Emerald Eyes

It was the usual nightmare I had. My Mother actually died in a car accident when I was four. It was a D.U.I. incident and by the time the car was upside down, my Mom lost her life that night. The memory was too traumatic for me.

All I remember after walking up from my unconsciousness was blue and white lights. I was extremely dizzy and could sense the potent smell of flamaldyhyde. I could feel myself wearing a patients’ gown and saw silver bars next to me. I knew where I was. My eyes cleared as they met with another pair of brown eyes. It was my father staring at me. His eyes were red from crying. I had never seen my Dad cry before. He shuddered as her gently stroked my hair with his hand.

“Daddy, where’s Mom?” I whispered.

My Dad took his hand away, “She’s couldn’t make it, sweetheart,” he breathed. I was too young to figure out what had happened. But I did have a concussion, and a sprained arm, along with some lacerations on some parts of my body. The rest of the year that time was a blur. I spent some time in the hospital before going home with a white cast. My Dad didn’t say a word anytime I asked him about my Mom. I only watched him packing the belongings of our house.

“Where are we going,” I asked. My Dad just eyed me from time to time. I tip-toed into by his bedroom door sometimes at night only to hear him crying by his bedside. I still had no idea what was going on. My Dad did tell me one morning that we were going on a special trip.

I naively believed him as we packed my room furniture into boxes. As Christmas approached, one morning I woke up and walked down the stairs. There were men dressed in white carrying all the boxes outside. I held onto my teddy bear and walked outside. I saw a huge truck, where the men were loading the boxes. Pretty our two-story yellow house in Santa Barbara was empty.

My Dad took one last look at our house before turning around and walking to our car. Behind it were two moving vans. Two men dressed in white nodded to my Dad as they entered each van in the drivers’ seat. He nodded back as he opened his car door. I followed him and sat in the backseat. Finally we drove off, leaving my birth town behind. It was a long drive. Sometimes I looked back to see a moving van following us. My Dad occasionally looked at me from the rearview mirror, with an expressionless face. I fell asleep after sometime. When I woke up, I looked out the car window and saw a shoreline of a beach. The area looked a lot more secluded and suburban. There were some people at the beach walking around and surfing.

“Dad, where are going?” I finally asked. I hadn’t spoken to him since we left.

“You’ll see,” he replied, glancing at the rearview mirror. We entered a gated neighborhood. I had never seen houses so big before. They were beautiful and amazing. I admired the neighborhood, but finally our car was slowly down. I looked out the car window, and saw a huge cream-colored house with palm trees at the sides. The roofs were brown. The figured this is what a mansion would look like.

“Dad?” I asked again. “Where’s Mom?” My Dad sighed and turned around to face me.

“She’s gone Ava,” he replied solemnly.

“Gone? Gone where?” I naively asked.

“She’s in a better place sweetheart, but Ava, this is where she wanted to live,” Dad said. I realized then and there, I was moving to Newport Beach.