Comin' Home

Today was the day. Harper was going to face her demons and attend her grandfather’s funeral. She hated the thoughts of this; she hated the idea that this was her final goodbye.

She knew as she stood in the middle of her bedroom with only a plush white towel wrapped around her body that she had to start getting ready. She also knew this when her mother knocked on her door and told her they were leaving in twenty minutes. She really knew this twenty minutes later when her mother actually opened the door to check on her. “Harper? Why aren’t you dressed?”

The brunette swallowed. “Because my feet won’t move and the more I think about what I’m about to do, the more I want to cry.” That was what she wanted to say. What she did say, however, was, “Sorry, mom. I’m just having a little trouble getting moving. I’ll be down in five minutes, tops.”

Her mother smiled and nodded sympathetically and then left the room. Harper snapped out of her trance and threw on a pair of black dress pants and a black and gray pin striped, three-quarter length sleeve sweater. After slipping on her black ballet flats and putting her hair up in a pristine bun, she was ready to go.

Her father and mother were waiting for her in the kitchen. “Sorry to make everyone wait,” she told them.

Her father smiled and hugged her tightly. She was startled by his sudden affection and she almost didn’t respond. But, when he didn’t let go right away, she held him too. In her twenty one years of life, never once had her father hugged her like he was currently, and while this thought made her slightly bitter, she was still his daughter. And if this was some weird way that he was coping with the death of his father, then she was completely okay with it.

When they arrived at the church where the funeral service was being held, Harper noticed they were the only other car in the lot. “Where is everyone else?”

“Harper,” her mother started, turning to face her in their large Escalade. “Your father and I have something to tell you, something you may not like but it was a decision we had to make at a moment’s notice…” her mother rambled.

She looked at her father for clues as to what was going on. But there was nothing. Her father was a stone-cold statue.

“Mom,” she interrupted suddenly. “Just tell me, ok?”

“Your grandfather’s funeral was last week. We’ve already had the funeral and the visiting hours and all of that, I’m afraid. We didn’t want to tell you and have you come home while you had finals, so we didn’t. We figured it’d be best this way.”

Harper felt like she had been hit by a semi-truck driving at full speed. Not just any semi, either; one filled with cement and bricks and things of that nature. She couldn’t even believe her ears. She just stared at her mother and father, her mother rambling on and on and her father saying nothing. Without another word to either of them, she climbed out of the car and took off. The church was only about a five minute drive from her house and only about a fifteen minute walk or run. So she ran; her inner high school-er came out and soon she was sprinting. Harper had been a long distance sprinter all through high school, but once college hit she never even thought about it again. Now, as she ran, her ballet flats smacking the sidewalk, she realized not much had changed. She still loved running and she was still fast.

So she ran until she reached her house. She ran inside and changed out of her clothes, grabbing a change of clothes and some PJs and throwing them in a bag, her purse, and her laptop, she left. She needed to cool down after the news her parents just delivered and staying in this place wasn’t going to do it for her. She climbed in her father’s BMW and took off, not looking back.

As she drove out of her neighborhood, she passed his house. Or at least it was the house he spent most of his time in. She realized she didn’t really know where he was living these days, but if she had to guess it was still with his parents. The white van was gone; she just wasn’t sure if it meant he was too or not. She also wasn’t sure if she wanted to ever find out. She only had a few more days left, and even fewer now that she most likely wasn’t on speaking terms with her parents. She needed to get out of Arizona; so far, it hadn’t brought her any luck. Just like old times, she thought to herself bitterly as she passed his house and headed to see the one person who could make her feel better.

***

“Harp?” Nick said as he exited Justin’s house. She had arrived a few minutes ago, but she still hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle.

She opened the door and climbed out of the car, crossing her arms in front of her as she leaned against the doorframe. “The funeral was last week,” she said bluntly.

“What?”

“The funeral, it was last week. They never told me, never let me come home. They didn’t even present it as an option. They just made the decision as if it wasn’t going to affect me at all. They haven’t changed a bit,” she mumbled, mainly to herself.

“Wait, you mean for your grandfather?” Nick asked, finally catching up to her thoughts.

“No, for my dog Skip,” she snapped bitterly. “Yes for my grandfather!”

“Look Harp, that’s shitty but you need to go talk to them about it. Not stand here and yell at me.”

Harper’s mouth dropped open in shock. He wasn’t being serious, was he? she thought to herself. He couldn’t have been. Had he been serious, he wouldn’t have told her to do something so absurd. “And why exactly would I want to go talk to them right now, Nick? Because quite honestly, that just might be the absolute last thing I feel like doing right now.”

Nick sighed and walked up to her, rubbing her arms in reassurance. “I’m just saying, yelling at them might make you feel better. That’s all.”

Harper rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to talk to her parents. She knew they hadn’t changed and they probably never would. “They didn’t tell me about my own grandfather’s funeral. How much worse can they get?”

The redhead hugged her as her voice cracked. She didn’t want to cry because they weren’t worth it. She had wasted too much time when she was younger crying over things they did; she was almost twenty two now and she wasn’t going to waste anymore time on them. But, even though Harper knew in the back of her mind that her parent’s would never change, she couldn’t help but think that it hurt so much that she couldn’t even depend on her own parents.