The Lost Crown

~Violet~ 7

I woke up to my dad's smiling face in mine.  His eyes were bigger than his head.

"Dad...?"  I asked cautiously.  Either he had had way too much coffee or he was just trying to scare the dinner cake out of me.   He chuckled  like a madman and picked me up off my bed and carried me downstairs.  Man was I glad I had slept in my clothes.  He brought me into the kitchen where he pulled out a frozen pancake and handed it to me, then grabbed my arm and pulled me outside, opening the passenger door for me and hopping in himself in the driver's side.

He resembled a little kid who was way to hyped up on sugar and anxious to get somewhere quickly.  He pulled out speedily and almost got hit, but continued smiling and driving like nothing happened.  I frantically put on my seat belt and made sure it was working as he sped away from the only home I'd ever known.  The only place I could remember, with the only family I could picture.  I could see Emily in the window waving solemnly as she disappeared from my view.  I had the biting feeling I was never going to see her again...  

~~~

Three hours.  That's how long I was cooped up in the gross old car with a defrosting pancake and a hyper father.  I was so hungry I almost ate the pancake a few times.  I was just about to resort to that when we stopped abruptly in the middle of an old deserted road.  I thought we ran out of gas or got a flat tire or something until he got out, beckoning me to follow.  He practically chased me to a large tree, like a White House sized Christmas Tree, and held out his arms to show me past it.  I looked at him with doubt in my eyes, but he seemed so sure of himself I could hardly say no.

I was about to take a step, the step past the tree, when my dad stopped me.  I thought he was going to say something like 'I love you' or 'have a good time'  or whatever, or at least explain what I was supposed to do here.  He just gave me a crooked grin and warned me, "Don't be late for dinner."  That hit me hard in the feels.  Every time I went out to do anything, he would say one thing; 'Don't be late for dinner.'  I had a feeling that for once, I would be late for dinner.  And I might not have another with him again.

I stumbled past the tree and almost fell down the unexpected drop of a steep hill.  I looked back, expecting to see my dad rushing to help me like he always did, but I saw the door of our old car close and him step on the gas, without even looking at me.  No goodbyes...

Tears poured down my cheeks for a few minutes.  My dad abandoned me.  I was alone, in the middle of nowhere, who knows how far from home.  And he just left me here.  I wiped my cheeks and made my way slowly down the hill, trying not to trip over my own feet, or the ditches and tons of rocks, on my way down.  I pushed the image of my dad's face out of my mind and descended, thinking that if I ever saw him again, I would hurt him as much as he did me.