Her Happy Ending

Regan is suddenly awoken by what feels like a million bells going off at the same time. Feeling a pang of anxiety, as if she realized she’d forgotten to do something important; she rolls over and turns off her alarm. Hitting it a couple times before the alarm finally turns off; she lets out a groan; making it clear to her whole neighbourhood that she’s up and not impressed. She slowly gets out of bed and gets herself ready to start the day.

While waiting for her coffee to brew, Regan decides to tidy the kitchen before she heads to school, it’s been overtaken by the many beer bottles and dirty plates her mom has left out. Feeling frustrated with the mess she slams the last couple of plates in the sink. A few moments later her mom, Gabi, comes out of her room. Still rubbing her eyes, she goes and sits on the couch. “You realize that I don’t need to be up right now” she starts to grind up her weed. Regan pours her coffee into her mug and turns around to face her mom “Yeah well this place was a mess and needed to be cleaned Gabi” She takes a sip, “God would you just call me mom like every normal kid does.” She packs her bowl and takes a hit. Regan watches her do so, she grabs her bag and walks to the front door, she mutters under her breath “Well we’re not a normal family” then walks out. She grabs her skateboard and skates down the street, she spots her mailman at her neighbours house “Hey Tommy! Any mail for me this week?” Tommy turns around and smiles “Yeah you want it now?” Regan keeps skating but hollers back to him, “I’m running late I’ll see it after school!” she waves goodbye.

Regan puts her skateboard and backpack in her locker and grabs her books. Before she can close it herself Margot, her best friend, comes up and slams it shut “Boo” she says very calmly. Regan gives her a little shove with her shoulder, and they start walking to class. “Have you heard back from any schools yet?” Margo, curious to know if she had gotten into the same college as her, “No, but I ran into Tommy and he said I had mail, so I’ll see after school I guess.” Margot stops her, “You got in don’t worry, we’ll be together next fall living the college dream” she winks at her and Regan smiles “I hope so” Margo grabs her hand “You will, now let’s get to class before we’re really late!” They both take off down the hall.

When the end of the day finally arrives Regan and Margo take off on their skateboards, they take the long way home enjoying the ride that they both love. Passing through Margo’s street first, she jumps off her skateboard and turns to Regan, “Call me tonight and let me know if you’ve been accepted!” She blows her a kiss before heading inside. Regan blows her one back and continues to skate.

She walks through the front door and immediately makes her way to the kitchen; she sees the pile of mail sitting on the coffee table and looks through the stack. None are for her, that’s strange she thought, she heads over to her mom’s room and knocks, then knocks a few more times when all of a sudden, the door is swung open. Gabi looking tired and irritated steps out, “What is it?” she asks while rubbing her eyes, “Is that all the mail we got today?” Regan asks, “yeah” Gabi replies and goes to close the door, Regan wanting for information stops the door with her hand. “Are you sure? I saw Tommy this morning, he told me I had mail,” Gabi lets out a deep sigh “Did you see your name on any of the envelopes” Regan looking confused “No” she replies, “Then there you go, no mail.” Gabi closes her door. Feeling senile Regan walks towards the kitchen counter and looks through the mail once more, I guess Tommy must have been mistaken she thinks to herself. Feeling a little down about having no mail which meant not hearing back from any of the schools she had applied to she heads to her room to get started on her homework.

The next morning before Regan leaves for school she takes the trash out, while bringing the bin to the curb some papers fall to the ground. She picks them up like their nothing and tosses them back in and places the bin down at the curb; she notices her name on one of the envelopes and takes a closer look. She doesn’t recognize the address, it’s not from any of the colleges she had applied to. Wanting to get to the bottom of it she heads back in the house and knocks on Gabi’s door. Gabi after so many knocks finally responds “yeah”, Regan ignores her response and continues to knock until she answers her door. Her mom whips open the door and sarcastically greets her, ignoring the tone and cutting to the chase Regan holds up the envelope she found, “I thought there was no mail for me?” Gabi snaps her head up to meet Regan’s eyes “Where did you find that?” she questions, “In the trash, clearly not meant for me to find but why? And who sent this to me I don’t recognize the address-“Gabi walks out of her room clearly ignoring Regan and sits on the couch where all her weed is laid out “God, you ask so many questions, aren’t you gonna be late for school?” She lights up her bong and takes a hit. Regan walks over to her “Just answer my question, who is this from?” trying to divert the conversation her mom holds the bong up as if she’s offering her some. Regan fully aware that this conversation is going nowhere she grabs her school belongings and storms out.

Slamming her books in her locker after class she’s startled by Margo who has snuck up behind her “Hey what happened last night? I thought you were going to call me” Margo says playfully, Regan fills her in on everything. After a moment of silence allowing Margo to soak up everything that she’s been told she finally says, “Well, we need to go find whatever was in that envelope”, She closes Regan’s locker. “How are we gonna do that, she’s always home.” Regan tells her, both are stumped. Regan’s face immediately brightens up, “What’s going on in the crazy head of yours” Margo asks. “I just remembered its Wednesday, every Wednesday my mom goes to her dealers house and grabs from him she’s usually always there for an hour,” Margot smiles widely “What time does she usually go at?”, “Around 12” Regan checks her phone “It’s 11:45 let’s go.”

Once at Regan’s house, they head to the kitchen and split up, Regan taking her mother’s room to search and Margo checking the living room for anything. Not sure what they are looking for, Regan looks for anything out of the ordinary; she finds nothing. After so much time Margot comes in, “Okay I got nothing, your mom is probably going to be home soon.” Stressed but agreeing they decide to call it quits. As they start to walk out the door, from the corner of Regan’s eye she sees a tiny flap of paper under her mom’s bed. Not understanding how she didn’t notice it before she takes it and starts to read it; her eyes widen Margo nudges her “What is it?” Regan looks at her and is about to speak when they hear the front door open, “Shit” Regan whispers. She quietly closes the door and pulls Margot over to the window, she points to the window and motions that they will need to climb out “No” Margo whispers, they hear her mom in the kitchen “damn it, fine”, Regan quietly slides the window open and slips out with Margo following behind.

The girls take off down the street and end up at a park not too far from either of their homes. Regan sits on the grass and is stares at the letter, “Who’s the letter from?” Margo finally asks. Regan takes her eyes off of it for a split second to look at her “It’s from my grandad, my dad’s dad. I never got to meet him” Regan looks back at the letter “My mom always told me growing up that he didn’t care about us” Margo’s brow’s lift “What does it say?” She hands her the letter; Margo’s eyes widen like they’ve never before “He left you his house AND twenty grand?! Oh my god Regan this is incredible!” She sits next to her Regan, “Aren’t you happy? Your finally free from your mom and you can use that money as part of your tuition for college!” Regan looks over to her, “I am so happy, I really am but this just means that yet again my mom has lied to me, she lied about my grandad not wanting to see me and she was trying to hide this from me” she points to the letter, “She won’t go down without a fight even though it’s rightfully mine.” Margot stands up, “This is your money and your home, my dad’s a lawyer he takes on similar cases he’ll help you Regan.” Margo takes her hands and helps her up, “You’re going to win, don’t worry. Let’s go talk to my dad.” Regan nods her head “Let’s do it.”

A few weeks go by and all the trouble and stress that Regan once had has disappeared. Margo was right, her father helped her to receive what was rightfully hers and even helped to get her emancipated from her mom’s house. It wasn’t easy and Regan wasn’t wrong, her mother definitely didn’t go down without a fight, but she didn’t win either. Regan moved in with Margo immediately and she finally received her college letters in the mail. Not too long following all this she was finally able see her new home.

Once at her new house, she turns the lock on the door and pushes it open. Margot steps from behind her and pokes her head in, “Well, go on” she gives Regan a little push through the door. The home has a comfortable feeling to it, they walk through taking in everything around them. Once they enter her grandad’s room, she sees a little black book on the side table with her name on it, she opens it and reads what’s inside:

If you’re reading this it means you’ve moved in. I wish I could be here to greet you, but I think you’ll be happy with what I’ve left. Check the shoe box in the closet.

All my love,

Grandad

Regan puts down the little black book and goes to the closet, she pulls out the shoe box and brings it to the bed. She opens the lid and turns the box upside down allowing the twenty grand that had been given to her to fall all over the bed. For the first time in her life Regan feels overjoyed with happiness, she lays on her money and Margo joins, they both bask in it feeling as happy as can be and excited for what their future has in store.