Hey Niki

When I was ten my mother sat me down and told me that my father had been killed in a road accident. He wasn't even forty. My mother sugar coated the words she used to explain what had happened, and for that I am grateful because at ten there was no way I would have been able to take in what had happened to him, in detail.

My mother never once spoke badly of my father, despite what had happened previously in my childhood, and put up pictures of him around the house for me. I suspected that she was never quite over him, no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, but I never voiced my thoughts.

I suppose that was why I was at the local bus stop right now. I didn't have many objections about having to wait here, but the fact that I was supposed to have been picked up a while ago made me dislike it right now.

"Niki!" a voice called. I looked up from my lap to see my uncle was heading towards me. A quick glance at my watch told me that he was two and a half hours late with getting here. I had been sitting on this bench for most of that time.

I stood up. "Hey, Uncle Dave." He hugged me and when he pulled away I picked up my bag.

"God, you've grown a lot, Niki," he noted and began walking. I followed after him.

"I last saw you at my father's funeral. It's been a few years since then." He made an uneasy face. It wasn't like it was his brother who was buried. He was my mother's older brother and he came mostly for support for my mother. I wouldn't doubt he came because he was upset by his death, though. I can remember that he and my father got along quite well whenever they saw each other.

I followed him to his car. It was the same car as he had when I last saw him. It didn't look that old, though, but then I assume he's had paint work done to the exterior so that it looks nice. I don't blame him.

The ride doesn't take too long and all too soon we're pulling up into the driveway of a house. The same house that my cousin has lived in for his entire life and the same one that my uncle and aunt have lived in for their married life. Almost twenty five years of marriage, if I can recall correctly. They got married when they were seventeen. I'm surprised they've lasted this long. It's sweet though that they've managed to look past every bump in their relationship in order to stay together. At times I used to wish my parents could have been like them, but then they can't have been happy together if they had to end it in a divorce. No matter whether they still loved each other or not.

We got out the car and I followed him up the drive with my bag in hand. He opened the door and I was almost knocked over by a big thing on hind legs. After the surprise had worn off I realised that a dog had jumped up on me. It wasn't here the last time I visited.

"Down boy! Down –Tomos, come get your dog!" my uncle called and few moments later my cousin came down the hall and towards us. He stopped when he saw me and I just smiled at him.

"Niki! Dad, you didn't tell me that Niki was coming."

"That's because it's a surprise. Now come get your dog down before I rethink my decision of keeping him." Tomos came and took the dog by its collar and led it into the kitchen, closing the door on it so that it was on the other side to us. He then joined us by the door again. "Now would you kindly show your cousin to her room? I would but my knee's playing up today." Tomos nodded.

"What happened to your knee?" I asked.

He waved it off. "Just a work accident. Anyway, you get settled in your room and then come down. Your Aunt should be back soon." I looked at my cousin and he just shrugged before starting up the stairs. I followed after him and I heard my uncle go into one of the rooms. I assume it's the sitting room but I could be wrong. Tomos continued down the hall and stopped at the end door. So I've got the back room. Not too shabby.

"I thought you were going to stay back there? So you were closer to your mum and stuff," Tomos said casually which made me shake my head with a little sigh.

"Carol found out what happened with my mum and said she didn't want to let me stay with her because obviously it runs in the family." Tomos shook his head. "Isn't it just funny how you find out these things at the one time you need someone?"

"That's out of order. No one knows why your mum did it," Tomos sympathised.

"Except me. I know why she did it." He nodded lightly and we just stood by the doorway for a while in an awkward silence. I didn't know whether I should go in the room or not because I'm the guest. I know that my uncle will say that I'm not a guest, that I'm part of the family, but I'll still feel like a guest for a while or so.

Tomos cleared his throat. "This is your last year of high school, right?" I nodded. "You can hang round with me and my friends if you want, Niki. Just for this year, seeing as you'll be new and everything to my school."

I laughed and shook my head slightly. "I'm fine, Tom. I don't need my cousin to make his friends be my friends."

"Some of them will want to be your friend because you're my cousin, Niki. That's just how they are."

"Wait . . . your friends don't know that I'm your cousin, right? Because you didn't know that I was coming in the first place," I started. He nodded. "Then they don't need to know that I'm your cousin. It is nice and all that they'd want to be my friend because I'm your cousin, but that's just, I don't know, weird to me." He laughed and I felt a bit better knowing that I didn't offend him. I was worried that I might have.

"Okay, I get what you mean. So we're not cousins at school? This'll be fun," he said and I smiled. "Anyway, you get settled in and everything then just come down. It's great having you here, Niki, even if it's not from the best circumstances." I nodded in agreement and he turned down the hall, leaving me standing in the doorway. I watched until he disappeared down the stairs and then I went into the room, closing the door quietly behind me.

The room wasn't too bad. A single bed with a bedspread draped on it was pushed up against the wall opposite the window. The window itself was low and looked to be level with someone's head if they sat on the bed. There was a set of drawers that were next to the window, and I assume them to be the place where I put all my clothes because I couldn't see a wardrobe. The final thing in the room was a desk that was at the end of the bed but not on the same wall. It had a chair tucked under it which I was happy about.

I put my bag on the bed and walked over to the window. The only view I had was of the back garden and the row of houses behind this one. I wasn't ready to live my life without my mother just yet, but I knew that I had to not dwell on what happened too much. Besides it was only a year I had to be here for. My only hope was that it would go by quickly.