Malia's Might

Chapter 4: Moving day.

                It was here, Malia couldn’t believe how fast those weeks had flown by. True to her word she had spent every moment she had with her friends.  Mack had even tried to keep her from going home last night.  Malia laughed to herself at the thought of her best friend.  She had suggested that Malia could run away and they could all help to keep her in their old tree house fort in the woods so that no one would find her.  That way she could finish school here and not have to leave them.

                It was a cute idea, but not really realistic.  It had been Sienna who had pointed out that would only work if the school didn’t turn her in to her father the moment she walked in the doors.  Mack had slumped into her seat muttering that it was still a good idea to her.  Malia smiled, she really did love her friends and it would be hard to leave them.  She straightened her shoulders though when she thought of the fact that she was only going to be gone till graduation and then she was using her trust to buy back her home and get the first plane ticket back home.

                She sighed as she looked around the room, she had spent eighteen years here collecting memories along with a bunch of stuff.  Now she was supposed to pack all this up and leave in less than a month.  Looking at all the stuff she still had to pack in the few hours they had left she felt hopeless, this was not physically possible.  How was she supposed to look at the sum of her life so far and decide what was important and what was just junk?  How did people do this when they moved all the time?  Sitting down on the floor to begin packing her photo albums Malia found herself starting to flip through the pages instead.  She felt tears again for the umpteenth time since this had all started when she came across the last book of pictures that contained the ones of her mom.  She had to admit that part of her reason for not wanting to move was fear.

                Malia realized with clarity that it was fear of leaving everything and everyone behind.  She was going to miss her friends for sure, but she was most afraid that if she was not surrounded by that places that reminded her of her mother that she would start to fade.  Right now she could close her eyes and hear her mother’s laugh or the tune to the lullaby she would sing to her every night.  Yeah she had gotten too old for lullabies but she had wanted them from her mother anyway.  She knew that sometimes people could fade in our memories and that was her worst fear.  That being away would cause the only memories she had of the most important person she had ever known to fade to the point where she was just a vague memory without any of the important details.

                Malia hadn’t realized she was fully crying until the tear drops hit the plastic covering her most precious possessions.  She used the sleeve of her long sleeve t-shirt to dry the offending droplets and carefully closed the pages.  Then she used the baby blanket that smelled like her mom to wrap the books and pack them away to be sent to their new place.  She marked the side of the box with a sharpie making sure to put Malia clothes on it.  She didn’t want to put that it was photo albums just in case her stepmother “forgot”  to make sure they got sent along.  She wouldn’t put it past her to try to remove some more of her mother from their lives.  It just seemed to be something she was always doing, as if she wasn’t secure in her own self enough that she was afraid of the competition of a dead woman.  Malia just shook her head at the thought, sad, that was all she felt about it.

Europe:

                Malia was definitely tired.  That was such a long flight, not that she had anything to compare it to, but she was just glad to be off the plane and back onto solid ground.  There was a reason that people didn’t have wings man, and it was because we were not meant to be thousands of feet above our own planet.  She shuddered at the memory of looking out the window and seeing the world look like an actual map.  It was creepy!

                It was hard to see all the details in the dark, but the new place looked more like a mansion than a home.  It was huge!  Where those gargoyles on the roof?  She couldn’t believe that places still stood with those things, other than pictures of a building in New York she had never actually seen a real gargoyle statue.  It was scary and cool all at the same time.  The lightning that flashed the next second had her yelping and running for the front door.  If there was anything she hated more than flying it was lightning storms.  Malia heard her stepsister laughing at her as she walked in behind her.

                “Not afraid of a little lightning now are we Malia?”  The taunting in her voice just made Malia grind her teeth as she responded.

                “Well if you are so brave how about you just stand out there in that huge driveway then Casey.”  Malia gave her a look over her shoulder.

                Casey laughed in response as she pushed past Malia and headed up the staircase to the next floor.  Yep, there was actually a staircase in this place.  Malia was half expecting some guy dressed in a tux to offer to take her coat like you see in the movies.  I hope I don’t get lost in here, it would be months before anyone found me.

                Reaching the second floor Casey went to the left and naturally Malia headed to the right.  They were getting to choose their rooms and if given the choice Malia would prefer some distance.  Casey wasn’t usually too bad on the whole mean meter but she could tend to be a bit much.  I swear that every day that girl looked like something pink exploded and landed on her.  Malia couldn’t really deny that pink was Casey’s color, but so much of it?  Malia couldn’t do it herself; she preferred dark purples and greens to that cotton candy color that Casey loved so much.

                Walking down the corridor Malia wandered til she felt herself being pulled as if she was meant to go to a certain room.  When she turned the corner and found an ornate mahogany door staring back at her she felt her palms itch to turn the door handle.  The big door swung into the room and revealed another smaller set of stairs.  She felt the urge to know what was at the top, usually she didn’t like being so close to the thundering clouds of her nightmares, but she wanted to go up there for some reason and couldn’t think of a reason not to.

                Up at the top of the stairs the room opened up into the most beautiful wide open area Malia had ever seen.  There were windows on all four sides of the room so she could see past the manicured lawns and out to the forest surrounding the property.  Above the trees she could make out the clouds and the stars just past the storm.  When the sky was clear there would be moonlight flooding in through those windows and at that instant Malia fell in love claiming that room and making it her very own.  It somehow made the place feel a little less foreign and the view made her feel at peace.  Malia looked around the space she had claimed and smiled to herself, bonus I have my own bathroom with its own claw foot tub and a shower too.  Walking into the bathroom Malia realized her room must span the whole wing on this side because her bathroom was as big as her whole bedroom back home.  Maybe there are some good things here she though as she sat on the chase lounge that was braced against the windows in her bathroom.

                Malia walked back out to the moving van as it pulled up the drive.  The two movers began to move out boxes and put them into the foyer so they would be out of the rain.  Malia inspected them as they were set inside making sure all of her belongings had made the trip.  She smiled gratefully as one of the two men carried her beloved chair inside.

                “Where do you want this miss?”  Malia reached for the chair.

                “Thank you, it was my mother’s before she died.  I’ll take it up to my room so it is close by.”  Grabbing the chair from the man Malia turned to head up the stairs and to her own little piece of paradise.

                “Sorry about your mom miss, at least she will always be with you.”  The man nodded to her chair and walked back out into the driveway to bring the rest of their items inside.

                Malia smiled to herself; at least someone understood why she couldn’t part with the old chair.  It may be just a chair to others, but to her it held all the memories of rocking in that old chair with her mother.  It was priceless.  Suddenly Malia felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise as goose bumps skittered across her arms.  She was by the window seat on the landing of the staircase and she turned slowly towards the panes.  She had the feeling that she was being watched.  She turned towards the view and as the lightning flashed she thought she saw a pair of eyes looking back at her.  She screamed at the sight and felt her heart jump into her throat.  Malia was immediately feeling foolish as she saw the gargoyle in the window with the next flash of light.  Malia you are losing it girl she thought even though she could have sworn the eyes were in a different spot than those of the statue.  Shaking her head she made her way up to her room.  She just needed to sleep, especially since she was supposed to start school the next day.  Joy, more new stuff to figure out!  Grumbling to herself she gathered her pajamas for the night and her mother’s blanket.  At least she would have something familiar in this new place, if only she could say the same about school.