“I hate you mom! I hate you all! I hate this family, I wish you would all disappear from my life! I wish I had a different family!”
. . .
There was no sound of birds chirping yet, the rays of sun weren’t breaking through my curtains like they do every morning. My arm ached in discomfort and felt overly heavy as I lifted it to reach over to grab my phone. “5:57. Wow, still pretty early.” My glasses sat next to my alarm clock. Using full strength I sat up on my bed, needles stabbing against my skin, the pain was spreading throughout my body.

I took my bathrobe and walked outside into the hallway. The hall was bright and the tall walls were empty. Our family pictures are gone. What is going on? I knocked on Catherine’s door but there was response, I didn’t expect her to open her door since she was always the first one out of the house every morning. I peeked an eye into mom and dad’s room, their bed was still unmade; her bed was always done by this time. I made my way downstairs, the pine garland that rested on the railing illuminated the house with its scent. “Good Morning,” my voice broke through the ticking clock. Did everyone have something to do today this early or did they leave with the intention on avoiding me? Yeah, they most likely didn’t want to talk to me after last night; it was a pretty harsh argument. . I made myself breakfast and went back upstairs to get ready for school.
I came back home around 4pm to find no one home again. I tried calling their phone but I was sent straight to voicemail. Very funny, after last nights argument they think they can just try to scare me and make me feel bad for what I said. I threw my phone on the couch as I laughed and layed down ready to enjoy a couple of movies. They’d be home in no time.

My phone went of with the sound of the alarm the next morning, “Hello?” I slowly got up, my voice softly gleaming through the silence. Once again it’s just me, myself, and I. The floor creaked with every footstep, everything was just the way it had been the day before. No one came home last night. Debating whether I should call the cops or wait, I decided to wait because they’d only tell me that I they couldn’t do anything about it until 72 hours have passed.

I prepared myself for the long day I would have volunteering at the community centers holiday event, I would volunteer every year along with my mom and sister. There was no easy way of walking through so many people, hundreds of people filled the room. Laughter filled the room, families all around enjoying the tons of different activities to choose from like they would at a festival. Wondering my eyes around searching for people I knew, most specifically my mom. Something caught my eye at the face paint booth. Is that her? I ran towards the crowd, pushing people out of my way.

“Mom! There you are where have you been? I’ve been trying to locate you and dad, no one is home and Jalen didn’t come home from school yesterday and I haven’t heard back from anyone. I’m sorry for yesterday's argument, but you really need to come home now,” I stuttered grabbing her from her shoulder and turning her around.

“Oh, sorry little boy, I think you have the wrong person. Do you need help looking for your mother?”

“What? Mom, what are you talking about, it’s me, Mikey. Stop playing around like that.”

“I’m not sure why you’re calling me mom, little boy, are you alright?” Her eyebrows furrowed at me then turned up, eyes darting around the room as if she was looking for someone.

“Mom, there you are. We’re going to be late to our booth, let’s go.”

“Catherine! You remember me right? Please tell mom to stop messing with me.”

“Mom, who is this kid? How does he know my name?” she furrowed her eyebrows turning to face mom, “You know what? I don’t really care, let’s go,” she grabs mom hand as if she was about to take her away.

“Wait. You don’t remember me? What happened to you guys? Did you hit your head mom is that what’s going on here? You too, Catherine, what happened to you?” I tried faking a smile, but in reality I was worried about them. What happened to them? Why don’t they remember me?

“Oh no, no one hit their head here but you little boy. Now hurry on and go find that mother of yours, she must be worried sick,” she grabbed me from my shoulders softly and pushed me back into the crowd. I didn’t turn back around to look at her, with my head facing down, I continued walking. I’m ashamed of myself for causing this problem, they’ve left me and it’s all my fault.
. . .

I hadn’t been in here in years. Dad stopped taking me to his “Take your kids to work day” events a long time ago, he thought I was too old for them now. The floor shined with the rays of sun like a brand new penny, the sunlight breaking through the glass windows that filled up the entire building.

“Hey, Mitchel, can I go inside and see my dad?”

She gave me the most confused face I’ve seen in my life, “I’m sorry, who are you looking for?”

“My dad, Dave?”

“Mr. Dave doesn’t have any kids, little boy, who are you?” Excuse me, no kids? I’m right here.

I tried to keep calm. “I’m Dave’s son? Mickey, Jessica’s son. Remember me?”

“I’m sorry, Mickey, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave or I’ll have to call security.”

Oh no, I can't get in trouble now, I have no one to help me out. “Alright, thanks, Mitchel, but can you please let him know that I came to look for him and it’s important,” I look down at the floor before continuing, “and I really wish he’d come back home. I miss our family being together.” I really did miss our family being together, I never wanted things to get to this point.
. . .
Dinner was served on the kitchen table, only one plate; just for me. Gazing around the kitchen I remembered all the fun memories we had in here, in this house. I’ve never felt this lonely. And now it’s all gone. They’ve all forgotten who I am and it won’t ever go back to how it was. I’ve lost what’s most important to be and I possibly won’t ever get them back. I can’t blame anyone but myself for this, I never think before speaking and now here I am with no one by my side, I’m all alone. I never meant it when I wished the would all disappear; for they were my family, they cared and loved me. But now I have no one by my side, I’m all alone. They don’t remember who I am, but I’ll always remember them, all the fun memories we lived together and I will always cherish them, hoping they’ll remember me again one day so we can go back to being the family we were.