It's Not The Same Here

Before they started studying an idea popped into her head. She stared at the room and found a painting. It could easily be seen what the artist was trying to convey as it was of a woman who was smiling gracefully, staring at the sunset. It identified peace and warmth as the woman basked in the rays of the sun.

She had not noticed the painting the last time she was in the room and she could very well blame it to the fact that Holden gave her a hard time, the last she was here.

She kept on staring at the painting without realizing she had spaced out and Holden who had been staring at the cover of the book finally raised his head to look at her. He wanted to mock her for forgetting herself but somehow at the end he followed her line of sight and stared at the painting as well.

He had no intention of explaining the painting to her so he just cleared his throat to bring back her attention and she stared at him wide eyed before a beautiful smile painted her lips.

He furrowed his brows at her expression, why was she smiling? Well she didn't even let that question stay in his mind as she quickly took off her glasses.

Mabel placed her glasses on the study desk and carefully spoke. " Holden can I get a notebook and a pencil, please?", she asked and he stared at her without blinking. " Okay show me where I can find it and I will go get it myself", she proposed after noticing he won't budge.

" Head to my walk in closet, you'll find what you need", he said softly and she quickly got up without picking up her glasses and hurried to get the notebook and pen.

She had seen the notebook and Pen just as she turned her head to the left so without hesitation, she picked it up and walked out of his walk-in closet which was like the size of her bathroom.

Mabel walked back to him only to find him staring at the book without looking up and she immediately took her seat next to him and flipped a page of the notebook.

She then picked up her copy of the perfect Lie and opened it and while her eyes urged him to open his copy too. He didn't think too much and just opened it and she let him read the first page while she worked on the notebook.

Holden didn't understand what the nerd was doing but kept reading emotionless and soon enough he was through with the first page and was about turning to Page 2 when she stopped him and showed him the notebook.

He stared at her puzzled before staring at the notebook and saw weird drawings on them. Also, the weird drawings had labels. They labels were the names of the characters which had been introduced in Page 1, what was she doing?

................

Megan stared at her Dad puzzled, her Grand Dad had his back facing her. She was on her way home when they asked her to pick up groceries. That took her up to two hours because the list was long from the text they sent her. Some of the things on the list she was sure they didn't even use them at home so what was the reason?

She didn't think too much about it but just focused on getting home only to meet a tensed atmosphere.

She just couldn't take it anymore so she whined. " what's the matter Grand Dad?", she asked the person she could easily torment for answers.

Megan heard her grand dad sigh before he turned to face her. He was literally contemplating whether to tell her the news or not. What could be so serious? Now she was getting nervous, were they moving or something other than that?

Tired of guessing, she gave them both the stares which stated she was getting impatient.

" Sweetheart she's back here", Her Dad said but she just stared at him blankly.

Her grand Dad clearly thought she had not heard so he went forward to explain everything again more clearly than his son did.

" Your mother's back, Megan. And she wants to see you", Megan heard her grand Dad say.

She had clearly heard what her Dad said but she couldn't speak and even now that her grand dad repeated everything she still didn't know how to react.

If it was when she was from age seven to fourteen, she would have been in high spirits and hurried over to see her mother but now was different.

She had grown up after three years of disappointment and by next week Monday she would be clocking eighteen, she didn't want anything to do with that lady.

Her eyes gave off a cold vibe as she spoke indifferently " Tell her it's not the same here. I don't want to see her and she can go back to wherever she came from".

Without waiting for any reply she stepped out of the house got into her car and drove away from the neighborhood recklessly. She needed peace and all she could think of was Mabel. She thought of going to Mabel's home but then remembered that Mabel was at Holden's house so she just drove to Foodies place and stayed there.

She didn't even plan on leaving any time soon.