Yesterday You Threw Away Tomorrow

A rough hand began to furiously shake Gracie in her sleep. Having finally started to get a decent sleep and wanting to stay asleep, Gracie quickly pulled away from the hand and rolled over.

“Miss Garrison, the plane has landed.” An overly sweet voice penetrated her sleep filled haze.

Gracie pushed herself up as she opened her eyes. A blurry face peered at her through Gracie’s messy blue hair that was in disarray around her head. As she yawned she used her fingers to push her hair back, well, attempt to push her hair back.

“Thank you.” She tried to sound somewhat cheery, but was sure her voice only sounded groggy.

Not that it really mattered, the stewardess moved on to finish her job. Gracie stood up and stretched before reaching up and grabbing her backpack out of the overhead compartment.

Hopefully she hadn’t slept too long and would have enough time to clean up in the bathroom. If Aunt Maria sees me like this she’s going to freak. Not that she really remembered what Aunt Maria was like, it had been so long. Gracie walked into the terminal to see it was packed out the ass!

“Great” Gracie muttered to herself.

She had the hopes she would be able to bypass most of the crowd since she could skip the baggage claim. It helps when all you have is your one carry on. Gracie put her head down and began to work her way towards the bathroom. As she went she kept an eye for her Aunt Maria, hoping she wasn’t overlooking her.

One of her fears about flying to California was not recognizing her aunt and being stuck in the airport!

A bathroom sign finally came into sight and Gracie made a beeline straight for it. Once she got into the bathroom her reflection startled her a little bit. It was amazing no one had stopped her or gave her strange looks as she had made her way through the crowds. Then again, this was California. JWA was one of the busiest airports, so they must see a bunch of strange things.

The person staring back at Gracie isn’t the person who normally stared back. Instead a girl with a pale face, dull blue eyes and even fuller blue hair stared back at her. Her hair that was once so vibrant and full of life, same could be said about her eyes. The last few weeks she had really let herself go. She didn’t even want to imagine what her piercings really looked like since she hadn’t been cleaning them either.

Grumbling at how she needs to get her shit together, Gracie began rummaging through her bag in hopes of finding a hair brush. Make up wasn’t required so she pushed it aside. It seemed her bag had begun to eat the things she stored in it. Ah ha! There you are, you little bastard!

Gracie brushed the tangles from her hair, but it didn’t help it look any better. Ponytail it is! Gracie quickly put her hair up and made a note to take care of her hair sometime next week. It would need a new dye job as well as some deep conditioning.

“Alright, let’s go see Aunt Maria.” Gracie told herself, squaring her shoulders back once she was done.

Gracie grabbed her bag and headed back out into the airport. The crowds hadn’t seemed to die down. It was a madhouse in here! If only there was a way to find out where Aunt Maria was.

“Gracie Garrison! Is that you?! You’ve gotten so big!” A friendly looking face came rushing towards her.

Instantly Gracie knew this was her Aunt Maria, not much had changed in the years. As soon as Aunt Maria had reached her Gracie found herself pulled into a hug. Normally she didn’t like hugs, but Aunt Maria didn’t know her. That’s when it hit Gracie. She was going to be living with people who were basically strangers.

“It’s so nice to see you dear, last time I saw you, you were running around in a diaper and pigtails!” Aunt Maria smiled cheerfully.

It would be nice to see each other again if it wasn’t for the circumstances, but Gracie kept that thought to herself. She was living with the realization that her mother wasn’t coming back on a regular basis; it wasn’t right to make everyone else face the same reality. Aunt Maria finally pulled away, leaving her hands on Gracie’s shoulders while she looked her up and down.

“I’m so sorry about your mother. I wish I would have been there for the two of you.” Her voice broke a little towards the end.

Gracie knew she needed to say something, but for some reason the fact that her aunt acknowledged why Gracie was there hit home. The tears began to cloud her vision so she did the only thing that seemed to work anymore. Gracie glanced up at the ceiling and counted to five. Once she looked back down her vision was clear.

“Thank you Aunt Maria...Can we please get going? I’m really tired.” Gracie worked to gain some control over the conversation.

Aunt Maria nodded and let her hands fall. “Of course, you must be so tired. Jet lag, the whole time zone changing. The boys can’t wait to see you!”

Aunt Maria must be talking about Uncle James along with Zack and Matt. Hell, Gracie had never even seen her cousin Matt. All she had seen was photos when Aunt Maria mailed them Christmas cards. It always included a photo of her kids.

“Do we need to go get your stuff from baggage claims?” Aunt Maria asked.

Gracie shook her head, “No, this is all I brought with me. I figured I could take care of getting the other stuff I need later on.”

Despite the fact that she couldn’t live at home for the next few years, she wasn’t allowed to touch any of the assets, Mr. Newton had set her up with an allowance. It was going to be enough for her to handle her cost of living while staying with Aunt Maria and Uncle James. Now if only she could get through the next few years as quickly as possible and with little incident.

She already planned on applying at colleges in Florida once she graduates. There wasn’t a chance Gracie was staying in California once she turned eighteen.

It was time to start a new, hopefully short chapter in her life.