Happy Birthday Annabel Elder - Dani Matson (best books under 200 pages .TXT) 📗

ONE
"Annabel, get up. You're going to be late for school." I heard my dad yell up the stairs. I groaned and got up to shower.
Twenty minutes later I headed down to the kitchen. Dad was already there when I pushed open the door."Mornin' beautiful,"he said as he handed me a glass of orange juice.
"Umm,hi. What are you still doin here? Your usually at work by now."
"Yes, well, I thought you would like a ride to school this morning,"he said in an innocent voice. He hasn't offered me a ride to school or any chance to socialize since mom died.
She died on my eighth birthday in a car accident. There's just something about me and birthdays. Something terrible happens every year. I think I'm cursed. I mention that once to my therapist and he said that my reaction was normal for a 'disturbed young adult'. After that I just stuck with saying I was fine and that I wasn't afraid of my birthdays anymore. He bought it for the most part. I don't have to see him on a weekly bases now. The only time I see him is once a month to get a refill on my crazy pills. Dad hates it when I call them that so I made it a habit to always refer to them as that. "Oh, okay, well I was just going to take the bus," I said, confused.
"I must insist that you let me drive you," he said it in a light voice but in a way that says you have to whether you want to or not.
"Well, if you insist," I mumbled in a low voice that I thought he coudn't hear. I was wrong.
"Please, hold the sarcasim. I'm driving you to school and that's that," his voice was no longer light.
I rolled my eyes and downed the rest of my jucie.
I ran to the hall closet to grab my coat and scarf, picked my backpack off the floor where I dropped it the previous day, and ran to the car. A few minutes later dad apeared in the doorway of the house, trying to lock the front door and tie his tie at the same time. I sat there and let him struggle until he finally gave up on the tie for the moment and locked the door before running out to the car. I could see the frustration in his eyes as he tried to tie the tie again. I heard him mutter under his breath,"we are not leaving until I get this."
For the second time that morning I rolled my eyes. Unbuckleing my seat belt, I leaned over him and roughly pushed his hands out of the way and tied his tie,"There, can we go now?"
"How did you do that?" he puzzled in awe.
"It doesn't matter. Can we go now? I'm going to be late for school,"I snapped.
Okay here's the thing. I love my dad dispite the fact that he's a jerk and that he's never around. I don't mind if I'm late for school either. I'm just scared. The only time he ever wants to sit and 'talk' is to yell at me for a bad grade or for getting a detention or something bad like that. But I didn't do any thing this time. So what could he possibly want to yell at me for.
"We need to talk, Anna,"he sounded nervous. That scared me even more.
"What's up, dad?" I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded.
"I got a promotion at work and they want me to relocate,"I breathed a sigh of relief. We've been through this before. We've moved so many times that I just stopped trying to make new friends a long time ago. "So where are we going this time?"
"Well, see, that's what we need to talk about. They want me back in Italy."Uh-oh.
I used to live in Italy. It was my home. We left because mom got really scared about something right before her accident that caused her death. With her last words she made dad promise to get me out of Italy and to never ever come back. Her body is still buried out in Corniglia, Italy, where I was born. Right after her funneral, we hopped on a plane and never looked back. Until now.
"We can't go. You'll have to tell your boss to give you a different location. We can't go. You promised her," my words came out in a rush. I didn't have to say how 'her' was. His eyes and lips tightened at the mention of her. He doesn't like to be reminded of her. Hence, one of the reasons he doesn't love me.
"That's the thing, Anna. I promised Sole that you would never step foot in Italy again. I didn't say any thing about me returning. Do you understand what I'm saying, Annabel?" I did. I understood perfectly. He didn't want me any more and this is his way out of being a parent. He never wanted kids. The only reason he agreed to have me was because that's what my mother wanted. Sole got everything she wanted. I can't go home. He can, he is.
"What are you going to do with me?" I asked in a small voice. I knew this would happen. I knew one day I was going to lose him to. But I wasn't expecting it so soon. I thought he would at least wait until I was eighteen to leave me, to finally admit to his hate for me. I know he blames me for her death. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me. i don't mind to much anymore. Hell, I blame myself anyway.
"Jesus Annabel, you make it sound like I'm throwing you away." Because that's how it feels.
"Isn't that what you're doing?" I realize we had stopped at a red light. I threw open the door of the car and ran through the intersection. I heard my dad yelling at me to come back. I heard cars honking their horns at me but I didn't stop to see where I was going, I didn't stop to think about what I was doing. I just ran and ran.
I didn't stop until I reached the edge of town. By then it had started to rain. It poured harder with each passing minute. I retraced my steps back to the park in the center of town. Siting on the swing, I wondered where I would go. I have no other family, no friends that I can stay with. I wondered if he would just drop me off at an orphanage or a foster care home or if he would simply be gone when I got back home. I pondered my new situation for hours and hours.


TWO


I didn't start walking back home until the sun went down. By the time I reached the end of the drive way it was almost midnight. All the