August 17th, 2024

Hazel

Things have changed in the last 5 1/2 years. Elaina was almost 5 years old, Hazel had managed to move on with her life after it finally hit her. Frank wasn't coming back and all she could do was move forward. She began to focus more on her daughter and making sure she has as happy of life she could have even without a father figure in it.

She poked her head into Elaina's playroom where she was playing with the dollhouse she had gotten for her last birthday.

"Hey Elaina, want to go to the beach?"

Elaina looked up and beamed happily, "Yeah!" she cheered, scrambling to get up.

Hazel chuckled and held out her hand. "Well then let's get ready then."

Elaina grabbed her hand and they went into Elaina's room where Hazel helped her get dressed into her bathing suit. After that, Hazel went into her room to change into hers. Once she was done she pulled her curly hair into a loose ponytail. She called Elaina into her room so she could do her hair so it wouldn't get too sandy or hard to wash after the beach. She sat Elaina down on her bed and played a show onto the tv.

Elaina had inherited Frank's black hair and had Hazel's curls but more loose. She braided her hair into two dutch braids and then they were ready to go. She packed a small backpack with her phone, two reusable bottles, towels, and a few of Elaina's snacks. They got into the car and drove to the beach which was luckily only 15 minutes away from their house.

She parked the car and took Elaina out of her car seat. Hazel grabbed her sunglasses from the front seat of the car and they walked onto the beach, Elaina's hand holding on tightly to Hazel's. When they found a good spot near the ocean waves Hazel rolled out their towels onto the sand. She sat her backpack on the towel and took out her phone and then Hazel followed Elaina to the water. Hazel watched smiling, as her daughter played and jumped over the waves, her hand never leaving Hazel's.

They played on the beach building sand castles and playing in the waves until 6 and then they loaded everything up into their car and drove back home. Elaina took a bath and then went to play in her playroom while Hazel cooked dinner. She decided to keep it simple because it was already getting late and Elaina would be going to sleep soon so she decided to fix pasta.

One the food was finished she placed it on their kitchen table and called Elaina into the room. Hazel listened as Elaina rambled about what she did in preschool that day. After they were done eating, Hazel and Elaina went into Elaina's bedroom to read a bedtime story. Elaina climbed into her framed bed as Hazel got a book from her book shelf. She sat down on a bean bag chair next to her bed and started to read the book. Midway through the story she heard a small snore coming from her bed. She looked and saw Elaina sleeping peacefully. Hazel smiled and tucked her into the pale blue blankets. She placed the book back in the bookshelf, shut off the lights, and closed the door quietly. She sighed as the door closed and walked across the hall into her room.

It was wonderful to finally collapse onto her bed after a long day. She had a busy day at work, meetings left and right and then there was the promotion party for one of coworkers. Then she had to pick Elaina up from school and drive through the awful traffic. The beach was nice but it had been tiring to look after Elaina who would run off everywhere. She was both physically and mentally tired. Not to mention lonely.

Sure Nico would visit once every month but those days when he's not here it was just her and Elaina. To be honest, she missed her friends. Sure she had managed to move on from Frank but she wasn't ready to return. She was scared that all the feelings she had left behind would come catching up to her bringing her back to where she started.

Hazel buried her face into her pillow for a few seconds before getting up to take her shower.

She twisted the knob and water spewed out the faucet as steam filled the room. Once it was to her desired temperature she stepped into the shower. She relaxed as the hot water touched her skin and her mind began to wander. She contemplated the pros and cons of moving back to New Rome. She wanted to see all of her friends again but she was worried she would be reminded of Frank and all the good times they had together. Not to mention she didn't want to get Elaina involved with the crazy world that she used to live in. At least, not until she was much older.

When she was done getting ready she decided to go and straighten up Elaina's playroom. Normally Elaina would clean it but they had gone to the beach leaving little time for her to do so. Plus, Hazel had nothing better to do and she didn't feel like going to bed so might as well do something productive.

She crossed the hall and entered her playroom quietly given that Elaina's room was right next to her. She plugged her headphones into her phone and put on music to listen to as she cleaned up. She took a bin off of the cube shelf by the door and started to pick up the stuffed animals off the ground. Once all of them had been placed into the bin she placed it back onto the shelf. She made sure the curtains were closed on the window across from the shelf and then picked up the few dolls that were on the floor. After that, all that had to be done was to fix the blue rug in the center of the room. She shut off the lights once she was finished and went back to her room. She decided to call it a night and climbed into her bed, drifted off to sleep.