April

Coming and Leaving Home

When I got home I saw my older sister Crystal on the couch.
"Crystal, I missed you!" I exclaimed as I ran to go hug her.
Crystal was away at boarding school, because my dad didn't want to take care of two 'f*cking turds'. She graduated last summer but went off to college. Now that she's back she's going to live here with us. I have so many questions for her.
"April, you've gotten taller!" She said as she hugged me back.
"I know, I know" I said releasing her from the hug.
We both sat down on the couch and she looked at me then said "You remind me of mom"
Mom. I've never heard that word in this house before. Sure everyone else has one, but I never met mine. "Crystal, can you tell me about mom?" I asked sounding like a little kid.
She nodded "Mom was always mixing foods together to try to make a new food. She had hair like you and eyes like you. Her name was Mary. Birthdate was on New Years and I remember when she was here, we stayed up till midnight, not for New Years, but for her birthday. At midnight dad would give her a kiss until 12:01. It was a cute little tradition" she said with a laugh. "Anything else you want to know?"
I thought for a minute. There's so much, but there was ONE question I've always wanted answered. "What happened to her?" I asked.
crystal grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I remember the exact day. It was a Saturday morning i woke up at around 8 am. I got out of my room and went down to eat breakfast. When I got down, I saw dad in the kitchen. He had a letter in his hand and was crying. I didn't know what had happened but I asked him. He read the letter to me. It said "Dear Family, I know I left without telling you guys but trust me, it's for the best. I left because well raising two kids is a lot of responsibility for me" at the time, mom and dad were only 20, I was two and you were a new born. So, anyways, she left and never came back. Dad left me with aunt Julie, and since then he has acted the way he acts today"
"Wow" I said. All this time I thought he acted like this because he was stressed out from working 24/7 but its actually because he lost the one person he cared for the most.