Peaceful

Harper’s life had been a sad song. Her mother died over twenty years prior. The town she’d grown up in had always been filled with people who never practiced what they preached. People who claimed to be Christians that were anything but. She’d never listened to comments made by others. She’d vowed to live her life her way before she graduated High School. Happily. She’d gone no contact with her dad after homophobic comments he’d made after seeing news about LGBTQ+ Rights were being debated. 

He’d known her best friend Gio is Gay. Harper shamed him before packing up and leaving. People had started noticing Owen having health issues. Harper hadn’t held back when it came back in conversation. He hadn’t been taking care of himself like he needed to be. He’d downplay and lie about everything. A recent hospitalization had changed everything though. People had gotten on him about it. Little had changed. One of the reasons Harper was leaving. Gio told her about Owen having a medical emergency a week after she left. That he was still in the hospital. She didn’t care. She wasn’t coming back. He was placed in an Assisted Living Facility after he was diagnosed with Dementia. Gio, along with everyone else, didn’t leave him much choice. People had noticed too much going on with him to let him continue safely living on his own. 

Harper’s life had gotten better since then. She’d come out as Lesbian. She’d become a Proofreader. She’d taken a remote position that left her being able to travel as much as she wanted to. She’d done just that. She’d spent time in Miami Beach before leaving Florida for good. She’d traveled to New York while she was still on the Eastern side of the country. She worked her way to Malibu. Colorado had been her last stop before entering Southern California. She found herself considering life in Colorado. California was the last place she wanted to see before making that kind of decision. She knew she could buy an apartment there and continue traveling if she so chose to as well. The options were endless. 

The last year of her life had flown by for her. She’d lived in a spacious studio apartment the entire time. She’d roamed around Malibu most days. It never took her long to complete her work. Two and a half days of work left her with more than enough time to roam around. She’d found places she fell in love with. Some of which were homegrown places. She’d used the same methods from her days in Miami Beach. She kept an eye on a house on the beach she wanted to buy. 

She bought the first house she looked at in Malibu. She loved everything about it. It was the open concept with a beach view she’d fallen in love with far more  than the rest of the house. Her down payment was paying half of it off. She knew she’d have the rest of it paid off in the next two years by treating it like a rental. She planned on paying it off in at least a year though. A method to her madness surfaced. Gio was happy she’d gotten to where she was in life. Owen’s death shortly after her big purchase hadn’t really affected her. She’d come to terms with everything. She’d flown back to deal with everything. She’d no intention of staying long. She left a week later after everything was paid and either sold or donated. The few things she kept were  photo albums and things that belong to her grandparents mainly.