Living Again

Living Again~ Five

CHAPTER 5

"Marissa, breakfast is ready!" Aunt Claire called out.

I looked around the room once more. While I was away, they had turned the one of the two guestrooms into my room. The furniture was ivory white, the design of it had this fairytale look to it. It was really pretty, the old Marissa would have loved it. She would have painted the walls a light purple. Uncle Joe said they have left the walls plain so I can get them painted whatever colour I want. Like I care.

I jogged downstairs and sat across Joe, my uncle, at the table. They've told me to call them just Claire and Joe if I prefer to, which I do most of the time. Joe didn't look up from the newspaper he was reading. Claire came then saying good morning before sitting down herself and we had our breakfast. 

We ate silently. All of us pretending we were too engrossed in our food to talk. The fact was I didn't know what to say and they were scared that anything they do say will remind me of my parents. You see, this is how they came to the decision of sending me to boarding school. My first week in their house, little things they would did- like my aunt kissing my forehead before leaving the house- would throw me off. It would remind me of how my mom used to do that too. And I would be sobbing before I knew it. Since then, they realised I needed some time to recover on my own. Be more independent since I was too used to always having my parents to lean on, being the only child.

Claire is my mother's older sister. They look quite alike, except Claire's ash blonde hair is cropped short in a bob cut and only reaches her shoulders. While my mom's was almost waist length and had more curls to it. They both have the same dark grey-ish eyes. Even though I'll never tell her, Claire reminds me of my mom.

When we were finally done, Claire took the dishes and busied herself with starting up the dishwasher. I was just about to get up when Joe inquired, 

"So, how's school going?"

"Fine." I replied shortly. I had nothing against Joe, thankfully he didn't remind me of my dad. While my dad was funny and lively most of the time, Joe was careful and serious but in a friendly way. He pushed up his glasses and continued, 

"How are your housemates?"

"They're okay. We don't have to share rooms though."

"Cool."

A few seconds passed. I would ususally get up and escape to my room but I wanted to be polite for once. Atleast show them that I'm getting over the past and starting fresh. So I asked him, 

"How's work going?"

"Oh, um" I knew he was surprised at my attempt to make conversation "It's great, just a lot more stress!"

As he said this Claire came up from behind him and rubbed his shoulders gently. They were a sweet couple, the kind you can imagine going through obstacles never leaving each other's sides. God I sound like some freak.

I excused myself as they were getting ready for work. Joe was a financial advisor and Claire was an events manager. They were almost always busy with their work, even during the summer holidays. So I knew I would be home alone a lot. Not that I mind.

I sat on my comfy bed pondering over how to spend the rest of my day. I didn't really have any homework to do now that holidays had started. Oh wait, I still had that history project to occupy my time, I realised. But I'm working on it with Ethan, and we haven't discussed what to base it on. Ethan... Am I supposed to get in touch with him for the project? Or will he contact me? What if he forgets about it and we show up back at school without any progress on our projects and I end up failing history for the semester?