[PROMPT] A character is forced to face their biggest fear. How does it occur, and how do they handle it?
“Amanda, I really will not tolerate this attitude from you.” Kathy said to her daughter, at her wit’s end with her as they packed the last of their belongings before the movers arrived.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot I was supposed to be Princess Sunshine.” Mandy replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Just what is your problem, young lady?”
“Well for starters, you keep calling me Amanda.”
“That’s your name, dear.”
“I don’t like being called Amanda, you should know this. Everyone else calls me Mandy. Since when have you ever liked being called Katherine?”
“It’s a perfectly dignified name.” Mandy rolled her eyes. “Amanda..” her mother said in a warning tone.
“Whatever.” Mandy muttered, finishing going over what, out of the things she owned, what was to be packed, what was for Michael to hold on to, and what was to be donated. Since her mother’s announcement, she didn’t trust that her mother would let her keep anything she knew her mother didn’t like, so she’d marked it all for her best friend to hang on to for her, as well as much of her father’s things as she could manage.
“So what else is the problem?”
“Well for starters how about how you’ve announced that you’re getting remarried? Dad’s only been missing a few months, yet you hardly seem to care.”
Kathy sighed. “Claude and I haven’t been close in a while. To tell you the truth, I filed for divorce quite a while ago. We were going to tell you once custody arrangements had been made, but since your father has disappeared, custody falls to me and custody has been granted.”
“I thought stuff like that took months to get worked out. How’d you even manage it with Dad missing? Did you lie?” she said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
“Of course not – I had a good lawyer.” she said, humming a vague tune as she worked on taping up the last box. “There. Now that good-for-nothing can come get those boxes of your father’s you marked. When will they be here again?”
“Who?” Mandy asked, choosing to disbelieve that her mother was talking about her godparent. A belief dashed once her mother opened her mouth again.
“David and his poor afflicted boy.” she paused in thought. “I really should pray for him more. Or see if David will do the right thing and send that boy to therapy.”
“Michael doesn’t need therapy.”
“Of course he does, dear. Something’s very wrong with him.”
“Nothing is wrong with him, Mom – he’s just gay.”
“I know. That’s why he needs therapy.”
“No, he doesn’t!”
“See, this is why you need to go to church. If you’d been going with me like you should have been, you’d know how wrong it is.” Mandy rolled her eyes and gladly went to get the door once a knock sounded. On the other side of the door was her godparent, but no best friend in sight. She gave him a tight hug and whispered “Help me.” before breaking away.
“That bad?”
“Awful.” she admitted, and led him through the house to where she had packed up the things for him to take. “Where’s Michael? I thought he was going to be here?”
“His grandparents wanted him, and this was the only time they had available off from the winery.”
“Oh.” she said, feeling dejected.
“How much stuff is there?” he asked.
“A fair amount. Did you bring help?”
He nodded. “A couple other buddies of mine came to help. Show me where stuff is at.” Mandy led him through the empty house to the garage, where her mother had told her to put everything.
“I hope you don’t mind, but some of my stuff is in here too. The stuff I know mom doesn’t like me owning.” she said, standing in the doorway attached to the house, watching as the boxes got loaded, arms folded over her chest as she tried not to cry.
Dave excused himself after a while to approach her. He reached out to rub her shoulder affectionately. “Anything I can do, kiddo?”
She smiled faintly. “Bring Dad back? So I don’t have to live with her? Find a way to let me live with you?” she pleaded. “I don’t want to live with her. We don’t get along and I don’t think things are going to get any better. I don’t want a new family, I want Dad.”
“New family? What’s that about?”
“She’s getting remarried. That’s why we’re moving.”
“I thought she just wanted to get away from bad memories. Isn’t it a little soon to be moving on?”
“That’s what I said! But she says she filed for divorce a while back and that the whole process is done and over with.”
“That’s….wow.” he said, looking stunned. “I had no idea they were having problems, let alone she’d met someone and was getting married. What’s the guy like?”
Mandy shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t met him and she hasn’t talked about him to me yet.”
“You’re kidding.”
Mandy shook her head. “I don’t even know where we’re moving to. It feels like she wants to do everything she can to forget Dad exists.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“Dad’s been missing for six months.” she said, and gestured to what was left of the stuff in the garage. “This stuff has been sitting here for four of those months, minimum.”
Dave blinked. “I wonder what’s going through her head?”
“Hell if I know. I don’t know much other than she’s been trying to get me to be Miss Mary Sunshine for the past few months, she called you a good-for-nothing, and says Michael is afflicted and needs therapy, just because he’s gay.”
“Ouch.”
“Yea.” she said, tightening her arms to give herself a hug before continuing. “Are you sure I can’t stay with you?”
“I wish I could let you, kiddo. Your mom has custody though. I only had an arrangement in case something happened to both of them.”
“Dad is missing and Mom is clearly mentally unfit to be a parent.” she said dryly. “Can’t that hold up in court?”
“I don’t think so. Not at this stage anyway, but keep in touch, alright?” Mandy nodded, and wiped away some tears. “Where are you moving to, anyway?” he asked.
“Good question. Let me ask.” she said, and turned to head back into the house and find her mom. “Hey mom?”
“Yes dear? Oh, are they almost done?”
“Not quite. There was a lot, remember?”
“Of course, of course. What was your question, dear?”
“Where are we moving to? I don’t remember you going over that.”
“Didn’t I?” she stopped to ponder a moment before continuing. “Well, in any case, we’re moving to Boston.”
“You’re moving me clear to the other side of the country to be with a guy you haven’t even introduced me to yet?!?!?”
“You’ll meet him when we get there Amanda. He’s a very nice man, and his sons are good kids. I’m hoping they’ll be a good influence.”
“But why do you have to tear me away from everything I know? We’ve lived here my entire life – all my friends are here, my support network….everything.”
“Everything but your father. Typical.” she chided.
“He’s just missing!” she yelled back. “Why are you trying to erase him from my life too?”
“That’s enough, Amanda.” her mother said. “I don’t want to hear anymore about that man ever again, do you understand? Adam will be more of a father to you than Claude ever was, anyway.”
“That still doesn’t explain why we have to leave California!”
“Obviously, California isn’t doing you any good.”
“What the hell are you talking about, ‘it’s not doing me any good’?”
“Being here, and the people in your life other than myself, are clearly not good for you – morally or spiritually. There’s a devil in you, and I mean to rid you of it.”
Mandy just stared. She didn’t know how to respond to that. “I don’t believe this.” she muttered finally, and wandered back out to the garage.
“I heard some yelling.” Dave said when she got back. “Everything ok?”
Mandy shook her head, taking a couple minutes to compose herself before relaying the conversation to him.
“Damn, kiddo. I’m sorry. Michael’s going to be devastated…neither of us realized you’d be moving so far.”
“Neither did I.” she said.
“Aren’t you done yet?” came an annoyed tone from behind her. David straightened up. “The guys are loading the last of the stuff now. There’s only a handful of us, if that, Kathy. You have to give us time.”
“Well hurry it up. I don’t want to have to deal with you any more than I have to, and it’s Katherine, not Kathy.”
“Ok Katherine. Let’s just calm down, alright? I don’t know what I did to upset you, but there’s no reason to be nasty.”
“Please just hurry up. I’ve got the church coming to take what’s left of the donations here soon and then the movers will be here. I don’t want to get everything mixed up.”
“That’s fair. I’ll try to hurry the rest of it along.”
“Thank you, David.” she said, and turned to go back into the house.
David shook his head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her, but I think you’re right – things aren’t going to improve between the two of you. Keep in touch, and find a way to get a hold of me if things get rough, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.” He went back to help the people he’d brought with him, and once the garage was empty, he headed back over to her for a last hug. “Say bye to Michael for me, ok?”
“I will.”
Mandy watched as he pulled away, and her mom’s church friends showed up to take the last few boxes. Most of the donation stuff had already been taken, but they were getting the last few things and chatting excitedly with her mom, keeping her company while volunteers moved boxes into a pickup truck, and continuing to stay through while the moving company collected everything else. Had school been in session for the year still, Mandy would have come home to a completely empty house.
Once the movers had left, and the parishioners had gone, Katherine had Mandy head to the car while she locked up the house tight, then triple checked the luggage in the car to make sure she and Mandy had everything they would need for their morning flight. Satisfied, she got into the car, and drove to the realtor’s to drop the key off before heading to a hotel near the airport, her smile getting brighter and her mood lifting the further away from the house she drove.
In the passenger seat, the opposite seemed to be happening to Mandy. The further away they got from her hometown, the more sullen and quiet she got. Katherine took no notice, relishing in the quiet of the hour long drive to Sacramento, followed by the time taken to get settled into their hotel room.
“Mandy, rest here. Go ahead and order some delivery for dinner. I need to return the rental car and arrange for the airport shuttle to pick us up in the morning. Will you be okay by yourself?”
Mandy gave her mom an annoyed look, but nodded. “I’ll be fine, mom.”
“Okay, dear. Here’s some money. I shouldn’t be long unless Adam calls.”
Mandy just nodded, then watched as her mother left. She wasn’t all that hungry, but went ahead and ordered some food anyway, making sure to get a large pack of fries with whatever she got. When it arrived, she ate those first, then moved on to the main part of the otherwise light meal. By the time Katherine got back, Mandy had finished her food and was flipping through channels on the tv while hugging one of the pillows from the bed she’d claimed.
“Adam is looking forward to meeting you.” her mother said.
“Yipee.”
“I really hope you give him a chance.” she said. When Mandy said nothing, she continued. “It’s not going to be a huge wedding, you know. There’s not really many from my side to invite. He has a large extended family though.”
“I thought you just said it wouldn’t be huge.”
“Well it won’t be huge. But it will still be large. A wonderful ceremony in a lovely church, followed by a lovely, catered reception.”
“You sure planned this in a short amount of time.”
“Don’t be silly. Adam hired a wedding planner and we both went over what we would like to have. The only thing I insisted on ws that you sing at least one song at the ceremony.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Please, Amanda. It would be your gift to us, and you have such a lovely, god-given voice”
“Fine.” she mumbled. “I’ll think of something to sing.”
“About that.” she said, and Mandy turned her head to look at her mother. “It’s a Catholic church, so they can be strict about music, so the choices for the ceremony are kind of limited.”
Mandy sighed. “So did you have a request then?”
“Adam suggested Amazing Grace, and, while a beautiful song, I feel it’s overdone. I was going to ask if you’d sing Ave Maria. Do you know that one?”
“Schubert’s, or Beyonce’s?”
“Beyonce did a cover?”
“No…just a song called Ave Maria.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that. No – just the original, please. You know how it goes?”
Mandy nodded. “We researched it as part of a music history lesson at school. I can sing it for you. How much practice time do I get?”
“As much as you need before the wedding.”
“When is that, by the way?”
“June 10th.”
“Mom, today is the 8th!”
“I know..do you not have enough time to practice?”
“I’ll be fine..but you really aren’t giving me time to settle in, are you?”
“Adam and I felt that the wedding should happen right away so you and I can move in. It would be inappropriate for us to live there before he and I are married.”
Mandy sighed. “So what are we doing tomorrow then?”
“Well, tomorrow we’ll be staying at a hotel out there for a night. You and I will make sure our dresses fit, and there’s the rehearsal dinner as well.”
“Mother…” she said, and then sighed, giving up. Not that it mattered, as Katherine was hardly paying attention. Mandy herself turned her attention back to the tv, until after the movie Mandy had been watching finished, and her mother picked up the remote to turn off the set.
“I was watching that.”
“Your movie’s over. Bedtime now. We need to get up early to get our shuttle and get through TSA, then have breakfast before the flight. Which, by the way, is nine hours.”
“How early do we have to get up??”
“Well, the flight leaves at 5:15am, so the shuttle will get us an hour before that, so…..” she paused, calculating. “We’ll probably have to get up around 3:30 so that we both have time to shower and dress.”
“Ewww. Okay.” Mandy said, getting up to get changed before heading to bed for sleep. It couldn’t be said that she slept well. She tossed and turned, and when she did sleep, it was troubled. When the alarm went off in the morning, she sat up in bed and tried to piece herself together. Meanwhile, her mother was already bustling about the room, making sure to get a bit of coffee in her before she got ready for the day.
“Do you want to shower first?”
“Eh.” Mandy said. “I guess.” she got up, rifling through her luggage for a minute for a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom to get ready. She wanted to just stay until the water got cold, to just try and not think, but she knew if she tried her mother would bang on the door, so she kept her time short, and her routine simple before letting her mother get to hers.
She poured herself a cup of coffee, knowing her mom disapproved, but she needed a way to stay awake until they were on the plane, and would just tell her mom that. In between sips of coffee, she applied her usual light makeup. By the time her mom had finished, she had everything tucked away back into her luggage and carry on, and had finished the coffee.
“Are we all set? Everything packed? Did we forget anything? And why did you have coffee?”
“I didn’t sleep well and needed to stay awake until we were on the plane. As far as I know, all we need to do now is check out and wait for the shuttle.”
Katherine nodded, but went around and double checked everything anyway, before she had Mandy exit the room and follow her to the front desk. As it so happened, they had just finished checking out when the shuttle pulled up to take them to the airport. Katherine paid the driver, while Mandy took a seat next to the window, and watched as the sleepy city passed. Once at the airport, they were dropped off at the main entrance, where they proceeded to go through security and then attempt to find their gate.
“Well, we know where the gate is now.” Katherine said cheerfully. “How about some breakfast?”
“I’m not really hungry right now.” Mandy replied.
“Hmm. Well what if we just pick up something to take in our carry-on then to eat on the flight?”
“Sounds better.” Mandy admitted, and gave her mother an idea of what to get, then watched as her mom disappeared to get food. Mandy watched her go, then pulled out her phone to text Michael, though she didn’t get a response. She sighed, figuring he was either asleep or passed out – it just depended on whether or not he had partied. Since Michael hadn’t answered, she let her mind wander a bit, and in the process she did some self-examination.
She resented her mother, that she already knew. What was to Mandy a clear abandonment of the hope of her father being found, and seemingly not even caring about whether or not he was, was just another layer on the resentment cake. Did the stepdad-to-be really deserve that same resentment? She thought about it, and wondered what her Dad would have to say on the matter. In the process of trying to guess what he would think, she remembered something he had told her once.
“Politeness isn’t respect.” he had told her once. She could clearly picture him, sitting there in his office, cleaning a gun. “Politeness is manners, don’t forget that. Respect is something to be earned. You can fool a lot of people though, by being polite. There’s a lot that mistake it for respect.” Mulling it over, she couldn’t remember what had brought on the advice, but she figured she’d take it to heart, and try to make her Dad proud, wherever he was. Adam might be a decent guy after all.
Having come to this conclusion, she popped in some earbuds, and played music until her mother indicated that they were being called to board. The gate attendant checked their tickets, and they headed on. Mandy had been expecting to be seated in the back part of the plane in the economy section, but was surprised to find that their tickets were actually first class. She took the seat next to the window, and watched the outside world. Now she could fall asleep if she could. Better to sleep than to be forced to interact with her mom the entire flight.