The Move

It was a Sunday afternoon after church, and River, her mum and grandfather were all gathered together at the small town's one and only coffee shop. They did this every Sunday, but this time it was a little different, River noted. Partially to do with what was coming, but also partially to do with-

"Where on earth are those coffees??" Alice muttered.

-with that.

But River understood her mum's frustration. This was a small town after all, barely anyone came, so they usually had quick service, but today was different. There were a lot of tourists pouring in, the doorbell hadn't stopped ringing for a good hour now as people kept coming in and ordering, chitchat was actually filling the place, which was unusual, but I guess getting advertised by a random Instagram influencer that happened to come through and think they were adorable enough the other week had its perks. It was good - this place needed some attention.

She was still gonna escape, but at least the town would hopefully have some life finally be forced into its rotting wooden lungs.

Before she could remind her mother of these such events, their coffees were brought over with profuse apologies for the tardiness. Alice gave them a big, strained smile before handing the coffees to Charles and River and then letting out a big sigh. "Why must I have such short sentences?" Alice grumbled before taking a big slurp of her coffee.

"Because you're the second character, Mum, it's what comes with it this time, like Grandpa is the first so he only has three words at any one time max," River explained. "At least you get more words than Grandpa...though I suppose since I get to say the most, I should shut up..." River trailed off with that humbling thought and wrapped her hands around her cappuccino, quietly letting out a content sigh as the warmth from the drink started to spread to her hands.

Alice shook her head. "Exactly, too many words, River," she remarked pointedly. Yes, thanks for repeating what I was just saying, River thought before hearing Charles cough.

"Must be nice," he butted in with a wheezing exhale, slowly looking at both Alice and River. Alice gave River a 'See what I just said?' look, seemingly deliberately ignoring the fact that Charles was also talking to her.

River just rolled her eyes. Really?? "Alright, let's just not be so sore, it's not even the author's fault, they're following instructions! Plus, remember I'm moving to another city next week, this is gonna be our last chance to hang out like this cause of being so busy with the final preps, lets not be grumpy about word counts on our last proper hang out, okay?"

Charles sighed and gave her an apologetic look, and so did Alice. They both muttered apologies and turned their attention back to their drinks. Good, River thought.

"You got everything ready for the move?" Alice suddenly asked as she took another sip of her coffee, which made River think about hers and also think about the fact that she hadn't actually drank any of her own yet. Picking up her coffee, River took a llllooonnnggg sip, partially to make up for not having touched it yet, but also mostly to avoid answering the question cause she didn't want to move...okay, she did, she wanted to get the fudge out of this place cause it was so small and the neighbourhood culture was...creepy, and enabled by her family who didn't understand how bad it was, but!!!!! Now that it was actually happening, she did feel some sort of sadness cause despite how much it was the right decision to move, she had also grown up here, known these people all her life, there was naturally some small amount of sadness to be leaving that behind, especially since she was planning on cutting ties with them and this whole town in general, though she didn't have the guts to let them know that before she did, so-

"River!!" Charles prodded, startling her out of her crisis. He was never fond of people taking their sweet old time answering questions.

Putting her drink down and giving an apology, River shot him a look before turning to answer her mother. "Yes, I've gotten everything organised for the move, accommodation, transfers for a new diabetic care team, my work transfers are sorted so I'll be having a job once I'm moved - everything is sorted." She reached over and gently laced her fingers over her mothers' and gave her her best falsely reassuring smile. "I'll be okay, promise, the city's only an hour and a half away and I'm planning to visit on weekends whenever possible, I'm not abandoning you guys."

Each lie left an even more acidic taste in her mouth, but it was the safest option considering this family and this town and all the past there. But still, it was also her mother, her grandfather, her family she was lying to.

Hmm...

Alice took a sigh as tears seemed to start swelling up in her eyes before embracing River as tightly as she could, which took River by surprise. "Oh honey, I'm gonna miss you," she let out in a seemingly sad sigh.

Before River could think of a reply, she felt a tap on her shoulder and looking over without letting go of Alice, River saw Charles leaning over the table and looking at her with an almost...anxious? paranoid? look in his eyes. "You'll message yeah?" he asked.

Huh...this was weird...she didn't let them go, just gave some vague reassurance. Again, she hated lying, but she definitely wasn't going to be keeping in touch. Not a chance.