"Get in the car."
"But I don't want to go," I sniffled out the words. My tiny hand tried to tug free of mommy's hold to dart back to our little house.
"This is for the best, come on, you like to visit Auntie Felicity."
"What about daddy?" My foot stomped on the gravel.
"Oh sweetie, he needs to stay, so he can go to work, hurry up now, or we'll miss our plane." Her voice was not as harsh as it had been.
I turned my face back toward our seaside cottage, the front door still ajar. My cat Marbles rolled in the fresh-cut grass. She was brave; mommy and daddy's mean words didn't scare her. At breakfast, they screamed at one another, the yelling still fresh in my mind. Marbles darted out when Mommy threw the dishes at the wall and I wanted to run outside to hide with my kitty.
"Noooo Daddy has to go to New York with us, please, oh please."
"Not this time honey," she said as she tossed two suitcases in the back of our family sedan.
She picked me up and set me into the back seat. Mommy pulled the safety belt over me and clicked it into place. She put Mr. Cuddles on my lap. I scooped the teddy bear into my arms and squeezed him tight. I rubbed the wet streaks off my face on his soft brown body.
"It's going to be fine sweetheart, you'll see." She told me as she shut the door.
Daddy yelled out my name from the house and I pushed my body up to peer out the window. He raced down the unpaved lane towards us as the car roared and ripped out onto the country road. I peered from the window and watched him grow smaller and smaller.
The trees whipped by in a blur, I never saw them go by so fast before. It was scary and I didn't like it. All I wanted was my daddy and I started to sob out pleas for mommy to take me home.
"We can't sweetheart, we will miss our flight." She turned to reach out a hand to my face.
The world turned upside down as the car screamed as did mommy. Sharp red-stained diamonds rained over me as I screamed too.