Packing

[January 4, 2017]

[6:00 P. M]

"$8.90… $9.00… $9.25… $9.50… $9.75… $10.00! Just enough."

In the kitchen's mess sat young Ivy, counting her crack change.

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!

"Coming!" Yelled Ivy who ran from the kitchen to the front door, caring for all the toonies, loonies, and nickels.

When the door opened, a man stood in a red and orange uniform with a black winter coat over top. He held a black pizza delivery bag.

"That would be $10.00." The man said.

She nodded at the man with a handful of change. The man placed the bag on the floor and started counting the change that the girl handed him. "Uh ma'am, this $9.90. You are missing ten cents." The man informed her.

She gave him a puzzled look, 'I thought that I counted correct.' she thought, looking around and saw something that was shining under the light on her kitchen counter. It was the dime! She looked back at the man, "Please just give me one second, sir." She said walking towards the kitchen, tripping on the way.

When she came back, she placed the dime in the man's hand and the man handed her the pizza box that was in the box.

She took the box and skipped over to the counter after closing the door once the man left. She opened the top of the box, revealing perfectly cut Hawaiian pizza. She pushed the old box off the counter and the few pizza slices fell on the ground, making a bigger mess.

She inhaled the sweet scent of pineapple pizza. Feeling the warm steam hit her face, she picked up a slice and took a big bit in the pointy end of the pizza. The tastes of the sweet pineapples happily danced in her mouth as she closed her eyes to savour the taste.

Hawaiian pizza is her favorite, and she couldn't care less what other people say about pineapple not belonging to pizza. She just raises the middle finger and moves on with her day.

[April 5th, 2016]

[12:53 P. M]

"YOU ARE JUST ADOPTED!!! YOU AREN'T EVEN PART OF THIS FAMILY IVY, GET OVER YOURSELF. YOU HAVE NO SKILLS AND WILL NEVER HAVE NO SKILLS. WALKING OUT OF THIS HOUSE WILL JUST END YOU ONTO THE STREETS!"

An old man yelled at Ivy as she walked away, holding a handle of a black suitcase that rolled behind her. The man looked as if he was in his forties and Ivy looked a year younger.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sniffled. Her hair was knotted up and tied into a messy bun as she wore a black hoodie and dark blue ripped jeans. H

holding the sleeve over her fist, she raised her arm up and wiped away her tears.

It was spring, April 4th, a week before her birthday. Not that she celebrated it.

Walking off of the path of a family sized house, she took a left and started her way towards her new apartment building.

"LISTEN HERE BITCH, YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET LEAVING THIS HOUSE. SOON YOU WILL COME BACK BEGGING THAT I LET YOU IN AND I AM GOING TO SAY NO!" The man continued to yell at the young broken Ivy, the one that he broke, the one that his daughter and son broke, the same one that his wife tried to build up but failed terribly.

The man was once someone who Ivy would look up to with a bright smile and call "daddy!" The man who agreed with his wife to take her in and raise her as he would raise his own daughter and son. The only man in Ivy's life who shared an unbreakable bond with her. Ivy was his sunshine when it rained, and his light when it was dark. And now it was all ruined. What happened to their relationship?

[January 5, 2017]

[9:01 A. M]

Ivy slowly opened her emerald green eyes once her terrible nightmare finished. It was a time that she hoped she would forget. A time when she believed in herself and thought that she would be able to run her own fashion line. The time that everything turned upside down for her. Her adoptive father was right, she regretted leaving her home. She will end up on the streets soon, she doesn't have any skills. Even if they did treat her like a slave, she wished that she didn't leave the house. It was a big mistake for her to do that.

She sat up in her bed, looking down as one by one, tears left her eyes and travel down her cheeks.

[January 5, 2017]

[9:44 A. M]

Ivy finally found the strength to push her memories behind her and started to pack. She only had thirteen more days to pack before she needed to leave.

She also needed to check and see if any homeless or women shelters would accept her, but she had doubts.

The rest of the stuff that she needed to pack up was the junk, the least important stuff.

First packing her stuff in her room, she opened her dresser and folded her clothes in the black suitcase that she brought when she first came to the building. She had little more clothes than she had when she first came here, so it was easy to fit everything in her suitcase.

Then she started to pick up the dirty clothes that were on the floor and started picking that up, putting it all in a laundry hamper.

Grabbing a brown box that she took from the laundry room a few days ago, she started putting the stuff that was sitting on top of her dresser starting with her makeup, moving to her blue raspberry scented candle and everything else. When she was finished with the dresser, there was still room in her box so she moved onto her desk that held her books, needles, pins, etc. the box was full after that so she closed it and tapped it off.

Grabbing the plastic bag that was hanging on her doorknob, she started to pick up the garbage scattered around the room, and throw it in the bag.

After she was done with that, she went out of the room and grabbed the black broom with white dustpan and walked back to her room to sweep up her room.

[January 5, 2017]

[12:59 P. M]

She was almost done with her room, she just had to pack the stuff in the washroom and then her bedroom area will be all packed and done.

It's been a long time since Ivy did a clean up like this. The last time was when she was in her home and her adoptive family treated her like she was a slave and made her do all of their dirty work. That was a time that she hated and wished that she would never have to do something like that again.

Her stomach grumbled, so she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to take her pizza that she saved last night. She sat on her counter and started eating the cold Hawaiian pizza. She didn't care how cold it was, she just needed something in her stomach.

[January 5, 2017]

[2:30 P. M]

She was finished with her lunch, and everything in her room and washroom was all packed in boxes. She sat in her now clean room and thought where she could store all the boxes that were filled with her junk, while she went to look for a new place to live, and a way to keep her fashion line.

Thinking about this stuff made her head hurt.

She was stuck inside the house all day, so she decided to take a break from thinking and packing.

She threw on her poor quality blue winter jacket and left to take a small walk down the streets, enjoying the fresh air.

With her hands in her pockets and her head down, she walked down her street then took a left turn to walking down Elsmere street before taking a right to walk up Albert street and so on.

[January 5, 2017]

[6:44 P. M]

Laying like a lump on a log on her uncomfortable, tattered floral couch, she was watching some old kids' cartoons like Animaniacs and Looney Toons on her retro television.

She was eating some fried eggs and toast with a cup of coffee as she enjoyed what was happening on her television.

This reminded her of a time when she was a young girl. She would sit down at the coffee table with her dinner and her adoptive family and watch shows like this. It made her smile, but frown when she wished that the good days would come back.

She did always wonder what happened to her biological family and why would they just leave her in an orphanage. Did they already know that she would be useless and develop no skill?

'Only God will know.' She thought with a soft sigh.