All characters in this story are over eighteen years of age. One is still in school, but has had their eighteenth birthday.
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I hate going home for the summer.
I graduated high school three years ago and I have avoided being home since. I don't have a bad family by any means, but I wanted so badly to be out and on my own, it feels like a betrayal to my younger self to go back. My Dad has a very high paying job that requires a lot of international travel. He is a good man, but he is never around. My Mom has always been around, and was really the one who raised my sisters and I.
My older sister (Krista) is a couple years older than me (25). She participated in an exchange student program where she went to Italy her Junior year and she hasn't been back since. My younger sister (Kayla), is a senior this year and has always been highly active in school. She has about three awards for everything you can think of.
I am pretty bland (Peter). I made slightly above average grades, and I barely made it into a college, and I moved out.
So now, why is my Mom calling me? It's not like we NEVER speak, but she doesn't call me randomly. Sunday afternoon at 3 pm, sure, that's my Mom, but it's 2 am on a Thursday.
"Hello?"
"Peter? I am sorry I woke you, but it's an emergency. Your Aunt Macy is in the hospital. I need to go and be with her. How quickly do you think you could be here to be with Kayla?"
"Wait, do I have to? Why does she need a babysitter?"
"She doesn't need a babysitter, she is graduating in a week and I am not sure I will be back. Please, I hate that this is happening, but can we talk about it later? I need to know you are on your way."
"Yeah, sorry. I can be there in three hours. I need to throw a bag together, but I will be there before eight."
"Thank you, Peter. I will call you when I get a chance, but I am walking out the door now. I have a flight to catch."
"Bye Mom. Love you."
I think the call was ended before I could even get that out. Aunt Macy was a lot older than Mom, and her health hasn't really been bad that I know of. There must have been an accident. I hope she's okay. Right now I need to get up though.
I sat up and walked to the bathroom, making a to-do list in my head. I need to get dressed, pack a bag, let my roommate know I am leaving for a while, and I need to grab some snacks for the road. What do I need to take with me, oh, actually I think I still have the bag packed from last weekend when I went to the lake. The clothes are clean and it has all my toiletries. All I need to grab is my phone and charger. Nice. I threw on some clothes and tossed my charger in my bag. I sat the bag next to the door and grabbed a couple pieces of fruit from the bowl on the counter.
I opened the door and stopped abruptly. Tyler, I forgot to tell Tyler I was going to be gone for a bit. Tyler is my roommate, I have had the apartment for almost two years now, but my last roommate got engaged and moved in with his fiancΓ©. I couldn't afford the rent alone, so I had to find a new roommate quick. Tyler is fine, I work with him and we get along. The only problem we have had is that I found him in my room a few weeks back. I don't think he steals or anything, but he was borrowing a shirt. I don't like the idea of someone going through my things.
I told him what was going on, and I could tell he was still completely asleep, so I just told him to go back to bed, and I would call him later. I grabbed my things and I was out the door. I tossed the bag in the bed of my truck, and I climbed into the front seat. I started the engine, peeled open my banana, and away I went.
This isn't too bad. It kind of worked out. I am not on schedule at work for the next couple weeks and yesterday was the last day of classes. I will spend a week at home, watching movies and keeping up the house, Mom will come home and I will get back to my life. I guess I just need to figure out how I will deal with Kayla and it will be a pretty good break.
Kayla isn't bad, it's just that she's that annoying little kid that's always underfoot. She also kind of always looked down on me. Like I wasn't living up to my potential or something. Whatever though, she's an adult now, I am sure she will want to be out with her friends the whole week anyway.
I had to stop a couple times on the way, just stretch my legs and wake up, but I pulled up to the house at about seven fifteen. I reached for the door and it swung up. Kayla was standing there with her bag over her shoulder.
"Can you give me a ride? My friend just called and won't make it today. I could walk, but if you don't mind, I would rather not."
I thought for a moment.
"Yeah, let's go."
"Thanks."
We both turned and walked to the truck, Kayla was in a hurry it seemed. She pulled the door closed and got ahead of me pretty quick.
"Do you have something going on this morning? Should I be running?"
"No." She took a deep breath and released it sharply. "I am giving a speech at graduation, and I am supposed to read it to my journalism teacher today for notes."
"Ah, okay. Well let's get you there."
Nothing else was said until the truck came to a stop in front of the school. Kayla jumped out and was halfway to the building before the door closed shut, and she said, "Thanks again."
I shook my head and drove home. Kayla was older, but nothing has changed. I don't think she has even grown an inch since I saw her three years ago. Hell, I think she was even wearing a shirt she wore back then. Same brown curly hair, same black rimmed glasses. Same sister.
I got home and I took in my bag. I walked into my room and I started to pull out my toiletries and put away the two outfits I brought. I left some clothes in the closet when I left, maybe they would still be there. I got all the stuff out of the small bag and I it hit me as soon as I saw it. I forgot I packed my fleshlight.
When I packed for last weekend, I packed it in there. I didn't want Tyler snooping and finding it. Whatever, I will just keep it in the bag and hide it in my closet, it's fine. Putting everything away, I saw that the closet was empty. I don't know where my clothes went, but they weren't here. That's fine though, I know Mom leaves a credit card in their safe for emergencies, I will text her that I need to use it to buy some clothes for while I am here. I laid down on the bed and I sent the text. I laid my head back to sleep a little more, but I was already awake. I knew I wasn't going to fall back asleep.