Leaving
Roger stood next to the car, holding on to his toy raccoon and adjusting the strap on his back. He looked at the house behind them and felt cold dread come over him. He remembered dad building it - vaguely, but he recalled the pride. He also remembered that fateful day when dad came home and did not recognize him. Maybe leaving it behind wouldn’t be the worst thing.
“Are you ready, Roger?”
Roger looked at dad and smiled nervously. He nodded and dad smiled right back. All of their important belongings were in the car already - there wasn’t much. Some books, mostly clothes, a couple of souvenirs. Really not much. Roger would have taken even fewer of his own things but dad insisted that he could pack most of the stuff. Dad was wonderful through all of that. He made things easy for Roger, and he felt bad about putting dad through all of it, the move included.
Well, then, hop in and we are off, dad signed and Roger did as told. He put his backpack on the back seat and jumped into his own, still holding the raccoon close. Dad also got in and started the engine.
Roger still didn’t feel like talking most of the time. Well, not exactly ‘didn’t feel like it’. He knew he could do it. He spoke sometimes. But most of the time the voice just got stuck in his throat and he reverted back to signing. Dad didn’t seem to be worried about it, and it was helpful. Maybe he would speak more in the future, but it still felt like blasphemy against the Spire, even though the Spire did not have a hold of them anymore.
Dad started the engine and Roger focused his eyes on the house they were leaving behind. He had so many memories with that house. So many of them were bad, though. Maybe it was a good thing they were leaving them behind.
“Don’t worry, Roger. It’ll be fine,” dad said and Roger smiled.
“I know,” he whispered as their home disappeared from sight.
He even believed it a little. It felt nice.
