Pretty easily

“Err... I might as well go while I’m up, plus I doubt either of you wanna run into ‘him’ at the moment so it’d be better if I went down” you quickly responded, giving an excuse that Sarah quickly seemed to agree with.

“Ahh good point, I might as well go and put on something comfier then if I’ve got the chance, by the time this finishes I’ll probably be heading to bed” Sarah replied, still pushing herself off the bed to join you at the door.

“I’ll probably be the same. Especially when Mom will probably want us to go to church as a family now that Lucy’s back” you said, trying to make strides in keeping your earlier promise with Mom while you had the chance. Lucy gave a sour face at the thought of spending any length of time in the same room as your father and Sarah didn’t seem too enthusiastic either but neither of them outright refused to go. You’d probably have to bring it up later but for now, focusing on the movie was probably for the best.

“So anyway, what stuff do you guys want?” you asked, taking their mind off tomorrow in favour of the treats you could all gorge yourselves on now. Unlike the movie, you all had pretty similar tastes when it came to snack foods and although a bucket of popcorn would have been best, you didn’t have any of the microwave kind stashed away anywhere. You planned on grabbing a mix of sweets and drinks that you remembered were in the cupboards and both Sarah and Lucy gave you free rein to pick and choose.

With that quickly sorted you followed Sarah out of the room and headed downstairs while she went and headed to her room. You tried to act casual as you went down the first couple of steps, trying not to look suspicious if Sarah was to turn around but once you were sure she was gone, you started to walk even slower and attempted to sneak down the stairs. It probably wasn’t necessary to be as cautious as you were and if you were caught, you had a valid excuse for coming down here but avoiding them all together was easier than having to explain yourself in your own home, at least in your mind anyway.

You once again reached the doorway that had blocked your way several times before but this time, the conversation inside was loud enough to pique your curiosity. The irony in the fact that Mom had told you to warn your sisters when you were the one spying wasn’t lost on you but you still couldn’t help yourself when Mom had been so evasive about it earlier.

“...don’t think this is a good idea, the kids are still in school and I know your trip getting back here isn’t the best but you’ve been fine with it these past few years” Mom said, with you only hearing part of the conversation as you started to eavesdrop.

“Well if you won’t even tell them, then how do you know they wouldn’t be happy moving house? And besides, they’re both in there last year anyway so by the time we got everything finalised the school year would be over anyway” your dad revealed, unknowingly letting you in on the plan he had.

Moving house… definitely not. Why would he ever think that me and Sarah would be okay with something like that. The last time we moved in our early teens had Sarah bawling her eyes out and although you’d like to say you kept your emotions in check, you had acted pretty similar to Sarah. All of us had left friends behind so that he could be closer to work and now, he wanted to do the exact same thing all over again.

You could feel yourself getting angry as you thought back to your childhood and although you could say the first move had allowed you to meet Emma and everyone you knew now, the prospect of losing most of those connections felt like a stab in the gut. Trying to calm yourself, you knew now wasn’t the time to lash out and while you had had your internal debate, you were missing the argument that was still occurring in the other room.

“...I think we all need a nice fresh start and I think moving will do us all a favour” your father continued, seemingly ignoring all of Mom’s criticisms.

“It just seems so sudden, I…” Mom replied before immediately getting cut off again.

“It's not sudden at all. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and I think it's for the best. We will all be closer to my work with Max and presumably Sarah going off to college and whatnot, I’m sure they won’t even care” your father continued, only getting silence from Mom in return.

None of what he had said could be considered true from your point of view and him speaking for you when the two of you hadn’t even had a proper conversation in years just reinforced your opinion of him being a selfish asshole. His excuses for everything all seemed to revolve around him and any consideration towards everyone else involved was only secondary to his own needs.

Mom seemed to have no rebuttal to give him and after a moment of silence, your father raised the volume of the TV to dissuade her from speaking any further. It seemed you had only caught the end of the conversation or maybe it was just one of many where he was trying to push his agenda. It would explain why Mom was hesitant to come downstairs if this had been what they talked about any time they were alone but with the topic over for now, you no longer had any reason to risk hanging around.

You could vaguely guess where they were both sat just from their voices and assumed it would be safe to walk past the open door but you still moved with caution on the off chance you were wrong. The caution seemed to be unfounded, as you had no issue moving past the living room and headed towards the kitchen. You were still annoyed at what you had heard and although you wanted to find a way to convince your father otherwise, you knew that now wasn’t the right time to do it, especially when your sisters were still waiting on you and would come down looking for you if you spent too long lingering around.

You knew where most of the snacks you wanted were and took slightly longer getting them in favour of staying as quiet as you could as well as navigating around in the dark in case anyone saw the light. First grabbing stuff from the overhead cupboards and then the sink, you got almost everything you needed except for the drinks. It would be difficult to carry everything if you grabbed individual glasses, so you decided to get a large bottle from the fridge to share between you and a few empty solo cups from the other side of the kitchen island.

Crouching down to try and find them, you eventually spotted a sealed pack of ten and decided it would be easier to just take that than to grab them loose. They were a bit further back in the cupboard than you expected but after a bit of fumbling around, you eventually had all your pockets stuffed with snacks and your hands now holding the drinks as you went to stand back up from behind the island.

You were about to straighten back up when the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway got louder and the kitchen light turned on suddenly. The island hid you from view of whoever had entered and you heard the steps go towards the fridge and the telltale sound of its door being opened. There wasn’t a chance of you getting by whoever was there but from where you were positioned, you should be able to take a peek at them without there being too much danger of being spotted.