El Desierto y La Luna

El Drive (Chapter 1)

"Stormy."

"Stormy."

"Stormy!"

Her eyes fluttered open as her mind spun, trying to orient herself. Her head turned to where the voice was coming from.

"Come on, you didn't load your stuff into the car like I asked you to," Her mom rested her hands on her hips and she stared Stormy down.

Stormy groaned and tried to pull her blanket back over her head, only to have the blanket ripped off of her body. 

"Get up."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Times had been stressful since her dad had gotten sick.

Her family used to go out to the movies, go hiking, take trips...

Now, it's all go, go, go.

Get up. Let's go. Come on.

Stormy rarely complained, though.

She would often think back to when it looked like her dad wasn't gonna make it.

Those were harder times than the present. 

Stormy closed the trunk and sat in the back seat, waiting for her parents to come to the car. She was more anxious than she was excited. She didn't know what to expect. She'd visited Arizona only a handful of times before, and it was always a pit stop on the way to Mexico. Living there would be a whole different story.

She was never keen on making new friends, so  when her parents gave her the news that they'd decided to move, she was immediately anxious about it. 

Her mom opened the door and started up the car before walking back to the porch. Stormy's dad emerged from the front door, and he slowly made his way to the front step. Her mom waited to guide him down the steps,  but he stubbornly refused to grab her arm. 

That was her dad.

Even after a year of struggling with the pain, he was just as hardheaded as before.

Though it could be frustrating, it was this personality trait that got him through grueling physical therapy and a seemingly impossible recovery.

Sometimes, you gotta take the good with the bad.

"Alright guys, let's say a prayer before we pull off," Her mom said, bowing her head.

As they pulled out of their driveway, she stared back at her old house, watching it get smaller and smaller. It felt like leaving an old friend behind, and in her heart she felt a twinge of sadness as they turned the corner and the house disappeared from her line of vision.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She watched as the green pastures flew past.

Does Arizona even have grass? 

She wondered how her hair would do in the dry Arizona air.

Of course, in true city-girl fashion, she had to smack her dad on the arm and point at every cow and horse that she saw. 

She marveled at the ginormous boulders and occasionally checked the temperature on her phone, which only seemed to climb as the hours rolled by.

Her eyes began to feel heavy, and she leaned her head on the warm window. 

'Leaving California',  she read.

Her eyes finally closed as she drifted off to sleep.