Chaos

II: without my wealth

        I SAT outside my white panneled house and glared at my bare feet on the concrete. My eyes shifted to the expensive shoes beside me, I had tossed them off moments ago when the earth decided to follow the path of my emotions and create a storm so loud and outrageous that it felt like the world was being broken into a thousand tiny pieces. I sat at the last step of the long welcoming patio in my beautiful winning homecoming dress and crown and stared down sadly, tears slowly yet silently streaking down my face. My long legs seeped out of the velvety golden dress, now soaked as the tears of god combined with mine. I looked long and hard at the shoes beside me, angry at how they never have problems like we humans do.

I angrily grabbed the three-hundred dollar shoes beside me, which were soaked with rainwater by now and threw them as hard as I could. I screamed aloud. Anger boiled inside me as I watched the high-heel shoes bounce on the fake grass and land in a pile of mud beside the large olive tree at the front of my house. Our lawn was huge, covered in healthy grass and surrounded by a couple trees. It was a design chosen by my father.

I covered my face, furiously wiping my eyes, unwilling to turn around and look at the house I'd grown up in. My phone buzzed silently, I glared at the bright screen for a second, then tossed it across the front yard. It landed beside the shoes, getting soaked. Lets see how waterproof it really is. Again, I watched it bounce away and land in a pile of mud. The mud worked like quicksand and slowly ate my phone and shoes. The dark night entangled my mind, twisting it's way to my heart as I angrily sobbed quietly.

"Taylor Lance Blakely!" My mom's angry, broken voice rushed to me, booming through my ears like a tornado. "What do you think you're doing young lady?" She shouted staring at my hunched figure. My soaked expensive dress, my destroyed hundred dollar hairdo, my makeup which was streaming down my face. Her eyes were not on me, they were on the expensive shoes I had thrown and the so-called "waterproof" phone.

"I'll buy a new one." I shrugged as mom grabbed my elbow and pulled me off the floor. Her fingers pressed harshly into my arm as I winced in pain. Her nails almost clawed into my skin as her voice grew into a quiet growl. She was furious.

"We can't afford a new one anymore!" She shouted, "go get that phone and those shoes and place that dress on a drying rack. After that stunt your father pulled, we'll be lucky to get out of this with a few hundreds in the bank." Mom angrily wiped a tear that slipped out of her eye. It was the first time she'd ever raised her voice at me and I felt afraid. You couldn't tell apart tears from rain anymore, her face was covered in water by now. She gave me a remorseful look before turning around and walking back inside.

I stood now, dumbfounded by what just happened. I couldn't believe my kind-hearted and caring father would ever take all the money and investments and just leave us with a simple little note held by a magnet of the Eiffel Tower on our fridge.

"I'm leaving you Emily. I don't love you anymore."

What kind of sick man would do that. He had one child and a loving, caring wife. Now he took all of it and left us. He took all of our hard-earned money, leaving us with nothing more than a single Hundred dollar bill under the couch cushions. I remember looking through the couch cushions daily when I was little, I would find twenty dollar bills, purposely placed by my father to make me a happy child. Nothing could make me happy anymore. It felt like a never ending cycle of bored expressions and dulled heart rates. I stood in the rain for a while, realizing the simple fact that we'd have to downsize to an apartment; like the poor people. I huffed angrily and pushed through the rain to pick up the muddy shoes and my phone.

I took short steps back to the small stairs of the long patio and toward the giant glass paneled door of my tan house. It was very modern, in fact my dad had built it years after I was born and created it to meet our needs. Now we had to sell it. Now we had to move. Everything changed because of a stupid note. I slowly tilted my head up to stare at the black sky, rain drops landing on my face and rushing into my darkened eyes.

I quietly shut my eyes, letting the water consume me. I wished to sink into the earth, to at least know where my dad was, why he suddenly decided to leave with all our money. I cringed. My phone buzzed again. I held its muddy case in my hand and cleared off the screen with my finger.

Five Messages from Jake Selvins.

Babe where'd you go?

Taylor? Where are you?

Are you okay?

Taylor answer, this isn't funny.

Answer. Hello?? Taylor

I walked inside my brightly lit house, the giant glass chandelier enlightening the entire area, I watched as the staff hurriedly packed things into boxes, they all pitched in a bit to help pay our first-month rent at an apartment. Afterall, they've been working for us for many years. They all even offered to drive some of our stuff to our apartment with their cars. We were grateful, but I truly knew the reason for their kindness. Mom told them that anything we couldn't bring to our apartment within the next week was stuff they could keep. So generous mom. So greedy those workers are.

I scurried to the kitchen, my stomach loudly growling as I tried to control it. I don't usually let myself eat after seven, but today was an exception.

"Hello Ava," I said to my maid as she smiled at me.

"I'm so sorry to hear about this Miss Taylor," Ava said immediately, eyeing the snow globe behind me. A gift my dad gave me for my eighth birthday. I never wanted to see it again. Disrespect and shame endured. I wanted to stab a wall with the sharpest knife in the kitchen, I wanted to wreck this house and I wanted to yell at my father, but he was nowhere to be found.

Gone without a trace.

I forced a smile at the maid and walked away, a look of disgust filled my face as they landed on those of the butler. He had a wide smile on his face as he graciously accepted the eight hundred dollar carving that my dad bought a few years ago. I grunted in anger and rushed out of the house. We should have sold all our stuff, but there was no time. No time at all.

My mom said we had to be out of here soon, we would get two-thousand dollars a month after the house is sold, but that's it, we don't get to keep the money from anything.

Whoever buys our home will be a very lucky person. There was no way I would make it out of this okay. I was mad. Furious actually, I didn't want to lose my home, the place I was raised. But there was no way I could argue with mom when she was like this. I had to just do what she says and not add to her stress. She says we have to leave, so we leave.

But I wouldn't give up until I found the reason, the real reason, why my dad left us. Because not loving my mother anymore seemed like a total lie- especially since I'd walked in on them in their tub, not more than a week ago.

🌹🌹🌹
Can anyone guess why the flowers are limp at the start of each chapter? Or why they bloom at the end?

Don't forget to comment and vote!

The next chapter awaits you.