Isolated

Chapter 12.

It was officially half way through Spring, the weather had been consistently warm and I hadn't seen the rain for a whole month. I missed the soothing sound it brought and the damp scent that entered whenever my parents opened the door but I was enjoying the warmth of the sun as it beamed through the windows.

I was sitting on the kitchen bench with my back to the window, a cookie in one hand and a cup of tea in another as I watched Dad hunch over the island as he attempted a sudoku. He looked up at me briefly, taking a break before he became too frustrated at the puzzle.

"I'm thinking steak for dinner," he muttered, tapping his pencil against the newspaper, the lead close to snapping.

I raised my eyebrow as he went back to filling out the nine 3x3 squares. "You know Mum has already prepared tuna salad for tea tonight right?" I sipped my tea before taking a bite of my half eaten cookie. He cursed under his breath and slammed the pencil onto the bench.

"I've never been good with numbers, I don't know why I even attempted this bloody piece of crap," he exclaimed, lifting his hands up into the air before turning in his chair to face me. "I meant for my birthday dinner kiddo, or have you forgotten?"

I shook my head, I hadn't forgotten at all. In fact Mason had dropped off the large package that contained his birthday present this morning, it was hiding under my bed currently waiting to be wrapped up. It was Dads birthday on Monday, his birthday being the 17th of April.

"58, you're going to be 58, that's so old. Soon you'll be laying in your grave." I teased, waving my cookie around before finishing it off.

He playfully glared at me, "and if you're not careful kiddo you'll be laying in your grave before you're 28."

"I have one and a half months to complete my bucket list then," I grinned. My birthday landed on the 2nd of June, just 46 days after my fathers. Mums wasn't until the 29th of November, and she always joked about how she felt left out because her birthday was the only one in the second half of the year.

"What's on your bucket list kiddo? Bungee jump from the ceiling? Swim with plastic dolphins in the bathtub? Watch a live stream of a My Chemical Romance concert?"

My hand found my heart and I gasped, "Dad! How could you?" I felt tears form at my Dads insensitivity, and I wiped away a stray tear that had worked its way down my cheek. I sniffed as I whispered, "My Chemical Romance broke up in 2013."

He shook his head at me, "I can't believe I created an emo."

I laughed, "I genuinely don't have a bucket list, I don't really think I need one."

Dad got up from the island, grabbing the pencil and newspaper and throwing them both in the bin as he walked over to me. He reached behind me and grabbed a glass and turned on the tap to fill it. "You should consider it," he smiled, "it could do you good. A bit of motivation, something to look forward to and aim for."

He chugged back the water before placing the dirty glass in the sink as I hopped off the bench and placed my mug next to his glass. "Maybe," I nodded. He smiled at me, and turned away, heading towards the door.

"I might go see what Marg is up to."

I followed behind him, until he turned into their bedroom and I turned into mine. The sun was streaming through my bedroom window, and the sunflowers were looking especially bright and healthy. I glanced at my easel and at the canvas that sat on it. Two days ago I had started a new piece after digging through my old photo albums and discovering an old picture that I just had to paint.

It was a picture that Alessia had taken the night at the beach. It was a little blurry, and dark due to the time of day but you could easily make out two happy figures in the ocean against the dark blues and purples of the sky. Two blobs of light pink with their arms up in the air. I'd stuck that image to my window with blu-tac next to my easel and sketched it out on the easel, so far only the sky had been painted in.