... in all the old familiar places
"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life." - Isadora James
Could this really be happening? It certainly seemed like everyone in Dakota Ashton's life that meant anything to her was leaving, whether it be by choice or by fate. The walls around her had slowly begun to crumble, and her sanity was loosing its tightness of grip. Stress was her only companion, especially in regards to her studies, but there was always social and family drama too. Right now, it was sisterly turmoil. The kind two siblings so close never thought they'd have to go through.
It had been just over six months since the incident. That incident being when Dakota found out that her little sister was pregnant... with her boyfriend's child. Eventually, she'd figured out that Charlotte's little "birthday surprise" was just a way to get to Aiden. A way to get what she wanted and have a good coverup. Well, what she thought was a good coverup.
Now, Dakota went to school in California, at Stanford. She studied business with the hopes of one day running her own. It was good that the university was a good thousand or so miles away from her home state of Texas. She needed to get away for a while; she needed to get a grip on her life. Her life without Aiden, but most of all, her life without Charlotte.
Kota was starting to do well. She was starting to somewhat get over what happened, and had made new friends at her new college. She had even gone on a couple of dates with this guy named Phil, but she somehow knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. He was just a distraction for her, and he knew it, but he didn't mind, obviously. She was on her way to the local coffee house when she received the dreadful phone call from her mother.
"Hola, mi amor..." said her mother's sweet voice.
"Hola, mama. Um, cómo estás?" Kota replied, confused at he unexpected call.
"Kota... you need to come home." Her mama replied, voice thick with a Hispanic accent and weighed down by some sort of sorrow that almost frightened Dakota.
"What? Por qué, mama?"
"There was an accident... your father... he..." and then, Kota heard the sadness leak into her mother's voice again, this time demonstrated with sobs.
"Cuál es el problema? ¿Qué es? Mama, what did papa do?" She was now apparently concerned, stopping to sit on a bench while she spoke on the phone.
"He was in a bad car accident. He didn't make it...se ha ido para estar con su Padre celestial."
Now, she was back at her dorm, packing her bags. The funeral was in the next couple of days, and her mother had begged her to come stay for a while. She managed to arrange everything with her professors, which she didn't necessarily want, but she had to. Her family needed her. Her mother needed her. If that meant seeing Charlotte, too, so be it.
The plane ride wasn't so bad, she got stuck next to a woman who was sneezing every minute or so and claimed to be allergic to the leather of the seats, but Dakota knew better, and she knew the lady was fighting a cold. She didn't feel like being rude and having her seat changed, though, so she endured. Within the next couple of hours, she was driving home in the back of a taxi.
Once she arrived, she paid the driver and headed to the front door. There was lots of hesitation before she knocked. Why had she knocked, anyways? Any other time, she would have just burst in and greeted everybody with a smile. What had changed?
"Viene, viene!" Her mother called from within in a rush. Soon, the door opened and there stood her beautiful mama, a Mexican woman with dark hair cut around her shoulders, and few strands of silver around her face as a sign of her age. Her skin was tanned and there were vague hints of wrinkles on her face, mostly at the corners of her eyes. She smiled a tearful smile before enveloping her daughter in a tight embrace. "I've missed you, cariño. Come in, let me help you with your bags..."
"I've got it, mama. Ellos no son tan pesados." Dakota smiled and lifted the suitcases inside, looking around and brushing the hair out of her face. "Where is everybody? La abuela y el abuelo?" she paused. "Y su tía Lucía y los niños?"
"The kids are in the living room with la abuela y el abuelo, and tía Lucía ran out to the tienda to pick up some ice and things."
"Oh, okay." Dakota didn't bother asking about Charlotte, and it was painfully obvious.
