Learning Purpose [Unus Annus Fanfiction]

Part 15- The Beginning

(Pic Credit: https://www.teepublic.com/en-au/tank-top/16248672-centipedes-rose)

-Ethan

We sit in silence on the plane ride over to LA. I try to keep myself from crying, but I can practically feel my heart breaking. I simply look out the window to keep my mind off the doom that's behind me.

I'm never going to be able to come back. Even in my dying days, they won't want me.

I sold them out for a dream that may not even come true.

I feel like I may as well already be dead. What's the point of impacting people if you can't impact those you care about most? They were right, it is selfish to go.

But it's too late to take it back, and lord knows I won't be wasting both my dreams just because one fell through.

So I plan to start right away.

--

We get to LA, and I am immediately awed. The city is massive, with hundreds-thousands of different colored buildings with different themes, each one so unique, they all tell stories. There are fast food places everywhere, we pass at least three McDonalds on our way to Mark and Amy's house.

The interstate is so busy, as well. I never really left my town often in Portland, so being in such a large place so bustling with different shapes and sizes of people feels like a new world.

I hear a chuckle from the front seat as I stare out the window in awe. I turn to see who laughed.

Mark looks at me, a smirk on his face. "Like it?"

"I love it!" I say, unable to keep the smile from my lips. Mark laughs and turns around to face the front again.

I still don't know how he's able to sit in a car, but I assume it must have something to do with a placebo, and since he thinks he's in a car then he's moving with the car. Afterall, he's dead, he can make pretty much anything happen in his void.

--

We finally pull up to a nice two-story house with a wooden fence in the backyard. It's a tan house with bright red roofing, but among the other houses in the area, it doesn't stand out.

We pull into the garage and I step out, eager to get the "VIP tour" I've been promised. Chica and Henry bounce out of the back of the van, riled up with energy worth 5 monster soda cans. I give Henry a pat as Amy opens the door to inside.

Inside is... less than I expected. The whole room has this gloomy feel to it, like some of the room hasn't been used in weeks. It looks like a model home, but it has less "finesse" than what I expected for a Youtuber house.

Mark looks the same as me, and I get the impression that it wasn't always like this.

"What happened?" Mark says, before remembering she can't hear him, and he begins typing on my phone. I don't mind as much anymore, since there's no one for me to text anymore.

Amy lifts her phone up and starts texting back, and the two-or Mark-exchange worried glances. I casually step away to not be a part of their virtual conversation.

I invite myself to look around, and I head upstairs. There's a bathroom, a recording room, and two bedrooms. I assume the one less used is mine, so I spend as little time in Amy's and Mark's room as possible before exploring my own.

It has a vacant feel, as if no one has stepped foot in it in ages. Still though, it feels comforting, and I lay down on the bed, exhausted from the flight and the trip here. The bed is comfortable and soft, and I sink through the blankets.