-S-
Sara arrived after dark. Even though everything was dark, it was still very familiar. It was the town that she had lived in her whole life. She saw her house and the two houses left of her house; there was Keith’s house. When she parked her car, the door opened and her mother, sister Haylee, and her dog came out and greeted her. Sara was so happy to hug her family.
“Welcome back home,” her father told her. Sara looked around the house. Everything was the same, but since it had been a while, it felt weird. She ate her late dinner and talked to her family. She showed pictures from her phone and told stories.
“So when are you going back?” Her little sister Haylee asked.
“Maybe a week from now.”
“Ok, we should have a lot of fun until then.” Sara and her Haylee talked to each other until very late at night and their mother had to stop them. Sara was tired but she could not sleep. She felt like everything that had happened in Seattle was a dream.
The next morning when she woke up, there was no one in the house. Her father went to work, Haylee went to school, and her mother was running errands. Sara still felt tired from her trip the day before. She went down to the living room and ate cereal. Soon her mother came home and Sara helped her do the chores. She loved talking to her mom about her new friends. Her mother called Jack, ‘Sloth,’ and Sara laughed a lot. That afternoon, she went out to meet some of her friends. She could not help looking at Keith’s house while she was driving. Do I want to talk to him or just ask about how he is doing?
“He is doing well. I think he is seeing someone,” Liah told Sara.
“Yeah, you don’t have to worry,” Rachel also said. Sara met some of her friends at the restaurant near the college. They told Sara about Keith even before she asked. Sara was relieved that Keith was doing well. They were talking about college, and some of them already had jobs. Sara felt like she was the only one who stopped progressing while other people were moving forward.
“…so I was with Pete, and his ex kept texting him. Why did he keep replying to it? And why did he keep showing that to me?”
“He wants to make you jealous.” Liah kept talking about her date, and Rachel was complaining how hard her major was. Sara could not focus on their stories. She wanted to go home and hang out with her sister.
“So when do think you will come back to school?”
“I’m not sure, maybe next year.”
“How is Seattle?” Sara’s other friend asked.
“It’s very good, and beautiful. There is a lot of green and, I met a lot of good people. Do you remember Michelle? She is my roommate.” Sara thought about Seattle and people there. Ah, I really did have a lot of fun there. Sara smiled while she was talking about Seattle.
When Sara came home, she told her mother about her thoughts on her major and how she did not know what she wanted to do.
“Well, don’t think about it too hard. You can still search for it while you are having fun instead of getting stressed out.”
“How?” Sara’s mother smiled and pushed the plate of cookies to Sara. Sara grabbed a cookie.
“Once you think it is important to find out what you like, your mind will keep searching for it, so what you need to do is let it flow, and give yourself a chance to experience many different things. I can’t tell you how long it will take, but when you see it, you will know.”
“Ok. I think that makes sense.”
“I think you are an adult now.” Her mother said, and Sara took it as a compliment.
The next couple of days she spent time with her sister. They went to the pool and watched movies. She met her friends and went dancing. She met with many people that she knew, but more than half of them did not even know that Sara had left. Sara thought people liked to talk about others but they really did not care about them at all. But I also don’t know about their lives either. Sara thought the world was a lonely place. She was grateful for her family who always cared for her.
“I told you! Joe likes you!” Michelle said it out loud to Sara on the phone.
“What are you talking about?”
“I asked him, today! I wasn’t sure but he said yes!”
“Are you crazy? Why did you ask him?” Sara was embarrassed. She was not happy to hear this because she was trying to keep her mind calm.
“You are so popular, Sara.” Michelle teased her for a while and told her about other stories. She told Sara about how one of her patients passed away, and Jake took off his cast and everybody went bowling again. Sara liked listening to Michelle. She could tell anything to Michelle. She was so glad that she had a friend like her.
On her birthday, her brother Brian and his wife came to her house to celebrate. Sara did not invite other people because she wanted to be with her family. Sara’s mother cooked babyback ribs for Sara’s birthday. It was her favorite. When they were eating ice cream as a dessert, Brian brought up Keith.
“Hey, I saw Keith on the way here. I guess he came home for the weekend. I was thinking about inviting him.”
“If you did, this would be a very uncomfortable birthday for Sara,” Haylee said.
“How is he doing? Did you talk to him?” Sara asked.
“Oh, you two still don’t talk to each other?”
“No. It’s just…” Sara didn’t know what to tell him.
“Well. Actually, he seemed kind of quiet. I also think he lost weight. Does he know that today is your birthday, by the way?” Would he remember my birthday? Probably. He was at my birthday so many times. When she was thinking about it, she got the text. She thought it might be Keith, but it was from Joe.
-Happy birthday! I hope you have a great day!
Sara did not text him back. She wondered if Keith was still mad at her. She was sad because she always thought Keith was one of her family members.
“Sara, open the present!” Haylee told Sara.
“Ok.” Sara opened Haylee’s present first. It was a pink cell phone case, and on the back there were rhinestones shaped like a cat.
“This is so pretty,” Sara told Haylee.
“I bought it online.”
Sara opened her next present. It was from Brian and his wife. It was brown boots.
“Wo-“ Sara and Haylee awed.
“Do you like them?” Her sister in-law asked.
“I love it, thank you guys.” Sara held a present from her parents. It was a small box wrapped with blue paper.
“Open it. It’s small, but I am pretty sure that you will like it.” Sara opened it, and there was a letter in the box.
“Dad, this is lame,” Haylee said and her mother gestured to her to be quiet. Sara opened the letter.
Our lovely daughter, we are so happy to have you in this world, and we are so proud that you went through everything with a smile. -Your mom and dad
Sara found another envelope in the box and opened it. There was a $3,000 check in it.
“Dad!”
Her father just smiled at her.
“What? What is it? Wow!” Haylee shouted when she saw the check.
“I think this is too much.” Her mother smiled at her and said,
“You paid your tuition on your own. You deserve this.”
“Yeah, unlike somebody…” Her dad laughed and looked at Brian.
“Whatever, I only got help for three semesters.”
“You should pay that back,” their mother said.
“No, it came out of love, so it’s free,” Brian said and everyone laughed.
“Brian, how did you choose your major?” Sara asked.
“Me? I chose the one that I could make money at. Why? Do you want to change your major? Aren’t you about to graduate?”
“Yeah. I am thinking about it. What do you want to do Haylee?”
“Me? Nursing.”
“Why?”
“Because. I don’t know. I like it.” Brian said good-bye to Sara and wished her good luck before he left.
Sara went out and walked to Keith’s house that night. She wanted to know how he was doing. However, she realized that it was better not to talk to him and came back home.
Sara and Haylee talked until midnight. That day Sara turned 23. After she turned 23, she finally felt like she could start seeing the real world. It was like she had been walking forward, and finally she started asking where she was going and trying to figure out where she was now. I think you are an adult now. She remembered what her mother told her a couple of days ago. I am an adult now. Sara thought it was an interesting concept ‘being an adult.’
On the sixth night since she came home, she started packing to go back to Seattle. Her mother and sister were helping her; actually, it was not helping, they wanted to talk more with Sara before she left.
“You should come back soon,” Haylee said.
“Well. I will try.”
“Go out on dates and forget about Keith,” Haylee replied.
“I think you will do well,” Her mother said.
“Yes, mom. I think I need more experience, and I want to meet more people.”
“That’s good start, Sara.” Her mother was proud of her.
The next morning she drove back to Seattle. She remembered when she was first learning to drive. It was nervous and awkward for her to drive, but she knew she would get used to it, and she was sure that she would arrive at her destination. She did not know what to do or what would be the right choice to make for her future, but she knew that the answer was out there, and she knew she would find it.