Free

"Hey baby"

"Hi mom" I said without looking up.

"What are you doing?" She asked, leaning down over my shoulder

"Booking my bus ticket"

"Well that will have to wait, we have something for you. Follow me" She said, grabbing my hand and trying to get me up.

"Just a sec mom... I'm just a click away"

"Nope, up you go Zie, common"

My mom had a way of always trying to get her way which wasn't always fun.

"Fine!" I said, giving up. I stood up and gave her my typical 'what the hell face'.

"Young lady, do not give your mother that look". My father's thick voice boomed from behind. I rolled my eyes then turned to him, giving him a sarcastic smile.

"Ha ha" he said shaking his head then he turned me back around and tied a scarf over my eyes.

"Umm...dad? What are you doing? What's going on?"

"I told you we had something for you, remember?" Mom said.

" Ummm.... My bus ticket?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Definitely not pumpkin". He said, taking my hand and guiding me somewhere.

"Well it better be something better because I was about to get a discount on that tick--"

Suddenly, the scarf was ripped off, definitely messing up my hair which I was going to rant about as soon as I could see.

The bright sun blinded me for few seconds but after a few blinks, my vision cleared and I found myself staring at a car.

Not just any car but a white G550 SUV which was my dream car and was pasted all over my room in different colors, instantly vanishing my hair issues. I looked at my parents, confused as fuck...

"What the he--"

"Language Ziela!" They both said at the same time.

"Ooops, sorry but what is this"

"Last we checked, it was a car" Mom said sarcastically which earned an eye roll from me.

"...and you wonder where I got my bad mouth from". I said to dad.

"Oh, there's no denying its from her" he said with a wink.

I circled the car, like a tiger circling it's prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. My eyes scanned every inch of the car just as the tip of my finger touched it, just to make sure my whole senses agreed that this was indeed, a G550 SUV in our front yard.

Wow...

"Hey pumpkin, think fast" my dad's voice pulled me back and I looked up to see something coming my way. Shooting my hands up, I caught it and looked at what it was. It was a car key.

I looked back at dad, eyes wide. Did he mean exactly what I was thinking?

"It's yours princess, an early 18th birthday gift".

Still processing, I looked down at the key, then to my dad and to my mom. Their big smiles told me they weren't kidding.

What??? I screamed at the top of my lungs, jumping and fist bumping the air. I ran to them and gave them both hugs. Kissing both of them on their cheeks, heads, lips...pretty much everywhere.

It was my dream car and now it was mine. I would cherish it more than anything!!!

"Wait" I said, as something occurred to me. "How can we afford this" I asked

"Zie love, everything we own is for you and everything we have ever done and will still do, is for you. We just moved stuff around, it wasn't hard at all" Mom replied

"Really? So the time I asked for a bicycle, you said we could not afford one. I had to raise almost half the cost. What about then?"

"Oh Zie, you had become too demanding so we decided to teach you responsibility". Dad said.

"And when I wanted a skate board, I had to divide my allowance. I didn't eat properly for weeks!" I said with a scowl.

"And as a result, you lost some of that fat you had begun to build".

"Yes, that's true". I said after a quick thought.

"Oh my God! I can't believe I own a car, this car! Thanks mom. Thanks dad. I love you both" I said, hugging them again.

"We love you too" dad said. "Why not take it for a ride."

"Definitely taking it for a ride!" I squealed, still feeling like I was dreaming.

I pressed the button on the remote and the car responded with a soft sleek beep sound that sent me crazy. I gently, opened the car door and got it.

"Be careful Zie" Dad called out.

"Don't worry, bitches won't see me coming" I shut the door, turned on the car and in no time, I was speeding down the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally done packing, I was exhausted. I looked round my room, checking that I hadn't left out anything that I needed.

Not seeing anything left out, it was time to turn in.

I turned down the light, put on some soft music then tucked myself into bed. I was so exhausted that I drifted right off to sleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

I was asleep, I knew I was yet it felt like I was also awake. I saw my mom come into my room, walk up to me and just stood there, looking down at me with her 'proud mom smile'. She reached out and touched my face, pushing to the side my hair that had fallen over my face. Sitting beside me, she took my hand in hers and ran the tips of her fingers on the charm bracelet she had gotten me when I was 12. She had told me that her mother had given it to her and she never took it off. It made her always feel safe and hoped I would always wear it every time. Since then, I had never taken it off. It was precious to me and surprisingly, it still looked like it was just given to me yesterday. As mom sat there, I noticed something weird or surreal. As she touched the bracelet, I saw her mouth move, like she was chanting something and then something weirder happened. The bracelet started glowing, so brightly it was stunning. She brought out a black bracelet and put it on my wrist, said something and just like that, I saw both bracelet fuse into one. It was so magical, I was awed by it. When they fused, the light went from bright white to black, then to a fiery red and it was gone. Mom kissed me on the head and tip toed out of my room and I drifted back into the darkness.

I woke up to the bright ray of the sun on my face. I was nowhere ready to get out if bed so I turned over and buried myself in my covers, closed my eyes and was about to go right back to sleep when the memories of the weird dream I had came flooding it, causing me to sit up, all traces of sleep vanishing just like that.

Wow, that was a dream, right? Yet felt so real.

I looked down at my wrist and there it was, the bracelet I had always known and loved.

Was it always this dark tho? Or I'm I just imagining things?

I inspected it, closely and you know what they say, the more you look, the less you see. Still determined to find anything that would show the 'dream' was actually real, I didn't notice my dad come into my room.

"Morning Pumpkin" he said, startling me.

"Oh, morning dad. You startled me. Maybe knock?"

"Well I did but you didn't respond. You seemed to be so engrossed in your bracelet. Is It spilt or something? Want me to check it out?" he said, coming closer.

"No dad, it's fine" I replied, laying back down and throwing the covers over me. Of course it was nothing, that kinda stuff never happen in real life.

"Nope, no more sleep for you. Time to get out of bed, you have exactly two hours to get out of here".

"It's time already huh?" I asked, getting out of bed.

"Yes kiddo. You are entering a new chapter of your life and as much as your mom and I would always want to be there, I'm afraid this path you have to go alone. Discover who you are and we will always be here for you, whenever you need us. Just a phone call and we are there. Okay?"

"Okay dad, love you so much"

"I love you too princess" he pulled me in for a hug and a rogue tear slipped from my eyes which I quickly wiped away before we broke apart. Couldn't afford to let him see me cry because then we would both get all mushy and stuff.

"Okay dad, off you go. Need to get ready." I said, playfully pushing him towards and out the door. "Just a second dad" I said with a pause. "Umm...what of mom?".

"She is fixing breakfast and a little something you can eat on the road"

"Typical mom"

"You know it"

"I'll miss her" The emotions and tears I had been fighting, broke through and the tears came flowing down. "I'll miss you too dad"

"Oh don't cry baby girl, we'll just be some miles away. Many miles but never too far from us. We'll miss you terribly and to us, you will always be that little girl who cried her eyes out whenever we had to go out and leave you with the sitter. No matter where you are, know that we are never really apart because we will always be right here" he pointed at my chest, drew me in for a bear hug then left me to get ready.

After dad left, I cried some more, pulled myself together, showered, went through the few clothes I had left before I found just the perfect one that fit my mood. Then I fixed my hair and was finally ready.

I looked at the clock and whoa, less that 50mins to go. I grabbed my bag and ran down the stairs

"I'm here, I'm ready. Morning mom" I kissed mom on the cheek then grabbed a plate and started putting on it, a slice of everything on the table.

"Morning baby, was beginning to think you were never coming down". Mom said

"Ya, I got carried away". I replied

"I'll miss you baby, now remember you might be out there on your own but you are still not yet 18. So no late nights and bad friends or smoking, or drugs or alcoh--"

I'm guessing she saw the glaring bored look on my face because she stopped and rolled her eyes

"Who I'm I kidding? Just be reasonable and don't forget whose daughter you are. We will miss you" She Said

"I'll miss you too mom"

"Okay, time to go" Dad, spoke up.

"Here, a snack for the road" mom handed over a brown bag and two bottles of water.

Few more hugs and I was ushered out the door, into my raging jeep and off I went.

Finally, I was out into the world.

I was free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Honey, I really hope we are doing the right thing. Are we sure we are?" Isabella asked, wrapping her hands around herself, a shiver running up her spine.

"Yes we are. We knew this day would come, sooner or later" Marcus replied, putting his arms around his wife. He definitely understood how she felt. Every part of him wanted to keep her here, locked up somewhere. Safe!

"Yes but did it have to be so far away? We could have kept her close, protected her". Isabel said, looking off into the distance. Her vision clouding as uncontrollable tears came rushing down.

"We are still protecting her but we cannot keep her away from the world. Better she faces it now. Moreover, she is seventeen and just a couple if months away from eighteen". Marcus reminded her.

He turned her towards him and like she had done so many times, she buried her face in his chest and cried, her shoulders shaking violently.

"I know, just having a hard time accepting it is that time already. I hate that she would have a really hard time and she would be alone and so far away from us". Isabel said.

"Don't worry, she will be fine. Distance is not a problem and you know it, plus she is strong. We have always known that, now it's time for her to discover that for herself, okay?" Marcel asked.

"Okay". Isabel answered, pulling herself from his embrace and wiping her face.

She had work to do! She would die before she let anyone lay their hands on her daughter!!!

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Author

Hello everyone, thank you for reading my book. Please do leave your votes and comments, let me know what you think. So, shall we journey together?

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