The Perfect Mistake

2009

For the next hour Hailey spent time catching up with her father in his office away from all of the chaos. The faint sounds of her brother Adam and sister Shannon bickering from the kitchen, while her mother tried to referee whatever situation her children had gotten into could be heard.

"Nothing's changed around here," she noted out loud, laughing quietly.

Her father shook his head, leaning back in the old leather chair. "Not entirely, but some change is coming."

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Hailey looked at her father for further explanation, the seriousness of his tone throwing her off.

He simply shrugged his shoulders, a sly smile now tugging at the corner of his lips. "Change is always around the corner sunshine, mark my words."

Before she could question the further cryptic nature of his statement, the boom of her mother's voice cut her off.

"Mark, Hailey dinner is ready!"

Smirking, the older man leaned forward, reaching for his daughter's hand to tap at the back of it. "Come on baby girl, we have the rest of the summer to get philosophical."

Pulling his hand back, he shuffled a few papers in front of him before he stood, escorting his middle child back towards the kitchen.

The smell of meat was what hit Hailey first, strong and nauseating, making her want to skip out on whatever it was to hit a Taco Bell instead.

Her mother had never been a very good cook, which made the need for a brand new kitchen even more perplexing to her. It wasn't that she was terrible, most of what she ate was edible, it was just never appetizing or appealing.

Rounding the table, the familiar seat tucked underneath it beckoning her forward. She had been sitting in the same spot since she was old enough to actually sit at a table without the assistance of a high chair, everyone had, they were all very predictable people. So it was no surprise when she fell into the seat and looked around, seemingly never having left the state of Arizona, or the household she had been raised in.

"What is it?" Shannon asked, stabbing the food on her plate with her fork, her mouth turned up at the corners.

"Stir fry," their mother grinned proudly, pilling the brown and green substance high on Hailey's plate.

"It looks great Jen," their father smiled politely, shooting a look at his youngest daughter.

The entire family slipped into an almost awkward silence with that, Hailey staring at her plate for a good few moments while she willed herself to eat at least something.

"Did you hear that Shannon is going to ASU Hailey?" Her mother questioned just as she began shovelling some of the food into her mouth.

"Really?"

Nodding proudly, her mother took a bite and methodically chewed it before continuing. "Yes, it'll be great. Adam here can show her the ropes since it'll be his last year."

This caused her to smile widely, nobody catching the sarcasm in it. "Oh i'm sure he'll be a great guide mom."

Hailey felt a foot connect with her knee, causing her to practically choke on the mouthful of food she had just put in her mouth.

"Are you alright dear?"

"Yeah, just great," she winced, glaring at the seat next to her before muttering towards him under her breath. "You're a dick."

"Not at the table Hailey," Adam sighed casually, smiling at everyone around him as if nothing had happened.

Once again the family continued to eat in silence, someone bringing something up casually to begin a conversation, which quickly fell apart just as fast as it had been brought up.

As each plate emptied as much as they could, Hailey stood from the table to collect the dishes along with her mother, who thanked her for being "so polite". Not stopping there, she scraped off the plates and began to stack the dishwasher while everyone else filed out of the kitchen. She was already building up the brownie points and she had been home for just a few hours, if she kept this up the entire summer would fly by without much injury or trouble.

"I'm going to head to bed mom, i've had a long couple of days."

Gasping lightly, surprised that her daughter wanted to make a quick exit instead of talk to her, Hailey's mother nodded. "Oh, okay dear i'll see you in the morning then."

Kissing the woman on the cheek with a faint smile, Hailey gave her a light hug, exiting the kitchen without another word.

She planted her feet on the bottom step and gazed up towards the top. In that moment they had never seemed higher, resembling Mount Everest's impossible climb to the peak. She was sure that she would never conquer it, with the mixture of nerves and exhaustion making her limbs stiff and heavy.

She sucked in a breath, trying to forget the hushed laughter both girls produced when they stayed up too late watching a movie. Or the race to her room after a long day at school, books and snacks in hand, laugher and gossip bouncing off the walls.

Lifting her right foot first, she reluctantly began chasing the ghosts she thought about far too often now. He was to blame for this, he always had been.

Reaching the top, she neglected to look at the second remodel and went straight to her bedroom, wanting to just get it over with.

When Hailey was eleven, she dreamed of having a red room with black splatters over top and a white ceiling. It was tacky sure, but she coiled never realize that at eleven. Now, at twenty that realization haunted her as she closed the red and black splattered door.

The color was what hit her first, brighter than she had remembered, causing her eyes to squint. Once her vision had returned to normal, she took a moment to look around. Everything had stayed the exact same, just as she left it before she went to San Francisco, everything but the pictures that had once covered practically every inch of wall space.

Erin was big on capturing moments, no matter how big or how small they were, as they got older. So naturally, Hailey had become big on the idea too…and quickly it seemed that everyone had followed suit. Of course that was a ridiculous idea now, people loved to take pictures, capture moments to have forever, little memories stuck in time to look back on.

Hailey had taken hers down one by one over the course of a few weeks, her initial intent was to take them to college in a large album. That all changed when the life long friendship quickly crumbled under the weight of unforeseeable forces.

Pressing her toes against the hardwood, she felt the loose board and sunk down to her knees immediately. Placing the palm of her hand against the corner, she firmly pressed down so she could grip the edge. Pulling it up, she set it to the side and reached down into the floor.

The shoe box had gathered quite a bit of dust since the last time she had taken it out, which had been almost a year ago. She had wanted to burn them then, forget about the images completely. But something had stopped her, one picture had brought her plans to a screeching halt.

Ripping the top of the box off, Hailey leafed through birthday parties, sleep overs, school dances, graduation and vacations until she finally found it.

Picking it up gently between her index finger and thumb, she studied it. Three faces stared out at her, standing in a row on a front lawn. Both girls had beautiful dresses on, one in yellow and one in white. Their hair been done at a salon, nails and make up applied by professionals as well. It had taken hours for them to get ready, all for one single night.

Then there was him, an old tuxedo on, hair perfectly messy and a pair of vans on his feet. He had taken ten minutes to get ready all because she had wanted him to.

That was the best night of her life, when things were simple and nobody cared about trivial things. Erin, Garrett and Hailey, yellow, black and white, standing on his front lawn while cameras flashed as if they were celebrities.

"So that's where you hid them," a voice said from behind her.

Not looking up from the picture, she began to trace the outline of the boy in the centre. "They aren't hidden Adam."

"You aren't going to be able to avoid them forever you know?"

"That's where you're wrong," she said turning to face him. "I haven't been avoiding anything."

He looked at her confused, shaking his head slightly. "So if you're not hiding or avoiding what are you doing?"

"Forgetting."