Chapter 6 - Packing Up the PastBy 2:00 p.m., my father’s bedroom looked like a storm had swept through it.
I didn't waste any time. With Aunt Colleen locking the front door to keep Chelsea from throwing another screaming fit on the porch, I packed two large suitcases with my father’s clothes, his medical files, his favorite framed photographs, and his weekly pill organizer.
Mom sat in the corner of the bedroom staring at the wall, completely catatonic. She didn't try to stop us. She didn't offer a single sarcastic remark. The invincible matriarch who had ruled our family with an iron fist of emotional blackmail for thirty years had vanished, leaving behind a terrified, lonely old woman who suddenly realized she had no one left who genuinely cared about her.
As I zipped the second suitcase, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was a text from Brenda, the kind waitress at the diner down the street from my apartment.
“Hey Lucy! Just wanted to let you know a sweet little boy named Dany left his favorite blue superhero action figure in our booth. It’s safe behind the register whenever you want to swing by!”
A warm, genuine smile broke across my face for the first time in days.
“Everything okay, dear?” Aunt Colleen asked softly, folding a stack of Dad’s cotton shirts.
“More than okay, Aunt Colleen,” I replied, looking down at my father, who was sitting quietly in his armchair, watching me pack with a peaceful, lucid expression in his eyes.
When I finished loading the suitcases into the trunk of my car, I walked back inside, gently wheeled my father out through the front door, and helped him into the passenger seat of my sedan.
Chelsea was standing by the driveway, arms crossed over her chest, tears of furious frustration streaming down her face.
“You’re destroying this family, Lucy!” she yelled as I closed the car door. “You’re a monster!”
I stopped, turned around, and looked at my sister one last time.
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“No, Chelsea,” I said quietly. “I’m just a mother protecting her child. And for the record... those fries were never yours anyway.”
I got behind the wheel, put the car in drive, and pulled away from the curb without looking back once.
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