Walk with Me
an excerpt

Julia ventured cautiously into her mother’s room. It was a bit awkward, being she rarely ever visited the place on her own account, but she stepped through the door before she could turn back for the tenth time. Hayden was not out of the house, but he was at last not hovering directly over her shoulder. This would probably be the one chance to get it out and talk. It was now or never. “Mom,” She almost whispered into the dim room. She could barely see her mother’s figure beneath the comforter, her television going in the background. But a light flickered on the show she was watching that flashed momentarily on her mother’s face. It gave her at least a place to look for guidance in talking to her. It wasn’t as she’d envisioned, sitting down on the couch with a bundled up blanket between them due to the exhausting heat, and talk. This was far different and she was not only caught off by the surrounding, but also by the harsh words that cut through the dark to remind her that her mother was in fact sitting there watching her every move.
“What do you want, to come barging in while I am watching tv… the least you could do is maybe knock?” Julia gulped, remembering she had knocked, but refrained from hitting it too hard in case she woke her up. Her mistake.
“I want to talk Mom. About the move-”
“I already know what you are gonna say, and about Hayden.” Julia was almost relieved she didn’t have to say it herself. At least Maranda would be admitting it on her own. “You don’t want to go because you want that tree house to stay up and you want to visit it every night as you’ve done in the past three years. Part of it, Julia’s disappointment was not as high as she’d known it would be. She remained calm and out of arms length from Maranda.
“Do you like Hayden?” She couldn’t believe it had come out as it did. She’d meant to say anything but that. And sure enough it was the first phrase from her mouth. She awaited the yelling, and prepared herself for a quick escape out the bedroom door… But nothing happened.
“He’s a respectable gentleman. I know he’s a good man, yes. What does this have to do with you not wanting to move?” Everything.
“I really do not want to leave… I’ll get a job if you need help paying bills. I’ll do anything-” her mind kept returning to Sam and Miss Ivy. She couldn’t lose them. “I just don’t want to go. This is home.”
“Your home is anywhere I put a roof over your head and food in your mouth. If you don’t like it then the front door is open and you can go on ahead and leave.” She almost considered the option. She knew she wouldn’t get far.
“But what about everything we have here? What about our property and the house-”
“And your precious little tree house? It’ll be gone by Friday anyway. I don’t have anything here I care about. I am ready to move on and you should be grateful you get such an opportunity to check out a new school.”
“But it’s no opportunity. It sucks and I don’t want to do it.” She could tell her arguing was testing her mother. She held tight to the bedrail and prayed her mother would just stay calmly in bed and allow this to remain a discussion- not a fight. “I know that you want to try new things, but what about where I have gotten in school here? What about my friends? And for both of us, what about Daddy?”
“Would you just let it go, Julia? He’s gone, okay. He chose to leave us. We didn’t do a thing to him. He up and left-- him and his stubborn ways. He insisted he must leave, even after his only child begged and pled that he stay. She stood out in the rain all day and soaked herself to the bone, and had a cold for two weeks afterward- hoping she would catch sight of his pickup rolling back in. He’s the bad person here. All we are leaving is the crap he left behind to us.” the fresh words stung her mind. There was no way Maranda was right. He was a good man and she knew it. There was no way-
“But he did it for us.” Julia kept the idea of her daddy leaving them to nothing as far from mind as she could manage to restrain it. “He did it so we would be safe, and happy.”
“In case you are new here, child, we are not safe and happy as you assume. We are not doing so well both financially and with each other. You cannot seem to understand that I am doing what I can for us and you just pretend that he was the good guy here when he left us. He left you, just like he left me, Julia. Face it, he didn’t care. He just filled your mind with a bunch of bull to keep you thinking about him so he’d feel good about himself when he left.”
“That’s not true…” Julia’s face was burning with anger. “It’s not true.”
“It is too, and don’t you deny it. It’s about time you come back down to earth; he’s not ever coming back so quit acting like it. It’s a waste of your time waiting. Just get over it.” As if declaring the conversation over, the volume bar on the television popped up and Julia watched as the dashes grew to almost the other end of the screen.
“You lie, you lie, YOU LIE!! GO WITHOUT ME!! I WON‘T GO!!” She shrieked it, throwing herself out the door and racing down the hall. Her mother followed fairly close behind, but Julia didn’t slow as she passed quickly through the living room, nearly busted the front door off its hinges, flew over the porch, but was shoved down and crashed down the stairs, landing with her arms stretched out toward the dead grass. Arms groped at her struggling body, and she forced out of their grip, feeling ten sharp nails dig deep gashes in her arms. She scrambled to get back up, feeling a sharp pain throughout her whole body as she raced barefoot through the dark. She avoided the road, clearing the dirt bank on the opposite end of the yard, ignoring the tree house that loomed over her in a reminding sort of way. She hesitated on getting the blanket, but as she heard heavy breathing close behind, she pushed on.