Drums Of Despair

Prologue/Chapter 1 - A New Beginning (August 20th, 2019)

August 20th, 2019

"Ready?"

I nod and grab my backpack by one of the straps, the knot I had made a week ago immediately unties when I do so. I put it back on the floor and start tying another knot.

"You know I don't mind buying you another one, right? This one is so old already, how long have you had it for?"

"It's fine, I like this bag." I place it on my back and look at my stepdad. "Let's go."

He opens the front door of the house, soon-to-be our old house, and lets me go first. I walk over to his car and open the door of the front passenger seat. Normally, I would seat in the back, but it's full of boxes and, with a five hour drive ahead of us, from Philadelphia to Boston, Ryan will want someone to talk to.

Ryan is my stepdad, he started going out with my mom a year after she and my dad had divorced, almost seven years ago, and they got married a year after.

I don't know why but I have always disliked Ryan, or so I keep telling myself. I don't even have a reason to dislike, deep down I don't, I've just kept that label on my relationship with him from the day I first met him. You might be thinking "Dude, why don't you like him then?", well I had just turned 11 when I met him, the same day. Him and my mom had been dating for some months, my two older sisters knew about Ryan, but they hadn't met him in person either, whereas I didn't even know my mom had a boyfriend.

So, the day of my eleventh birthday party my mom tells me she wants me to meet someone special and there he was: Ryan. He didn't have a beard back then and his blond hair was much shorter than how he has it now.

I didn't realize that when my mom had referred to him as "someone special" she meant her boyfriend, I just wanted to open my presents. It wasn't until everyone, including Ryan, had left our house and my mom, my sisters and I were cleaning up in the kitchen that I found out what she had meant with that.

--flashback-- (July11th, 2014)

"So, what did you guys think of Ryan?" I heard my mom say while I helped my oldest sister, Ellie, load the dishwasher.

"I liked him, he's really nice." She said directing a big smile at my mom.

"And he's really funny." Sophie, my other sister, said walking towards where my mom was standing and putting an arm around her. "He's cute too." This made both my mom and Ellie giggle.

"Yeah, but he'd look cuter with a beard." Said Ellie.

"I'll let him know you said that. He'll love it."

Then the three of them looked at me and saw how confused I was.

"Who's Ryan?" I said, still confused.

My mom got closer to me and got down to my height. "Samwich, honey, Ryan is the blond man I introduced you to before you blew out your candles, remember him?"

"Oh yeah! The guy with the green shirt! I remember him." I noticed that she was somehow waiting for me to say something else. "What about him?"

"What'd you think of him?" She asked.

"He's okay, I guess. I don't know, I didn't really talk with him that much."

"Did you talk to him at all?" Sophie asked before my mom turned her head to look at her, gesturing her not to say anything, I suppose.

"But why does it matter what I think of him?" I was still confused. "Is he your new boss?"