My Future, Past & Present

Chapter eight

I had been toying where to go from here and it just cemented in my head so here it goes, I am back to work tonight and the world of night shift so it well be unedited until my awesome editor wheadee has time to make my work be awesome! and i love her work so that always comes first thanks Whitney I <3 ur awesome dedication to me and your writing!

I arrived home, my house was an understated little white weather board stand-alone house, it had blue shutters, a big front porch with a clichéd blue swing. The garden beds surrounding the porch were full of country flowers, which Lucy picked and I found pressed between pages of books randomly. Our neighbourhood was full of middle class families, who worked hard to pay the mortgage, so we didn't always have time to stop and talk, but always said hello when we passed each other.

I parked the car under the blue carport beside the house, took my bag and went inside to get ready for my munchkin’s arrival.

Our house had two good sized bedrooms, mine was simple white, practical dressers and the only extravagant thing was my bright eclectic array of pillows on my bright duvet covers, I had them in every colour of the rainbow. My room was full of framed pictures of me, Lucy and Jodi, as well as framed pieces of Lucy's Art.

Lucy's room was built for the princess she was, while mine was practical, Lucy's room was full of knick knacks. She had an antique iron bed frame, with a pink and purple flowered bedspread. She had a wardrobe full of fairy costumes, and a pink wooden bookshelf full of fairy tales, I suppose since we didn't have one she got it from books, hey a girl’s gotta dream.

We had a cozy living room, with an open fireplace and a library of children’s DVDs and a few adult’s ones but I was more inclined to the book case full of hundreds of novels and medical text books.

Our kitchen and dining room were one big room; the kitchen was well worn and loved. The cabinets were a shade of dark blue, with red accents in the tea towels, utensils, and cookie jars. The dining table was a big old battered table, where we ate dinner and in years to come Lucy would do her homework.

It wasn't big, it wasn’t fancy like Jodi's, but it was home and it was mine.

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When I left home Lucy was two months old and I was almost seventeen, I had a couple hundred dollars to my name and the trust fund my grandfather had left for me when he died wouldn't kick in until I was eighteen. Due to the events that led me to leave home my parents were glad to see the back of me, it was easier to believe that I didn't exist than to deal with what happened to me.

I spent the next year working for a nice old lady in the city as a maid, she let work for board and pocket money, it meant I could do the house work and look after Lucy at the same time. She didn't ask questions, she took me as I came, as long as I did the work to her high standards, which I always did. I was very appreciative of the job and roof so I scrubbed her house tell it shone. During that year both myself and Lucy grew. I still saw Jodi as often as she could, it was her senior year and she was busy applying for colleges, but she was always there for me. Jodi was the one who pushed me to apply for medical school. I never thought I would get in. I had never finished high school, even though I had gotten my GED at night while Lucy slept. I never thought it would be enough for medical school. The Dean rang me himself, he said my essay and grades showed him that I would make an excellent and dedicated student and he wanted to offer me a slot in their program the following year, I almost dropped my phone, it was what I had dreamed of.

When I turned eighteen, Lucy and I bid farewell to Mrs. Bird and thanked her for taking me in when no one else would, I would never forget those eyes that demanded respect but mostly her heart that took me in when no one else would. While my trust fund was of a very respectable amount, I did not know how long it would have to last us, so I brought a reasonable house in a reasonable neighbourhood, paid my tuition and enrolled Lucy in the best public daycare I could find. While I wanted Lucy to have the best of everything I also wanted her to experience the reality of life and not live in the world I grew up in.

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Promptly at five p.m. on the dot, I saw Sarah's black SUV pull up, not long after it stopped the door swung open, Lucy unbuckled herself from the booster seat and jumped out of the car and ran all the way to my waiting arms at the top of the stairs, her masses of long black wavy hair flying all over the place. She jumped into my arms. "Mummy!" she began talking a million miles an hour about the events of the weekend. I looked at her smiling, I had my munchkin back, I hugged her tight, smelling her intoxicating smell that only young children had, today it was mixed with the salty smell of the ocean and her strawberry shampoo. She didn't look like me, she had his black hair, and those piercing blue-grey eyes, when she was first born, it scared me how much she looked like him, but her personality was all me.

"Hey there munchkin! I missed you!" I nuzzled into her, holding her tight.

Sarah approached us, carrying her pink mini trolley bag.

"Thanks so much Sarah, it sounds like she had a great time."

"Any time, Lucy was very well behaved, better than mine!" She looked back at her kids who were fighting over the stereo.

"Say thank you to Aunt Sarah, Luce and to your cousins." I instructed as I put Lucy down.

"Thank you Aunt Sarah, I had lots of fun, I really like the sandcastle we built!" She said hugging her aunt.

She then turned to the car and wave vigorously, "Bye Joey, Becky and Suzie! See you next time."

Sarah got in the car and her and the kids waved and drove off.

I held one of Lucy's hands, picked up her bag with the other and walked inside; Lucy continued to talk a million miles an hour about everything she did.

We had a quiet night at home, we ate Mac and Cheese for dinner, I bathed Lucy and snuggled her into bed, and read her her favourite book of the moment, The Little Mermaid, she fell asleep a couple of pages into the book, exhausted from the excitement of a long weekend. I sat and watched her sleep for a long time, so innocent, so precious, and I loved her so much.

I went to bed early that night, we were back to the real world and both had school early the next morning. Just as I was drifting off to sleep the phone rang.

"Hello," I answered in a haze of sleep.

"Hey, sorry did I wake you?" It was Scott, I had totally forgotten he was going to call, it had been a busy afternoon and all my attention had been focused on Lucy.

"Yeah, it’s ok though, just been a busy night," I smiled as I thought about the weekend and snuggled down more into my bed.

"Sorry, I just wanted to tell you I had a great weekend, and wanted to ask you out to dinner." Scott said almost hesitantly

"Mmm I had a great weekend too, I don't know when I'll be free but I’d love to." I said pondering my schedule for the week ahead.

"That's ok, whenever you’re free let me know, I'll let you go back to sleep now." Scott said, sounding happy

"Mmm ‘kay, sorry," I said in the haze between sleep and being awake.

"Phoebe?"

"Mmm?"

"Sweet dreams."

"You too," I said and then hung up the phone.

At first I dreamt of Scott, but as the night drew on I started to have horrible nightmares of the past, it had been a long time since I had one, I awoke with a jolt….

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