad.
“Awesome. Have a wonderful day sweetheart.” Mom smiled and blew me a kiss.
“You have a great day too Mom, I'll see you later tonight.” I said as I got out and closed the door behind me. Blowing her a kiss back, I noticed how happy she looked, she exuded a gentle calm for the first time since Dad had disappeared.
Winding down her window, she leant out. “I love you Ariah.” She called as she began to turn the car back into the parking lot to head out onto the road.
“I love you too Mom!” I gave her a wave as I walked over to my friends. She gave me a little toot of the horn and then drove off in her silver SUV.
Little did I know that would be the last time I would see her alive.