Road Trip for a Wild Heart

Chapter 2

Ellis

After my encounter with Abigail I sprint home in attempt to be away from everyone before I completely lost my mind. I quietly run up the stairs and tiptoe to my room, throwing myself down on my bed and screaming into my pillow.

How had everything got so bad? My best friend didn't even want me in her life because she knew I'd ruin it. I would walk through her life, burning it all down with every step. Tears soak my pillow and I made myself dizzier with each racing breath. It took me twenty minutes to calm down from complete hysterics and look around my room. It was empty.

"What on earth?" I say looking around. Almost everything had been cleared off my shelves and taken out of my draws. My stomach twists as the realisation hit me

"What the fuck have you done with my things?" I yell as I throw open my mother's room. She sat in bed, typing on her laptop, not even looking up at me.

"I'm teaching you a lesson," she says calmly.

"And what would that be? Materialism is poison?" I was doing everything in my power not to cross the room and start ripping at her hair.

"If you're in my house you abide by my rules. Since you are incapable, you can leave."

I hold my head in disbelief, "where is all my stuff you bipolar bitch?"

She scoffs, "that is no way to speak to me."

"I swear to god I will talk to you however I fucking feel like until you tell me what you've done!"

She completely ignores me and continues her power spiel, "tomorrow I will be changing the locks. You'll have to earn your way back into this house."

"Mum I have nowhere to go!" I cry.

"I guess you should have thought of that earlier."

***

After my showdown with my mum I tear apart the house in search of my belongings. I manage to find a couple of pairs of shoes and some clothes in the dustbin and find my longboard and ukulele tucked away in a cupboard in the garage. To my devastation, my mother had burned all of my journals full of stories I had never finished and my book collection had vanished without a trace.

I wished I could say that this was an unusual circumstance but my mother had frequently hidden or destroyed things of mine to 'teach me a lesson.' I was almost certain her insanity was what lead to my father's departure.

I had to wait until very late before I could retrieve my laptop and my jewellery box. I knew she would hide my two most valuable things in the safe in her wardrobe. I had no doubt that she intended on selling them. She had threatened it before.

Fortunately when I sneak in she is well and truly comatose. My mother was a very deep sleeper. I moved promptly to the wardrobe, opening the door and wincing at the creak. There it was. I crouch down and start punching in the code. My head whips back to check my mother's state as each number beeps. To my relief I hear the mechanics click and the door clunk open. I scoop up my things and swiftly exit.

Carrying my things in my old hiking pack I wander down dark streets without the slightest idea as to where I would be going next. Out of sheer desperation I call my father.

"Daddy?" I say quietly as the call tone stops and someone picks up.

"Ellis? Why are you calling this late?" I hear him say gruffly. I had undoubtedly woken him up.

I start to cry again, "Dad, Mum has kicked me out. Can I come stay with you please?" There is a long silence.

"I'm sorry Ellis but you need to sort out whatever is wrong between you and your mother."