My father came home from work to find my closet cleaned up. Emptiness and uncertainty filled the cold corners and depths of my bedroom. I had forgotten my schoolbooks earlier when I came storming into my room convinced no one would be home. Only to find my father puzzled and waiting for a valid explanation.

“Oh… Dad… I thought you’d be back later.”

He was already breathing angrily, that the dragged gusts of air into his lungs made me completely flushed and anguished. What I have done made him enraged; the thought of explaining myself agitated me.

“Um… Mom said I could move in with her.”
“Without letting me know!”
“You wouldn’t let me”
“You are not going anywhere and that’s final!”

My body suddenly felt cold, my stomach turned. I couldn’t stay there, not as long as my stepmother was still around. All that was left behind, memories…