The One

Tired and Exhausted.

Those would be the two words I would use to describe my past few years. One might think traveling to new places and meeting new people is the one thing at the top of almost everybody's wish list, but it isn't on mine, or at least it isn't any more.

In the beginning it was fun, I was around 16 when me and my dad made our first move. I didn't know the reason at the time, nor did I feel the need to. At that age all that was going through my head was that we'd be moving to a new area, with a new house, a new room, new stores, and possibly new friends. I didn't think too much about the cons.

It hit me when we moved again. That's when I started to get confused. Why are we moving again? Was there something going on with dad's job? Are we having money issues?

No matter how many times I asked my dad if there was anything going on he would try to redirect the conversation or give vague simple answers. After learning about moving again for the 3rd time I snapped a bit. I felt so lost, I loved my dad, but I couldn't take it anymore. I remember that day I yelled and shouted for so long, angry and frustrated at him, I left the house giving him no time to give me a response. I left and walked around my, at the time, neighborhood and took some time to cool off. I came back to the house after a while with a clear mind, because I was going to get the truth out of him.

When I got back he was sitting on the couch in the living room with two mugs of tea. I sat down next to him and waited for him to speak.

"Grace, this wasn't how I pictured raising you and for that I am so sorry. The reason has something to do with your mother."

My mother...

I remember my mom I was still around 10 when she left so I do have many memories of our times together with just us and with dad included as well. She had both a kind and fiery personality. In some moments it seemed that mom wore the pants in our family.

It's been about 6 years since I had last seen or heard from her. She just one day up and left taking little with her.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why is she the reason we are constantly moving?" I had asked, practically begging for him to spill.

"I'm not able to tell you everything, but what I can tell you is that when your mother was young she and her family got mixed up in some bad things and it's been trailing behind them since. A while before your mother left us, she noticed that her past was coming up fast on her and in her mind what she thought was best was to lead them away from us, from you, so she went away. I can't tell you everything, at least not until you're just a bit older."

I didn't know what to say. I knew that I wasn't expecting this at all. This wasn't one of the few reasons that popped into my head when I first thought what the reasons could be.

"Grace...?"

"Give me a minute to take this in.", I said.

"Ok"

That night I asked him just a couple more questions before I retreated to my room for the rest of the day. I sat up in my room thinking about so much, the main questions was what or who were we running from?

I was around 18 when this happened, I thought I was grown up enough for anything but I guess my dad didn't think so for this problem. Which made me a little scared of what was out there...

"Grace...?"

I looked up and to the left where my dad was in the driver's seat driving us to our new location.

"Yeah dad?"

"We're almost there, are you hungry? We should probably pick something up or deliver in for dinner until we can get groceries."

"That's fine", I said, smiling gently at him. "I'm fine with whatever"

He quickly looks at me before smiling back at me, then returning to driving down the road.

We had made it to the welcome sign of Hartford, Connecticut. From what I knew of our new location, it would be in a nice area that was a good distance between all the shopping districts as well as my new college I transferred to.

I am a second year student majoring in Illustration and minoring with photography and creative writing. As a child being 'creative' was one of the key aspects that made me, me. I wanted to expand my knowledge and learn more about illustration and photography to be able to use it as a job when I'm grown.

My attention was grabbed away by the smell of chinese takeout, that was being lowered onto the ground behind my seat.

After driving a bit more, neighborhoods started to make themselves known. Another 3 minutes, my dad made a right into a neighborhood street then a left until we drove to the very end of the street. He stopped at the 2nd to last house, pulling into our new driveway.

We both unbuckled and got out, each standing by the doors of the car taking in our surroundings. My dad made the first move by opening the back seat and reaching in and grabbing our dinner for the evenings.

The sun was just about to set, so dad and I used the remaining light to hurry and bring in our few pieces of luggage. Hopefully within the next few days all the rest of our stuff will arrive.

Stepping inside of the new house, I felt some small jolt of energy and hope for our new location rather than my usual sluggishness.

"Grace", my dad called from the kitchen. " Come and eat a little bit, I'm gonna run out to the nearest convenience store to pick up some toilet paper and throw away silverware and plates."

"Ok, will do."

Stepping into the kitchen he was shoveling his food down his throat as fast as he could, probably because he didn't know when any of these places closed and he wanted to get there in time. After he finished what was in his takeout boxes he threw them into one of the takeout bags and labeled it as our garbage can.

I heard the door close after taking my first bite of dinner. I finished my portion a couple minutes later and threw my trash away. I went back to the front entrance hallway and started grabbing the 2 bags and box I could bring with me at the moment. I went past the kitchen and down a small hallway that had 3 doors.

The first door I opened was on the left side, it turned out to be the bathroom. The next door was placed halfway between the bathroom and what must be my dad's room at the end of the hall.

I opened the door and took in my surroundings. It was a nice decent sized bedroom, and thankfully the people were kind enough to set up the bare minimum set of furniture needed. I walked in further and let out a small gasp, in the corner of my room was a little nook area that had built-in shelves and a tall circular window. It was beautiful, I could put all my books up in this comfy area.

I started with my bags which were filled mostly with clothes and bathroom necessities, putting everything away in its respective places. Then I moved to my box which had my sentimental items, I didn't want to leave it in the hands of the people transporting our items. It was mostly pieces of my past I didn't want to forget or leave behind. I had around 3 thick photo albums that I added to whenever I could. I pulled out my camera and some picture frames and placed them on the dresser and bookshelves.

"Grace!"

I jumped a little, but recognized the voice to be dad. By the tone he probably needed me so I came out of my room and out to the dining room where I heard movement.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Grace, Happy Birthday to you!" My dad sang with the best of his abilities.

I smiled gently, slowly walking over to where he was at the table. He set the cake down in front of a seat that was next to me.

"Sit down and make a wish." my dad said excitedly.

Getting into place, I thought to myself 'I wish...I wish that we can finally stop moving, that we can settle and start new permanently.' Then I blew out the candles and smiled up at my dad who was taking a quick picture.

"Happy 20th Birthday Grace"

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A/N

Hello Inkitt readers this is my first ever time writing and creating a story! And let me just say it is so hard all the research im doing for my characters and their backgrounds are exhausting. But I have to remember that since my story is about werewolves not everything has to be accurate or real soooooo ya. So, please don't come after me if you are living in Connecticut or have and start nit picking my story saying that 'that's wrong' or 'thats not true'. This is my story and if I decide i'm gonna put a well known, popular university in Hartford imma smack it right down on the map. I'll put what I want in it. Also Hartford (my main characters city), from my research, it not the safest place but for my FICTIONAL story (lol) we are going to pretend that it is a nice and safe place😊.