Miss Braxton: Home and Away Fanfic

Chapter 10

Brax and Ricky figured it'd be a good idea to head to the city to gather up all of the things from the flat that my mother and I used to rent. They convinced me that we should go make the road trip. Since I'd now be living in Summer Bay permanently, then that would mean moving all my things from my old home to my new one. Once it was decided, Brax called up Heath and asked him to bring the four by four so that between his truck and the Ute, we'd have enough space for the four of us as well as my stuff.  

I didn't' own a whole lot and barely anything of any real value, but there were some things in the city that I wanted to keep. Old photo albums filled with pictures from when I was younger and my mother was healthier, mum's jewellery, my clothes and shoes, a tiffany lamp that belonged to my grandma when she was alive, a scrapbook that Flynn made for me or a stuffed toy that he'd won for me in an arcade game... small uninteresting objects that meant a great deal to me because they were of personal value. I could have lived without them, but it wouldn't have sat well. Especially having known that the man I used to rent the flat from would have ended up rummaging through mine and my mum's stuff and either dumping them in the trash or pawning them off for dirt cheap.

It felt weird being back on such familiar streets, especially when I was climbing the stairs to my flat and getting the keys out ready to open up the doors for the last time. I would never come back home to it. That thought alone was enough to rattle me to my core. On my way in, I noticed that the neighbour's door was slightly ajar and saw the girl who lived inside (the one I occasionally used to spend my nights drinking with) sat cross-legged on the floor with her guitar in her lap. She strummed a merry little tune and hummed along to it, then looked up in a dreamy stupor of confusion when I said hello. Her eyebrows knitted together as she beheld me in disbelief.

"Alex?" She murmured slack-jawed, numbly pushing her guitar aside.

"Hey, Tessa. Long time no see, huh?" I answered casually.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone into care or something?" She asked, moving over closer to the door so that she could get a better look at me. She probably didn't' recognise me out of my waitressing uniform and in the new clothes that Ricky and Brax had gotten me instead to replace them.

"You heard about that?" I raised my brows.

"Yeah, sure. Everyone did." Tessa replied. From this near, I could tell that she smelt of cigarette smoke and strong alcohol. "We knew after your mum was sent to hospital that it was only a matter of time before those nosy childcare people sniffed you out and took you away. We figured since you hadn't been back in nearly two weeks that it must have already happened." She paused and looked over my shoulder at Heath, Brax and Ricky. "'m taking it that's not the case though, right?"

"Right." I said, before motioning to my family members. "These are my brothers, Brax and Heath and that's Ricky, Brax's partner. I went up the coast to see them. Then I was taken by social services. Then I went to hospital. Now I'm out again and headed back to Summer Bay. I'm going to live there fulltime with my brothers." I jangled the keys to my flat in front of me. "Just needed to grab a few things first. You know, pack up my old life..."

"And start a new one, huh?" Tessa grinned and offered me a hand to shake. "Good for you, Alex. I reckon you're doing the right thing. Living in this squalor and working yourself to death in that dingy café wasn't doing you any favours. This way, I think you'll get another chance at living. Like, properly living and not just surviving."

"Here's to hoping." I smiled, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Luck to you, Alex Braxton." Tessa said, taking in a deep breath as she dipped her head and retreated back inside her flat. "You should probably let Flynn know, by the way. Poor guy's been knocking at your door every day since you left."