"You almost ready, Danielle?" I heard my aunt call from upstairs. I grabbed my phone charger and stuffed it in my bag. I took one last look at my room. There was many memories made in this room. Some great, some....not so great. Nevertheless, I will still miss this place. I have lived here ever since my parents died.
I walked down the hallway in our house and passed Billy's room. I tried not to look but I mean, I couldn't help it. It was dark and looked cold. I turned away and walked downstairs.
"Danielle!" My aunt called out again.
"Yes, coming," I said back, walking down the stairs to join her in the kitchen.
"Here, have something to eat before we leave for the airport. Sit sit." Aunt Belle put a plate down and I grabbed a donut, which I assume she bought this morning.
"Thanks, Aunt Belle." I started eating my chocolate with sprinkles donut. My favorite.
"How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" She sat down next to me with her coffee and stroked my hair.
"Eh, could be better. My side hurts. Can I take off this patch?" I lifted up my shirt and there was another, different bloody patch.
I was released from the hospital two days ago. They did the forensic exam and I literally just slept the whole 3 days I was in the hospital. I mean, what else am I going to do? Watch TV? Boring.
"No sweetie. Not for another week or so. The doctor said it could easily get infected." My aunt said as I fingered with my donut.
"Oh."
"I'm sorry baby. It will get better." She put her hand over mine.
"When?" I scoffed. I've never actually realized what a pessimistic person I am, until this very moment.
"Starting now," she smiled and put her hands over my free hand. I wish I believed her.
I sighed. "So why again do I have to go to boarding school again? And why is it so far away?" I dried my hands.
"Danielle, you need to understand that this is for your own safety. Anyway, a new start in a new place will be good for you! Plus, Nebraska's not that bad. It's beautiful there." My aunt smiled at the thought of it. She was a born and raised Nebraskan. And she was very proud of it. She only moved out here to Chicago because my mom lived out here. And then I was born. So, of course, she couldn't miss the birth of her first niece. And last, but she didn't know that at the time. She decided to stay out here in Chi-Town because she said she had an "Unbreakable bond with her niece (me) and couldn't leave. She always laughed when she said that, but something in her eyes said that she wasn't lying. I had always felt she had a stronger bond with me than my own mom did. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
"But why is it so far away? Why don't we just go to Indiana or Michigan or something?" I sat back down.
"Like I said, for your safety."
"Safety of what? Billy is in jail now, I can't get hurt. Right?" I looked her deep in the eyes. She looked down.
"Right?" I said louder but not quite yelling.
"Danielle, you are safe. Don't feel that you aren't. It's just....Billy will not be in jail forever. He will be let out someday and I don't want him to know where we live when he does get released." She looked up at me again. My heart sank.
"But that won't be for a while, right? Plus we have a restraining order. He can't have contact with us, right?" I was on the edge of my seat, my eyeballs piercing Aunt Belle's.
"Well, Danielle. I talked to the police and they said that because there really isn't much proof as to Billy's violence towards you, he won't be in jail for as long as we would like. I didn't want to tell you like this, but you're asking so..." She looked back down again.
"Much proof! There was a knife in my chest! What do they mean there wasn't enough proof?" I tried to control myself, but my body wanted to fling chairs everywhere and punch a wall. But that wouldn't do me good.
"There weren't any fingerprints on the knife and he fled from the warehouse before they caught him in the parking lot. And there wasn't anything unusual in the forensic exam... I'm sorry, Dani. I promise we will be safe. You will be safe." She stood back up and tried to calm me down but it's not worth it. I don't care.
Isn't a knife enough? Isn't me telling someone what he did to me, enough? Do they not believe me? That I would lie about this?
"How long until he will be out of jail?" I asked my aunt a bit calmer, but still, my blood was boiling.
"Danielle, I don't want you to worry. We're never going to see him again so it doesn't matter when he gets out."
"Aunt Belle, tell me, please," I closed my eyes and tried to relax my shoulders.
She hesitated, looked down, and then said quietly, "Detective Deveaux said about 3 months."
"3 months..." I opened my eyes and stared off into the distance. "He's going to be out in 3 months, that's just great." I let out a small laugh.
"Shhhh....focus on your new life, not your old life. Put this behind you. He will not have any contact with us. He will not know where we are. And the police still know that he is a criminal. You will be safe." She smiled with her reassuring ways.
"I love you Aunt Belle,"
"I love you way more, Danielle,"
We stood up and ended up hugging for a good 2 minutes until we heard a knock on the door. We walked over to the door to a little man with a taxi cap on.
"Good evening, Ms. Shaw. Your taxi has arrived. I'm Paul Di'Caprio," This little man said while drinking a water bottle. The poor little man seemed out of breath.
"Thank you, Sir. We'll be right out." My aunt said, smiling.
"You have everything ready to go? Nothing's left in your room or your bathroom? I checked the rest of the house earlier," Aunt Belle looked at me and I nodded. We had all our suitcases and clothes and all that stuff sent to our new home yesterday, so we will have it set for when we get there.
"Okay, let's get ready to go. New life, here we come!" Aunt Belle smiled at me and I forced a smile back. It's pretty damn hard to smile when you're life has changed so drastically.
Aunt Belle and I walked out to the taxi and loaded up the couple suitcases we had left. It was just stuff that was last minute things which we needed for the two days prior.
"Hello, Ms. Shaw! You two excited about moving? I always loved me a good ol' move." Paul the taxi driver said, smiling, as he pulled out of the driveway of our old house.
"Oh, yes we're excited." My aunt said and stretched her legs out in the front seat.
"Where are you ladies moving to?" Paul asked with his eyes on the road.
"Nebraska," My aunt said.
"Nebraska? Wow. That's pretty far. Why so far, if you don't mind me asking,"
"Um, just a new change. That's all. I lived in Nebraska when I was a young girl..." She started and that was my cue. When Aunt Belle starts stories, she doesn't end them until she gets every point across. Paul is in for a treat. Good thing this car ride is only a half hour.
I sat back, relaxing every part of my body and getting comfy. I pulled out my phone. My new phone, to be exact. My aunt got my old one traded in so no one could reach me. 'No one' probably meaning Billy. Prisoners do still get phone privileges.
I deleted my Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, all the social media I had. That was my choice though. I just got sick of it and felt they were meaningless.
I sighed and leaned my head against the window. I have always loved watching everything go by when I was in a car. Watching everything outside and just thinking. It was so zen.
I plugged my headphones into my phone and pressed shuffle on Spotify, waiting for some good songs to make me smile, or think, or anything. I just want to be able to feel something again. Something besides numb.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture myself in a new life. New school, new friends, new happiness. I don't think there will be new happiness. I have always hated change.
Eventually, I dozed off listening to soft, sad music. Not happy music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Danielle, baby, wake up we're here."
I woke up to my aunt shaking me, lightly. I fluttered my eyelids open and sat up. I checked my phone and it was 3:02. Our flight was at 5:00, so we got here a bit early. I mean, if you've ever gone to an airport, you'd understand getting there extremely early.
I got out of the taxi and immediately heard the busy city. Chicago is a busy city, especially by the airport.
"Come on Danielle, let's go. Thank you again, Paul!" Aunt Belle waved by to the driver and took my hand. That's one thing about my aunt. She has always been protective of me. Kind of like if she was my own mother.
We walked into the airport and I immediately felt stressed. Crowded places tend to do that to you. We made our way over to the ticket station. Aunt Belle stood there, tongue out slightly, as she tried to figure out what to do on the screen. Her tongue-out face is also her thinking face.
"Excuse me, sir. Could you help me with this? I'm not exactly sure how this works." Aunt Belle has never been good with electronics. A tall, slim man walked over and tapped the screen and within like 4 seconds, I could hear our tickets printing.
"Thank you, sir." My aunt said and the man nodded.
We walked to the baggage section. We waited in line for about 15 minutes. We were still around 20 people away from the baggage claim. I listened to the music that was playing in the airport. It was very soothing music. I liked it, it was so calm. I was still super stressed out from everything, so it felt nice listening to music. My aunt leaned her head on my shoulder and then kissed my cheek.
Eventually, about 5 minutes later, we were going through baggage and on our way. My aunt decided we should probably get something to eat before we get a seat near our terminal. So we walked over to a cute little cafe right around the corner.
"We have about 20 minutes until we need to start heading towards the terminal to board the plane. Would you like anything?" My aunt rubbed my back and I shook my head.
She sighed. "Danielle, you need to eat."
"Not hungry."
"I'm getting you something anyway. You can eat it on the plane if you'd like. You cannot starve yourself. You're already skinny enough as it is...." She sighed and walked us over to the register.
"Hello, could I have a small chicken sandwich and a peanut butter jelly sandwich to go please?" My aunt ordered. She knows I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm a vegetarian so I have limited choices when it comes to sandwiches. I'm also very picky so that takes another chunk of choices away. PB & J is simple, and I like simple.
Aunt Belle struggled, grabbing our sandwiches because she had her other hand in mine.
"Aunt Belle, I'm fine. I'm 17, I don't need to hold your hand..." I took it out of hers.
"It doesn't matter what age you are, Danielle. I want you safe." She said and grabbed my hand again.
Aunt Belle checked our tickets and then we walked over to terminal 3. We eventually found two open seats. It wasn't really crowded in this terminal, probably because nobody wants to go to Nebraska. It seems extremely boring.
"Why couldn't we have gone to California to live. Or Florida, or something better?" I groaned. I knew the answer so I'm not exactly sure why I was asking.
"Because I know Nebraska well. Your mom and I grew up there. It's a safe place. And like it or not, Danielle, you need to be somewhere safe, not fun." She fumbled with her bracelets. I sighed knowing that she was right.
We sat and talked for what seemed like forever when out of absolutely nowhere, a tall lady came out and announced that the plane to Nebraska will now be boarding. Section A and B are boarding now. We are section F. I leaned back and waited for our section to be called.
A long five minutes later, F was called. Aunt Belle and I walked over and handed our tickets to get stamped. We walked on the plane and looked at our tickets. We were towards the middle of the plane and there was window and middle seat available. We walked to seats 55 and 56 and sat down. I took the window seat and Aunt Belle took the middle seat. Some really skinny lady sat down next to Aunt Belle and immediately pulled out a book.
I sighed, relaxing my body and leaned my head against the window. I watched as the other planes in the distance went up into the air. I've never been on a plane before. Usually, I would have been super excited to be on my first flight, but I had too much on my mind to be excited.
I leaned over to my aunt and poked her.
"How long is this flight?" I asked her as everyone else got on the plane, behind us.
"Erm..." She looked away and scratched her head in a playful manner.
"What?" I gave her a death stare and she laughed.
"It's...well..."
"Long?" I suggested.
"Yeah, you could say 9 hours is long,"
"9! Holy..." I didn't finish my sentence. Everyone knows it's impolite to swear in front of grown-up family members.
She shrugged and let out a small, loose laugh.
"Well, I hope I get blessed with a 9-hour nap," I rolled my eyes, playfully, at her.
I heard the intercom turn on. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We like to welcome you on board this Chicago flight to Nebraska. Flight duration is roughly 8 hours and 52 minutes and we are expecting a fairly smooth flight today. Once again we thank you for choosing to fly with us today and we hope you enjoy your flight."
And with that, the plane started to rumble. It was so loud. I took out my book and started reading, like my aunt and the lady next to us. Luckily I don't get carsick or in this case, airsick when reading in a moving vehicle.
"Would you ladies like something to drink before we take off?" A nice, young woman came up to us and asked.
"Sure, I'll have some Riesling." Aunt Belle said and showed ID, even though it was obvious she was older than 21.
Oh, how I wished I could get some Riesling. Just something to take the pain away from this 9-hour flight
"Could I have some orange juice, please?" I asked and she gave me a little jug of it. It was honestly so cute.
"Thank you." Aunt Belle said and took a sip of her wine. I didn't even think they gave out wine on planes. Guess there's something new you learn every day.
"Cheers to a new life." My aunt held up her cup and I held up my jug as we clunk them together. And with that, the plane slowly took off.
Time for a new beginning.