I think I might have.
Raven whispered in my ear, “Gaining your new life is going to cost you your old. That’s why this hurts so bad, babe.” She hugged me like she knew what I was going through. When I looked at her, she started crying too, and we both just sobbed with each other. When we started to calm down, she drew a warm bath and left to call room service. It was getting late and she didn’t want to piss them off as they try to close the kitchen.
Undressing, I slowly got into the bath. I just laid there in the warm water as I replayed the events from the day over and over again in my mind. I replayed moments of my relationship that now made more sense, and I saw the red flags waving at me.
Right in my face.
I knew I needed to leave. I knew I needed to start over. Holding my breath, I slipped under the water and screamed out all the pain, until I needed to come up for air. I felt a little better.
Angry.
And ready.
Let’s do this.
T W O: Making Calls
Stormi’s POV
It had been a week. From absolute liberating hell. It was the weirdest I had felt in a while. I had been driving across the country, checking in with Raven and Emily, every time I stopped. Emily had been an absolute godsend, stepping into the role of Mom so effortlessly, like she had always been my mom. I called her the night everything happened with the traitors and told her I needed to be fully remote, or transferred to a branch of the company across the country. She said I was up for a promotion anyway and gave it to me since no one else was in the running. Luckily, it was a position that could be fully remote. Web designing was great like that! There might be some meetings, but I could always fly in for those. Emily was willing to work with me because ‘losing a wonderful and talented person like you would only hurt us. I’m also not one to let the competition have the upper hand if I can help it. Plus, I’ve been following your work for the last eight years.’
Did I mention what a godsend she was?
I was almost to the state of Washington. I had driven from my cozy little coastal hometown in North Carolina across the country to the state of Washington. I was not stopping until I hit the Pacific Ocean. I had been in the Atlantic, but I wanted to know what the Pacific felt like.
I had enough in savings to buy some land and put a tiny home on it. I didn’t need a big house or apartment when it was just me. I would need to find something temporary, something for now. It was spring, but it was still cold out. Maybe I would rent a cabin or a room at a motel near the coast. I had been traveling and exploring like I had always dreamed of when I was a kid, planning different routes I could take so I could see all thethings I wanted. Thankfully, being a nerd and the ‘weird one’ at school allowed me time to work on my web design from an early age. I was self-taught in most of it, but I did excel when I went for it as my major. I’d been working and making money, though, since I was fourteen.
Grandma helped me open up my checking account, keeping all the information about it at her house for safekeeping. She knew. She could see how Mom and Dad disliked me. I didn’t think she could have imagined it to be atthis levelwhen she passed two years ago, but I’m so thankful she loved me and helped me better myself.
I’d be screwed if I’d waited to start working like most kids.
Pulling into a little motel that looked like something out of the sixties, with bright yellow paint on the building, with loud, cartoonish flowers painted over the top. I parked, loving the vibe of the place already, and went into the little lobby, asking for a room that was on the first floor, but closest to the office. The older lady handed me a key and told me it was number nine.
“Go out and make a right. It’s right next door.” She gave me a nod, her thumb hooked out like a hitch-hiker's as she pointed to the room next door. I pulled out my little duffle that has my few days’ worth of clothes in it. I had been washing them as soon as I stopped somewhere, so I didn’t have to try to unpack everything every time I stopped. Though I was thinking this was it. I thought this was where I was landing and putting down roots. It was somewhere no one would even think to look for me. I started lugging all of my luggage into the small room with two beds, a small table, chairs, and a shower that had a slow drip.
Pulling my last bag in, I yanked open the curtains and set up my laptop on the table just as the skies opened and adownpour came. It felt cleansing somehow. Like this was where I was meant to be, and this was making me somehow less…bitter? Angry? Hurt? Just less for now? That’s what I was going with. I couldn’t get too deep in the feels yet. I had to take a few steps before going into my emotions too deeply.
Last time was a disaster.
Logging into my hotspot, I searched for any smaller homes for sale, and three caught my eye. One was an actual tiny home, but it was on wheels. I would check it out, but it was last on the list. Then there was an A-frame that I loved. Maybe add a patio on top where the loft was. If you didn’t count the loft as a bedroom, it was a one-bedroom. I could totally use that lost space, once remodeled and updated, as an office space. A huge glass door would overlook a forest and a river about a mile from the house, which was visible from where it sat on the property, according to the photos attached. The last house that caught my eye was a cabin. Two-bedroom, one stand-up shower room, because there was no bathtub.
Oof.
Thatmightmove this one to dead last. I need a tub.
Okay. Time to make some calls.
Let’s do this.
T H R E E: Publishing
Stormi’s POV
It had been almost a month since I left and ghosted my whole family, and about two weeks, a little more, since I put in an offer on the A-frame after checking that Icould, in fact,renovate and add the porch onto the loft area. We had a host of people coming out to look at the house, to make sure that it could happen. A reputable construction crew and getting an inspector to come to inspect the home were the first things I needed to find after we toured the home. I asked the older lady who worked at the motel which crew and inspector she liked best. So, I called them. They said yes, so the next call was to zoning to make sure it wouldn’t be an issue for any reason.
Once zoning was approved for the upstairs porch, which took another week and a half, I checked about adding solar panels too. They said because it was so cloudy here, it might not work, and I might want to keep the electric company on as a backup, so I scrapped that idea. I would stick with the electric company. If the weather improved for more than a few months, I would invest in solar. Not right now, though.
I put in a cash offer on the house, and the seller accepted almost right away. Once the offer was accepted and the keys were in my hands, as of yesterday at eight in the morning they were, I called everyone to go ahead and start on the construction. It shouldn’t take long at all. A week, to possibly two weeks tops. Then I could start working in total peace. Unlike the motel I was staying at. Not that I didn’t work well here, but the walls areverythin, and let us just say that…some of the things I’ve heard will give me nightmares for the rest of my life.
