User blog:High Prince Imrahil/Wiki Family Part 5 - The Departure

-NOTE FROM AUTHOR-

'Following Itallie's reaction on my previous work, I have decided to change the story to a first person narrative. While rather inconvenient, I hope it will further reinforce that this is from *Imrahil's* point of view, and is not objective. I hope Itallie will be satisfied with these changes, and if not, I apologize and promise to make further changes, as needed.'

It was dark as slowly drove my Camaro down the streets of the Columbus suburbs. I used to bike up and down those streets when I was younger, and knew them like the back of my hand. Soon, I was pulling in front of the house. The family house. My house.

I looked both ways for oncoming traffic, before sliding out of the car, and walking over to the trunk. Not much. Just a backpack and a small suitcase. The rest I had left in Asheville, and I'd send a U-haul for it later. I walked acrossed the moon-lit sidewalk, and up the stone steps.

Presently, I stepped on to the porch. It was had a wooden floor, with a stone half-wall wrapping around it. A single wooden porch swing sat to the right of the door. When I was little, we always used to pretend the porch was a castle, and assault it with nerf guns. Man, it was good to be back.

I decided not to ring the door bell, but I knocked lightly. It was something like 2:00 AM, but the living room had a window that opened out on the porch, and I could see a light was on. I could hear a slight bustle in the entry room, then the door opened. Blinking in the blinding light, I saw Euereka.

"Hey, Imrahil, it's good to see you BACK!"

"Good to see you t- is that a spine?!"

Eureka was forced out of the way by Edacnik and Ty who nearly threw me into the entry room.

"What are you doing here??" said Ed, grinning "You weren't supposed to move back for another week!"

"Well, I couldn't stand being away from home" I replied, walking through the short hallway into the kitchen

Pat was making a sandwich

"Well, if it isn't Imrahil!" said Patrick, hugging me "By Gror, we've missed you!"

"I've missed you too" I replied "And I've also missed peanut butter sandwiches... so if you wouldn't mind..."

"What's all this noise??" came dad's voice from the stairs

He soon walked into the kitchen and saw for himself

"Imrahil!" he exclaimed "How are you??"

"Good" I replied, grinning "But what about my room? Is it ready yet?"

"You know it!" replied Argali, coming in from the dinning room "I had had to clean it out a while ago, and Chaz helped. Dad had us get it ready ahead of time, just in case..."

"But Imrahil!" said dad "Where's Travian?"

The silence was deafening.

"Uh... dad..." I replied quietly "I'm afraid Trav isn't moving back."

"WHAT?!" everyone seemed to reply in unison

"He's joined up with The Marines" I replied, almost crying myself "He said that he wishes you all the best, but... he didn't want to say good-bye."

The joy seemed to dissipate at this news. There was a long silence.

"Well, I'd better get you to your room." said Ed, at last "It's the same place it was before."

A few minutes later, I was standing at the door to my old room. The beds were still in the same place. My bed on one side, and... Trav's in another.

"Yeah, we made up Travian's bed too" said Ed thickly "We assumed that... he'd be moving back, too."

"Yeah..." I said, nodding "So did I."

I collapsed into bed a few minutes later, and didn't awake until almost noon. When I did, I was swarmed by various relatives asking of my adventures in Asheville, North Carolina. It was a mostly light-hearted breakfast, and it was nearly an hour before I went back up to my room to unpack.

Then it hit me. A strange lonely feeling all the sudden. I just didn't know what to do without Trav. For so many years he had been my best friend, my confidant, my comrade. But now, I was alone in my room. There was nobody on the opposite bed who would trade friendly banter, and repeat funny lines from the earlier breakfast. I thought moving back would help me deal with Trav's departure, that's why I had moved back early. But I think it only worsened it... And trying to patch things up with the family would be nigh impossible without his sage advice and cool objectivity. With I sigh, I collapsed on my bed. Things were looking terrible and looking great, all at the same time.