Forgotten Flower

The leather of the seat stuck to Aprils back despite the fact that the air conditioning was on full blast. Her brother was leaning against the window, legs dangling in front of her face. Green, with the occasional blur of a building raced by, making it so that when she closed her eyes, she saw nothing but a blur of greenish white before her eyes adjusted once more.

“Lava, move your feet,” she finally demanded, pushing the smelly socks away from her face. The car was already hot and stuffy enough without him shoving his feet up her nostrils. He didn't budge. With a swift punch to his arm, his legs finally fell back to where they belonged, though it brought on a small fight to break out among the backseat of the car.

“Moonbeams!” The shrill and almost startling voice of their mother momentarily stopped the squabbling, causing both of their heads to turn to the front of the Toyota, the nickname causing both of them to turn. They both loathed it. It was embarrassing, especially when it was called in front of throngs of their peers on days their mother would pick them up from school. Moonbeams! The mother-ship has arrived! But no matter how many times they protested and begged their mother to stop using her strange ways of speech, she refused. Their father wasn't much help either. He would just peek his glasses over the tip of his newspaper and raise his thin eyebrows, nodding along with whatever their mother said. Thus, the nickname had stuck.

“She started it.” Lava was the first to retort, sticking his finger into her side, causing her to shriek for a moment.

“I did not!”

“I don't care who started it. I finished it!”

With her mothers final words, silence fell over the car and the two settled for ignoring each other once more. This was a common occurrence in the Tyde family. A fight would ensue between April and her brother Lava, only for it to be broken up instantly by their mother, Florence. There were no physical boundaries either. It didn't matter if they were in the middle of a movie theatre. If Lava annoyed her, April would react. Calmly at first, before unleashing her anger. Both of the children had grown used to being stared at. They had never been quite... normal. Their parents were, for lack of a better term, considered to be hippies. Using words like moonbeams and groovy, they looked like they had just stepped out of the seventies. Though they had long abandoned their bell-bottom jeans and hair that was sky high, the mellow nature had never quite left. This fact explained the two Tyde siblings and their slightly unusual name. Luckily, April had been blessed with a more common name, while her brother had been mercilessly named after the hot molten substance that could be found in volcanoes. She could remember the time when kids at school used to think her brothers name was the coolest thing. Every year, kids would fawn over his unusual and almost super-hero like name. But everything had changed.

Lava was now fifteen, right in the middle of junior high and no-one thought his name was cool anymore. It was different. And high school doesn't like different. April could almost remember the look on her mothers face when Lava had screamed at her after his first day of Grade 9. My name isn't Lava! It's David!

And as for April, she had figured out quickly how to blend into the crowd. Baggy sweaters and boring jeans. The only slightly unique thing about her, aside from her name, was her luminescent black hair. In a way, it seemed to glisten likw stars were captured inside her strands. Most of the time, she hated her complexion and how it was utterly different from her entire family. Both her mother and father had light, but not quite pale complexions and rich, dark brown hair. Her brother included.

Thoughts of her families skin tone and hair colour were interrupted, the sudden change in scenery and speed of the car indicating that they had reached their destination. The airport. For the first time since she had gotten the letter from her friend Cassandra, alerting her that it was a go for her to visit over the Summer, April felt apprehension creep up the back of her spine. She had never even set foot outside of America, let alone hop on a plane and fly across the ocean to Europe. It didn't help that she had watched a thrilling movie last night about an infestation of snakes that took over a plane.

“Ready, pumpkin?” The car had stopped now and the Tyde family all ambled out, April moving slower than the rest of them. From the back of their messy van, she grabbed her luggage and hauled it onto the pavement beneath her feet. Suddenly, her dad appeared beside her, hair messy as always. From this close, she could see the salt and pepper strands beginning to overtake the rest of the dark brown.

“Yeah.” She finally responded as they began to walk towards the mechanical doors. Her brother lagged behind, his walk a slow and almost angst-filled kind of trod. He had been going through this phase where he was too cool for everything else in his life. April was sure she had gone through the same thing, but thankfully, after almost eighteen years, she had managed to grow out of it.

“I can't believe your leaving us. All the way to Europe! Gosh. I've always wanted to go to Europe... We should go to Europe, shouldn't we, Ben?” The whole time they walked to the the gate, her mother raved about wanting to visit Ireland or any other country across the sea. It was comforting in a way, to hear her parents talking like normal. As if she weren't about to disappear for two odd months. After going through the first set of customs, they paused in the middle, so goodbyes could be said. The same apprehension that April had first felt came rushing back, making her head swim for a moment. She felt her mothers arms around her, followed by her father, the two of them encasing her in a giant hug. Her brother stood off to the side, looking like he might puke if they tried to embarrass him by pulling him into this display of family affection. As they broke away, April gave them both a slightly teary smile. In a way, it felt over dramatic, considering the fact that it wasn't as if she would never see them again.

But they way they fit perfectly together – both of them looking like they were destined to be married and live together for the rest of their lives – gave her some comfort. The salt and pepper that was slowly creeping into their hair. The slight wrinkles near their eyes and mouths. It was all so close, yet would soon be far away.

“I love you guys,” she said, not caring if it sounded sappy. It was true. But before the moment could get too ridiculously sappy, she half-tackled her brother in a hug, the two of them almost falling over with the force. April let him go quickly, though, not wanting to receive a swift punch to the arm.

“See you later, Dave.” She used his nickname, respecting his wish to never be called Lava again. There was a brief moment where he was her younger brother again. All missing teeth and sticky hands and total adoration. But it was masked by the strange teenage mask he had figured out how to wear.

“Bye.” It wasn't necessarily a dramatic speech, but it was good enough for her.

With a final wave, she bid goodbye to the craziness that she called her family and stepped through a door, labelled with big bold letters – SECURITY.

For it being her first time boarding a plane, April thought she was fairly calm and collected. Aside from feeling a bit unsure as she sat in her assigned seat, tightly buckling her seat belt like the flight attendant showed, standing at the front of the plane with her perfectly pulled back hair. There was no one sitting beside her yet and despite not really liking the thought of spending a nine hour flight alone, she was grateful. Small talk wasn't necessarily her thing.

Despite her nerves feeling like they were a live wire, sparks flying with every new movement, her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. Though she had wanted to stay awake long enough to see the plane flying through the clouds, she drifted off just as the plane lifted from the ground.

April was jarred awake by the plane's landing, momentarily forgetting where she was. The unfamiliar surroundings confused her, certainly not something she was used to. But the tight brunette bun that the flight attendant had scraped her hair into passed by and she remembered. She was on a plane. And... it was landing in Ireland. Yes, that made more sense than being abducted by aliens or something that she had watched on one of those crappy day time television shows. As everyone else around her was beginning to stand up, she followed suit, grabbing all of her things and slowly proceeding into the waiting area of the airport. It had been quite awhile since she had actually seen Cassandra, aside from a few pictures that had been emailed to her. But for the most part, she assumed that she would still be the just as awkward, tall and lanky girl who used to eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches during Grade Three lunches. In Grade Six, Cass had moved back to Ireland but the two of them had kept contact the entire time.

So she stood, clutching her bag tightly as her backpack weighed heavily on her shoulders. She wasn't sure how much she needed to bring, to survive two months across the sea, so she had crammed as much as she could manage into her carry-on bags and practically filled her suitcase to the brim. Her arms already hurt when she thought about having to drag that monstrosity across the pavement soon. But for now, she was more concerned with trying to find the familiar head of wild ginger hair that she remembered so well. But before her eyes had even made a full circle, she felt someone hug her from behind.

“Apriiiil!” Someone squealed, arms crushing her in a giant hug. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to think, mostly considering that her face was now being drown in her own hair and the other persons. As she was released, April turned, taking in the perpetrator. At first glance, she couldn't even recognize Cassandra. Her previously beautiful red hair had been dyed a deep blond – one that made her pale skin stand out amongst the freckles that peppered her cheeks. There was no more awkward, slightly eccentric teenage girl standing in front of her. It was like Cassandra had been tossed into a fashion magazine and puked back out, into some runway model replica.

“Cass!” April realized that she hadn't said anything for a few moments and hoped that it sounded genuine, though to her, it simply sounded flat. “You look... so different! In a good way, obviously. I just, er, wow.” She hoped her amazement wasn't taken the wrong way, just in case Cass's laid-back personality had suddenly changed as well.

It seemed perfectly fine with Cass, though, because she just ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. “I know, right? I think we should do something with your hair! Something blond would be nice, don't you think? Have you even ever dyed it?” Questions were bombarded at her before she could even answer them. Thankfully, she was saved by the appearance of Cassandra's parents. April felt a bit of relief when she saw them. At least they looked as she had remembered. The Nolans were a fairly normal set of parents. Though, April really couldn't judge, considering the example of parenting that she had to go off of. Her parents were less than normal. But, as far as she could tell, Marie and Kendall Nolan had good heads on their shoulders.

“Hello, April!” They greeted her, smiles and familiar calmness about them. She moved to give them a hug, the faintest scent of bread greeting her. She had always remembered the two smelling like baking. It was what they did, after all.

“Hello. It's been so long since I've seen everyone...” At least her tone had lifted now, not sounding like the disappointed mumble that it had been before.

“It sure has,” Mr. Nolan agreed, his usual jovial grin placed on his face. He was a slightly round man, with red cheeks and a constantly friendly expression. He wore half-moon spectacles, which always reminded April of some kind of wizard that she used to read about in children books. “We should get a move on and grab your suitcase though,” he suggested, hand finding Mrs. Nolan's as they turned, knowing the two would follow.

Immediately, Cassandra was back to talking about how they could spice up April's appearance. “I mean, I know you've got that whole... hippie chic thing going on, but I think that we could get a little more chic, instead of hippie. Just because your mom looks like she stepped out of the seventies, doesn't mean you have to, right? Maybe a little hair dye and some makeup? It would do wonders!”

Cass kept talking but already April had tuned her out. This wasn't the Cassandra that she had known for nine years of her life. She was completely different... the kind of girl they used to roll their eyes at and talk about how they would never want to be like. She kind of felt like she had fallen asleep on the plane and had been transported into some strange dimension where everything was backwards. Except Cass's parents weren't any different and April felt just fine... It was just Cassandra who had changed.