Strangely Beautiful, Chapter 1

Sacrifice. Is it really worth it in the end? This is the question I ask myself as I wake up this morning. I can vaguely see my mother through the fog out of my window. It's the first of December, the day my Mother decided was perfect for moving us clear across the country. We'd been packing for about a week. The divorce had killed my Mother inside, so after Thanksgiving, she decided it was time for a change. So that's why I find myself loading up the car with the little bit of stuff we have left here.

My little brother is still asleep on the living room floor. He was too afraid to sleep in his room now that the bed is no longer there. It's on it's way--along with our other luggage. Stuff that's too tedious to move by car--to Avera, Goergia in a moving truck that our family have pitched in to pick up. It'll be at my Uncle's today.

Yes, my Mother wanted to move back home. So we would be living with her brother. And my three cousins. I'd be sharing a room with Analee. She isn't bad, really. It's just... better in small doses. Then again, that's how I feel about all of my family. Growing up in California, I figured most of them just a bunch of hicks. Doesn't help much that my Uncle Roy owns a farm. Which brings more bad news, as my Mother thought it a great idea to get me a job on that farm.

I've said goodbye to my friends just the day before. Though, I'm not really sad to go. I don't have many friends here, and most of them aren't really loyal. In fact, when I told my --or so I thought--best friend, she didn't say much. And then proceeded to tell me how she was so excited to have her friend take my seat in Chemistry after I left. I've never really felt the love in Richmond. I was misunderstood quite often. No one wanted to have lunch with the punk rocker who was believed to cut herself in the mirror at night. While it was true, I had scars from nights like that, they were brought on by the rumor. Not the other way around.

So I feel no sadness as I continue loading the car. Though, I do feel bad. This house has been my home for twelve years. My dad moved us here from Avera when I was five. So I didn't remember much of the small town in Georgia. Just that the population was low, and my family took up a lot of it. about thirty people in a town with a 200 population census.

"David! Wake up!" My Mother's voice echoes through the house, waking my brother. In about two minutes, he'll walk through the front door sluggishly to run to the car and sit in his car seat. He won't feel anything from this move. He doesn't remember the marks on the door that we made to see how tall he was getting. He won't remember the broken mirror in our bathroom that I punched out of anger. He won't remember the holes in the wall where our cat would climb to the ceiling every night. He won't remember much from this place, but I'll remember everything. At least we get to keep our cat.

"Violet, are we about ready?" My Mother asks me as I'm loading the cat in her kennel and placing her in the backseat.

"Oh. So this I get a say in? Yeah. We're ready." I say sarcastically. There's literally nothing else to move. The house is completely empty, our memories the only thing that hold it together. I won't miss Richmond at all, no. But I will miss the house. The thing that I called my security for twelve years. "Wait!" I scream as she begins pulling out of the driveway. I reach across the center of the car, down by her feet to the side, just in front of the door and pull the lever that opens the trunk.

"Violet! What are you doing?" She shouts at me. I don't answer though. Instead, I go digging through our boxes to find the only object that will ease my mind. As I find it, I slam the trunk shut.

"Mom! Take a picture of Me and David before we go!" I say, tossing her the camera, earning a smile from her. I run to his door and open it. "Wake up!" I yell, shaking him rather roughly.

"Sissy! I want sleep!" He protests as I pick him up.

"This will only take a second okay?" I say, trying to be convincing. I want him to remember this house. I stand in front of the house with my four year old brother on my shoulders now as my mom snaps the picture. I lower my shoulder, letting my brother down.

"There. Now can we go?" My mother says impatiently.

"Not yet." I laugh, taking the camera from her. I'm in the spirit now, and won't be denied.  I run inside with the camera, snapping pictures of the rooms as a whole and then the individual things I want my brother to remember. The marks on the door, the mirror, and the holes in the wall. Finished with my photo session, I run back to the car.

"Now?" My mother says angrily.

"Yeah, we're ready now." I smile and set the camera on the dashboard.