A Life Worth Living

“Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. I wanna feel the heat with somebody!” I sang along with Whitney Houston as she blared through the radio. Mason’s chime-like laugh echoed around the car as I belted out the song. I looked into the rear view mirror to make sure all was well still in the back of the van and the first sight I was greeted with was Mason’s adorable three-year old face. His dark hair, the same color as mine, was cropped short and his brown eyes twinkled with wonder, just like mom’s.

'mom…oh no Delilah, stop now, you need to be strong.'

“D, your singing sucks,” chuckled Evan, bringing me out of my reverie.

“You’re just jealous of my amazing singing talents,” I sarcastically replied to the loud 14 year old in the farthest seat back. Evan was never afraid to speak his mind and appeared to be an older version of Mason. Both had that certain twinkle in their eyes.

At my last comment, both twins tried but failed to hold back their scoffs. Causing them to laugh from both doing the same thing. “D, no one could ever be jealous of your singing,” put in Maya, the older of the twins.

“Yeah, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard. I think you just scared away all the wildlife on the road!” added Layla. The two girls were identical with the same curly, dark brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. However there personalities greatly differed. Maya was the rebel without a cause, getting into trouble for no reason and never taking no for an answer. Layla was her complete opposite, the quiet one with her nose always in a book. She was incredibly smart and would surprise you with some of her witty comments. The twins may not have agreed on much, but my singing was a mutual consensus among everyone. It was horrible, but hey I like to go with the flow.

There was one voice, though, that I hadn't’t heard through our whole trip and that was Alexander’s. He never did say much of anything, unless it was necessary. He had short brown hair and dazzling brown eyes that spoke eons of wisdom. The kid was insanely smart, but was more of a man of action rather than words.

Then last, but not least was my navigator, my co-pilot, my right-hand man. Aiden. He sat quietly in the passenger seat with a map placed gently on his lap. He was compelled to take the responsibility as man of the house at the tender age of seventeen. Yet he didn't’t talk much, a great deal like Alex and our departed father. Aiden was more of the brooding, mysterious type with the signature Kent dark brown hair. However he shared another characteristic with our father as well as myself, baby blue eyes that seemed to stick out like a sore thumb on our olive skin. Aiden was my rock, he was always there and I don’t know wear I’d be without him.

“We’re almost there,” stated Aiden in his always calm voice. This disrupted the laughter that seemed to echo around the car.

“Righty-O, Chief! So let’s stop insulting my singing the rest of you or I’ll kick you out of the van and make you walk the rest of the way,” I said to the rambunctious group in the back. With that said, a fit of giggles burst from Mason’s lips for no apparent reason. This caused a chain reaction of laughter, even earning a few chuckles from Alex and a small smile from Aiden.

The laughter lasted us the rest of the trip and soon we arrived at a small, but quaint house. Everyone quickly evacuated the van and pulled their bags from the trunk. “So, it looks like Grams left the place set up just for us. There are four bedrooms so the twins will double up and so will Alex and Evan. Then I’ll share a room with Mase and Aid, you’ll take the last room to yourself. Everyone got it?” I asked after going through the room arrangements. Everyone nodded their heads at separate times and took off into the house.

Everything was settled and we had a quick round of sandwiches, before heading off to bed. As I lay in my new bed, my mind began to wander.

'Is everything going to be alright? There are only a couple weeks of summer left and then all the kids go back to school. What will I do with Mason? There has to be some sort of daycare around here. And what am I going to do for a job? I’ll have to start looking tomorrow. I guess I can leave Aiden in charge for the day. Hopefully this house will feel like a home soon and we’ll be able to start are lives once again. I’ll I can wish for is that tomorrow will be a brighter day.'

And with those numerous thoughts flying around my head, I dozed off into dreamland where everything was good again.