Alis stares at the radiating sun reflecting on the kitchen counter as though infatuated from it. She has been chewing the same bite of pastry for the last 5 minutes now and I wonder if she's even chewing anything at this point. There's something memorising of seeing her in a completely different planet. She looks looks content now unlike she was two nights ago. The movies and popcorn served for a good distraction and I'm hoping we continue to have fun together.
My contemplating is broken off by a familiar clatter of keys and figure pushing the door open and waving our way.
"Morning girls!" says my dad with an enthusiasm that he has lacked for a long time now.
"Sound like you bear good news", I say mirroring his smile.
"Yes, yes. A buyer is coming to visit the house and you will be showing them around. If everything goes well it will also help with our current financial situation" he say clasping his hands together at the end.
My heart drops, I'm not ready to depart from the memories in these walls but I do understand that we can't afford such a big house for just the two of us anymore. "That does sound like good news, I'd love to get to know the possibile future owner of the house...." I say now starting to force a smile.
"Good, her name is Mrs Morrison she's coming on behalf of the husband. She's lovely you will definitely like her... Now I better get back to work in my office, she will be arriving this afternoon at 4"
My dad gives me a kiss on the forehead and waves at Alis goodbye and disappears once again from sight as he approaches his office.
"I mean what better way to spend this Sunday morning than cleaning the house?" says Alis sarcasticly.
"I can think a few... C'mon hurry up eating and we can get cleaning movie style with loud music and horrible singing", I giggle.
After a few hours cleaning up the place we are done and it looks amazing.
"Woah! We did a good job!" exclaims excitedly Alis giving me a high five.
"You bet, we still have some time before the buyer gets here, I could walk you home or something so you don't have to deal with the awkward interaction that will follow..."
Alis scrunches her nose a little before nodding and running upstairs to grab her stuff.
"Thank you", she says in a moment of silence a few minutes after we have left the house, "really i needed that distraction and I'm very grateful".
I smile back and hug her tight, "That's what friends are here for."
Then the conversation switches completely and we start talking about sci-fi movies and and survival stuff. It's such a nice feeling having the old Alis back in a way. I know nothing is fixed but at least I can cheer her up.
°°°
Later that afternoon my spiral of anxious thoughts is brought to a slower rate as soon as I hear the bell ringing. I quickly stand up from the couch and make my way towards the door to welcome the lady.
"Good afternoon, I'm Mrs Morrison. I made an appointment to see the house..." I see what my dad meant by lovely. She radiates such a calm energy I can't help but geniunly smile back and invite her inside.
I show her around the house and she seems really happy with the house and I'm ready to call the tour over until she points at a room.
"And what room is that one there?"
"Nothing special, just my mum's old room, before she passed away..." I say holding back the tears, trying to brush off the subject with a casual voice.
"I'm sorry for your loss. My son lost his mum too when he was young... He never really got to know her though before my husband hasd his custody. He's about your age you know...." she says with a higher pitch at the end to try and change the mood of the conversation.
"What made you consider this house? There are many in sale at the moment." I ask without much thought.
"My husband chose it, he said he him brought back some memories." she concludes with beam, "Alright, I will have a chat with my husband and finalise the details and I will let your dad know my final answer, okay?"
I nod in response and walk her to the exit. Right now I'm filled with mixed feelings, part of me understands the financial help selling the house will bring but the less rational side of me only sees that all the momories will both literally and emotionally lost once we move out.
I heave a deep sigh of relief as I dump myself on the couch again. It's still relatively early afternoon and there's so much I could get done now but I have no energies at the moment. Alis is back at hers now and I wonder how she's doing. It's tough to be mixed in a situation like that, she is so strong to be dealing with all of it alone.
I grab my phone and notice a missed call from Josh.
'Since when does he call?' I think as I make way to call him back. He picks up after a few rings saying: "Hey! How are you doing I know Alis came to visit you yesterday. Everything okay?"
"Yes, at least I hope, just some stuff at home but things will get better eventually"
"Okay good, anyways I'm meeting up with some friends in an hour, you could come with and meet some new people perhaps?"
I know exactly what he's doing. He's trying to get me to socialise a bit more and I do quite appreciate that. So far Josh and Alis are my only friends and going out would be good. But I'm scared as I'm not the best at socialising, but at least I won't be alone - Josh is there too.
"Okay... I'm considering... Okay-okay, see you in an hour" I say and then rush upstairs to get ready.