All Of You

chapter twenty eight || alice's interlude

A L I C E

'SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, WELCOME' reads the sign. I lean back against the seat of V's car and glance out the window in silence as Monster Mash plays on the radio. The trees still in their beautiful autumn colors. Leaves everywhere on the ground.

I'm nervous as hell and my mood dropped completely when I saw that we entered Boston. The whole drive here I was happy and we sang most of the drive and laughed and talked a lot. It was the first time in a long time that I felt happy and almost whole.

For as long as I can remember my mom and I were completely alone. Her family disowned her when she got pregnant with me and my dad left when I was a baby and never looked back. So holidays and events we would spend with her best friends and to me they were family. But she was gone when I was so young that I can't remember the last time I was around an actual family for any holiday. Ms. Susan didn't have anyone either, and when she adopted me, it was just the two of us.

Violet must sense all the nerves radiating off my body. She turns the music down. "What's wrong?"

I sigh and give her a half smile. "I just feel out of place. I miss my mom." I can already feel the lump in my throat. Every holiday for me is the same since my mom passed. I cry and feel empty. Violet's eyes turn soft. She reaches over to grab my hand with her free hand and gives me a light squeeze.

One of the many things I love about her; she doesn't hover or try to say things like "you'll be fine." or "it'll be okay." Not to sound like a complete ass but sometimes people don't want to hear that.

"Pick the next song." Violet says. I sit up and grab the phone to pick a song. I think about putting my moms favorite song on All Through The Night by Cyndi Lauper but we need to lighten the mood and a good laugh so I go with Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles. A White Chicks moment for sure. "Ahh! Yes!" Violet says with a big smile. And we sing the song on the top of our lungs.

Fifteen minutes later we're turning onto her street and I smile when I see that she lives by the lakeside.
We pull up to her house. A perfect small two story doll looking house. The house is a light shade of gray, with white trimmings and black shutters. It's the perfect house.

Another jeep just like Violet's—but white—sits parked in the driveway and we pull up right next to it. "We have arrived." Violet announces using her Transylvanian accent. She honks her horn twice before unbuckling her seatbelt and climbing out.

The front door of the house swings open, just as I'm climbing out of the car. "Ahhh!" The woman coming out of the house shouts holding a big smile on her face and making her way towards us. "My college girl!" She says pulling V into a big hug. "Oh I missed you baby!" I recognize her from FaceTime, it's V's mom. She's so much prettier in person. And very young looking. Violet actually looks just like her only her mom has brown hair with light blonde streaks in it.