Diana Morris's Story

Astrid Morris

Astrid kept an eye on the moving truck in front of them she was afraid the moving guys were driving a little too erratic for her taste, especially with their entire life in the back of the truck. She sighed and looked over at her mother who was asleep in the passenger seat of her Volvo it was an old car that she had inherited from her mother when she first got her driver's license but it had four wheels and still moved. Astrid's father and later Erik had done a great jog keeping the almost fifteen year old car running. It was funny how much you remember from a town you hadn't lived in for a long time when you come back and soon they were coming up to the house that she and her brother had grown up in.

When they moved her parents had left the house in the care of her mother's brother Uncle Clint, and from the looks of it looked great. He had been renting it out since they moved and when he heard that his sister and the kids wanted to come back he gladly let them move back in like they had only been on vacation. She smiled as they came up to the drive and saw her brother's jeep and the trailer behind it. Erik and their father had worked hard restoring the WWll relic and she knew her brother cherished the time that he had spent working on the vehicle with his father. The moving truck pulled up in the drive way and Astrid pulled up behind her brother and the jeep. Thats when she noticed her brother talking to a red haired girl "Oh no please don't tell me that's who I think it is" she thought to herself.

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Diana Morris

Diana felt the car stop and began to stir out of sleep "We're here already... man I feel like I just shut my eyes" she stretched and tried to get the kink out of her neck. She looked up at the house she had missed so much and smiled it was good to be home. After all they had been through in the past couple of months she was glad to be somewhere that held so many happy memories instead of sad ones. She turned to her daughter Astrid who seemed to be thinking to herself about something and then poked her in the arm and then she made a noise that sounded kind of like a walkie talkie coming on.

" ksssh... Uh Astrid this is ground control we'd like you to come back to Earth now before you burn up in the atmosphere" she laughed knowing what she said made no sense scientifically.

Astrid turned back and smiled "Yeah sure mom I'm here" she then unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Diana smiled and then followed her daughter that's when she saw her son talking to a red haired girl. She knew it must be one of the Anderson girls they tended to have red hair, but was it Katie?

She walked up to the pair and put her arm around Erik "Well we made it one piece and so did you" she turned to the girl. "You must be one of Kelson's daughters. Wow! you kids just grow too fast".

"You're the kid that always stole my sister away." Erik couldn't help but roar with laughter when he heard this. He remembered that Stephanie hadn't seemed to fond of him when they had lived here, and now he knew why.

"Yeah, I can see how you could have viewed it that."

"Well, how have you been? Are you moving back into the neighbourhood or something?" Erik's smile froze and his eyes dimmed briefly as remembered the pains of the past months, but he pushed passed it. Hopefully Stephanie wouldn't have noticed.

"Oh, things have been fair to midland I guess. It's hard to sum up a decade in just a couple of seconds." Erik laughed again. "Yeah, we're moving back. Mom, Astrid, and myself that is, dad passed away a couple of months ago. Anyways how have you been? I hope things are still going well for the Anderson's." Erik heard the sound of the moving van and Astrid's Volvo pull up. Erik turned and waved at them as his mom and sister got out of the car.

"Well we made it one piece and so did you" Dianna said, coming over and putting her arm around Erik. He gave her a big, one-armed hug in return. "You must be one of Kelson's daughters. Wow! You kids just grow too fast."

She tried to hide the blush of embarrassment when he started laughing. It was so long ago, why should she even bring it up now? They had just met for 5 minutes and he had already started laughing at her. It was kind of a big deal to Stephanie. I mean, he's my arch nemesis. she thought with a smile.

"Oh, things have been fair to midland I guess. It's hard to sum up a decade in just a couple of seconds. Yeah, we're moving back. Mom, Astrid, and myself that is, dad passed away a couple of months ago. Anyways how have you been? I hope things are still going well for the Anderson's."

"Oh... I'm sorry. My condolences." she said. "We've been well I guess. I guess that'll sum up my 10 years."

For some reason Stephanie didn't have the heart to blurt out that Katie was getting married. She'd let Katie say that herself. She heard the sounds of more vehicles coming from behind Erik. She looked behind him to the see a moving truck and another car pull up to the house. Must be his mother and sister, she thought.

"You must be one of Kelson's daughters. Wow! You kids just grow too fast."

Katie smiled at the older woman. "It's been a long time. I'm Stephanie, the youngest Anderson."

It had definitely been a long time, but she remembered Erik's mother. Unlike her hatred towards Erik, she rather liked his mother. Since her mother was gone when she was five, she always got a warm little feeling whenever she said hi or offered her some cookies.

Katie finished her breakfast and gave a smile to her brother. She stood, and when she saw that Matt had finished his breakfast, she took his plate to the sink and washed it off. While she was at the sink, she made sure to wash all the remaining dishes that were there and put them away carefully in their places. She always did that to help her father. Katie was basically the mother-figure around the house. She was the spitting image of her mother. She sometimes wondered why that didn't upset her father. With that thought, she walked up to her room, putting a hair clip in her hair and changing into a pink dress and pulled her hair to the side.

She headed back downstairs and called for Matt.
"Matty! I'm gonna go wait in the car with Steph. Come out when you're ready." she says with a smile, opening the door, "just remember to lock the door on your way out 'kay?" Katie exits the house, shutting the door behind her. She can see her sister's hair so she walks to it, fiddling with her hairclip that can't quite stay in right. Once she reaches Stephanie, she squints at the group she was talking to.
"Hey Steph." she says, "Matty's just getting his stuff and we can go...who are your friends?" Something about them seemed familiar.

Katie's eyes were fixed on the others. She knew that there was something familiar...Oh my God!
"Oh my gosh! Mrs. Morris!?" she yelled excitedly, "and Astrid! Hey! It's been so long! How are you?!" She hears Lizzie come over and she looks to her.

"Hi, I am Lizzie, nice to meet you. Are you new to the neighborhood?"
Katie gestures toward them, "Liz, these are our old neighbors. They moved out ten years ago before you and Johnny moved in. This is Mrs. Morris and her daughter Astrid and..." Katie got a curious look on her face, "Erik...where's Erik?"

Erik had been right. He instantly recognized Katie the moment he saw her. His breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat before starting to beat ten times faster. He desperately fought off the wave of emotions that swept over him. He'd always remembered she had been a pretty girl when they had moved away, but now she was absolutely gorgeous. She apparently didn't remember him who they were as the first thing she asked Stephanie was who they were. Erik wanted to say something witty or clever, but his brain was still not cooperating and they were quickly joined by another girl, who also asked who they were, she had a right to though as Erik didn't recognize her at all.

"Liz, these are our old neighbors. They moved out ten years ago before you and Johnny moved in. This is Mrs. Morris and her daughter Astrid and... Erik...where's Erik?" This question snapped Erik's brain out of it's muddled state.

"I'm right here," Erik exclaimed loudly with a big smile and an equally big laugh, extracted himself from his mother's grip, holding his arms wide and waving them as if he were invisible or something.

Stephanie jumped a little hearing her sister's voice coming from behind her. She wanted to keep Katie away from Erik as long as she could; guess that wasn't happening.

"Uhm, well Katie. You remember the Morris family. I saw someone with an army looking car and it turned out to be Erik."

She managed a smile, but what she really wanted to do was drag her sister, plop them all in the car and drive off downtown. Nothing good could come out of this.

"So hows you kids father doing?" Diana asked.

"He's doing well. He's at work right now." she replied. "I'll make sure to tell him your family is back in town. I'm sure he'll have a lot of catching up to do with you all." She paused before continuing, "Actually, we're planning to head downtown and meet up with somebody right now."

She tugged on Katie's arm, beckoning her to get going. "Katie, Matt's probably waiting."

Stephanie knew her sister probably wanted to stay and chat, but she wasn't lying. They had to get going. John was probably waiting for Katie and Lizzie. Stephanie gave Lizzie a look that had a sense of urgency. Let's gooooooooooooooooo.

"Erik?!" Katie smiles when she realizes it's him, "wow, you've really changed! I barely recognized you!"
It's true, he did look a lot different than he did ten years ago, or perhaps, she had just forgotten his face in the years that they were apart. She can feel her heart flutter a bit when she realizes it's him, but she dismisses it as just a reaction to a close friend that has been away for far too long.

"Hey, what's going on?" Katie hears her brother approaching.
"Matty, the Morris's are back in town!" she replies with excitement. When she feels Stephanie's grip on her arm, she remembers her date.
"Oh! My gosh, I'm really sorry to cut this short, but we've kinda got a lunch date thing with my fiance today. Lizzie's his sister. So um...we have to get going, but I'll see you guys later I guess!" Katie's face begins to hurt from her smile.

"Oh! My gosh, I'm really sorry to cut this short, but we've kinda got a lunch date thing with my fiance today. Lizzie's his sister. So um...we have to get going, but I'll see you guys later I guess!"

"Not a problem. We probably should start..." Erik cut off mid-sentence as one of the words Katie said registered in his brain. Fiance. He stood there, his mouth hanging open with what he hoped was a look of shock rather than the sudden horror he felt. "You mean... You're engaged? You're getting married?" He had never expected anything would happen between the two of them when he returned, at least that was what he had been trying to convince himself, but he had always held out some small hope. Now it was completely dashed to pieces, and Erik felt devastated. But he also knew he couldn't show it. It had been ten years since she had let him know that she wasn't interested in him, and of course in those ten years she had moved on. Erik should have moved on too, and he needed to make it look like he had.

"Why Katie, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!" He said with his biggest, most genuine smile. He desperately was trying to feel happy for her even though he now felt hollow on the inside. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to keep you away from the lucky man. It certainly wouldn't be fair to him! I've got to unpack anyways, but you guys have a wonderful time." Waving at them Erik turned to his trailer and took off the tarp, revealing a plethora of of boxes and totes filled with his hobby stuff. Picking one up Erik started walking up to the house, whistling in a happy manner. By the tune Astrid would know he was anything but happy as it was the MASH theme, Suicide is Painless.

Stephanie looked at Erik with pity. So it does bother him.... she thought.

Katie was probably oblivious to it but she herself could see that he was a lot stiffer than he was earlier. Sure, he was smiling a lot more, but look at how obviously fake it was. Stephanie sighed and waved goodbye to him. "Bye, Erik." As much as she disliked him, she felt a little bad for the guy. For the decade he was separated from her he should have taken care of whatever childish feelings he had. Guess he didn't.

"Alright Katie," she held onto her sister's arm with one hand and tugged Matt's with the other, "Matt, time to go!" The situation she felt was really awkward. Maybe not for Katie, but for everyone else there it probably was. She felt like Astrid wasn't too happy with Katie either. She shouted out to Lizzie, "Liz, jump in the car!"

She turned to Erik's mother and smiled, "Well Miss Morris, it was REALLY nice seeing you all again. I'd love it if I could stay and chat, but you guys seem really busy."