An inconvenient attachment

Chapter 2

A mint green, Volkswagen beetle speeds onto town lines, driving right past the Spaten sign. Adding two more to the population of 634...636. The trunk of the car is full of boxes and bags-the same as the backseat, containing the entire life of a 23 year old and her 14 year old sister. Boxes of clothes and toiletries, kitchenware, and electronics. The only thing that they were missing was furniture, a vital piece of any house but with such limited space and the yearn to only make one trip it had all been sold. The money was to be used to buy new furniture but so far a small dent had been made in the savings to feed the girls' raging appetites. Nonetheless they had enough money for a kitchen table, a couch and beds, which was all they needed in the current moment.
    Bed's were all the 23 year old could think about. Determined to get out of that state and to their final destination had all but taken the reins and influenced her decisions. She'd been driving for about twelve hours since the last five minute gas station break. Fueled on gummy worms and a Cheerwine she was determined to make it to the town where she'd just bought a run down house for her and her sister.
    To say that the house needed renovations was a bit of an understatement. It wasn't just a fixer-upper it was a spend every cent to make it your dream home kind of house. The kind of house that broke newly weds would buy in hopes of restoring it over the period of their life while they started a family. Well that wasn't what the girls were interested in, they were looking to move when they found a better place and when it better suited them financially. But for right now the house was dirt cheap, had running water and a working AC unit.
    The driver tapped her fingers against the steering wheel while her opposite elbow was resting on the window sill, her fingers laced in her tangled hair. She hummed along to the dreary love song pouring from the radio. Something about the guy doing her wrong but then again that's how it always goes. The driver looked over to her sister when a soft snore escaped her lips, amazed at how she could still be asleep after four hours and with the sun shining on her face.
    The passenger was curled up, using her arms as a makeshift pillow. Having left hers in the truck under a select few heavy boxes. Her quiet snores being the only indication that she was still alive. A book lay face open on the floor of the car, long since having fallen when she first fell asleep. It baffled her sister just how she could read while in a moving car, she had never been able to. Growing nauseous within minutes. Little Women, a favorite among the girls. The older one has read it five times and the younger, seven.
    The woman looked to her sleeping sister, a smile gracing her lips at the sight of her sister in peace. The two had been under copious amounts of stress lately and she was grateful that one of them was able to get some sleep despite it all. She sighed as she pulled into the driveway, knowing that she would have to wake her sister.
    She turned off the car, letting the heat seep into the car. The sun warmed her bare arms and legs. She thought that it was the perfect weather, not unbearably hot but just enough to match the blowing winds. It was the beginning of August so this weather wasn't going to be around for much longer and she had every intention of enjoying the last of it.
    She nudged the sleeping girl beside her...once...then twice...until she had to shake her. The girl began to stir, pushing her older sister's hands away. She groaned, rubbing her eyes and extending her hands into the air for a much needed stretch. Being in the car for twelve hours really does that to you.
    "The toilets work right," she asked, her voice coming out hoarse. She reached for her melted cherry slushie in the cup holder while her sister placed her sunglasses on top of her head. "If you know what I mean."
    "Yea yea, I know what you mean and they work just fine," she said, slurping on her own melted cherry slushie.
    Although the two girls were very much in shape their eating habits were atrocious. Their diet could put even Santa Claus to shame. The older woman couldn't cook, the last time she tried the fire department was called and not very happy. And the younger girl just couldn't be bothered to learn, completely fine with the prospected future of takeout every night.
    The two girls leaned their heads to the side, slightly together. Looking through the window at their new life. Four walls and a roof that signified much more than a place to live. New beginnings. Changed futures and fates. New people and relationships. Conquering fears and relinquishing old ones. It was a fresh start for the both of them and that was scary. They looked the house up and down like they could scare it off like the other people they had done in the past. It didn't budge. They each took a deep breath and turned to look at each other.
    "Alright kiddo, now or never."
    "I choose never," the younger girl frowned.
    "Yea."
    They reluctantly opened their doors and stepped out of the car. The sound of their flip flops in the gravel driveway was all that could be heard in the still area. Then the slam of the car doors. Some gravel crunching as the youngest proceeded to the truck to retrieve some boxes. The opening of the trunk and the shuffling of some cardboard boxes.
    Getting in her own, much needed stretch Ashanti Odette-she goes by Ash. And lord have mercy on anybody that knew she went by Ash and still referred to her as Ashanti. Ash is a 22 year old who grew up too fast and still hasn't recovered from living under her parents roof. She's a hair taller than average with honey skin, brown eyes, and dark brown curly hair that bordered black when it wasn't in direct sunlight. She's a smart, loveable girl but she can be very stubborn and a bit guarded. Which tends to lead to her disagreement with a few people. She didn't think that she should be blamed for her inability to attach to people, now more than ever.
    Ash placed her hands on her hips as her sister came up beside her, a box in her arms. Phoenix Odette was a carbon copy of her older sister, inheriting her same honey brown skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. She was a bit tall for her age, just like her sister. She was smart and unorganized just like her sister could be and nosy and insensitive in some cases. Their list of differences was very short, starting with their favorite color and ending with their physical activity preference. Ash, loving to run and Phoenix...not.
    "Are you going to grab a box or do I have to move our whole life in myself," Phoenix questioned, pulling the box up to rest on her hip. Ash looked down to her, not much considering Phoenix had begun to catch up with her and Ash was seemingly done growing.
She dropped the keys onto the box. "Knock yourself out Nix."
Phoenix groaned, shuffling the weight of the box so that she could grab the keys. Ash watched as she made her way onto the front porch before she turned to grab some boxes of her own. She picked up one and tested its weight before adding another box. She added one more and while just being able to barely see over the top of the boxes she followed after her sister.
She felt her foot thud against the steps, taking a moment to slow her pace and feel for the next step up. She repeated this process. Moving up the previously observed four steps at the pace of a snail. On the last step her foot snagged, sending her body lurching forward and the boxes sliding toward the cracked paint of the wood porch. Luckily Phoenix had chosen that time to emerge from the front door, catching her sister and taking the top box.
"Maybe don't take more than you can handle," Phoenix teased.
"Hmm, now where have I heard that line before?" Ash pushed past her sister, moving faster without her sight being blocked. She had heard the line an endless amount of times, not that the advice ever stuck but nonetheless it was always in her head. Her therapist, the lawyers and judge, her father...her mother, and many more that had no business commenting on the way she ran her life.
Ash steps into the house and moves into the kitchen to place the kitchenware onto the counter. Ash looked down at the white linoleum flooring, her milky reflection shining back at her. The kitchen was about normal size, shaped like a square. It was an old fashioned kitchen, it looked like it was from the set of one of those older shows Ash would watch as a kid. The kitchen was cream but the cabinets were a weird pale blue, not at all matching with the wooden counters. Ash made a mental note to have the cabinets painted. The usual kitchen amenities were here. They were extremely lucky that the guy had been nice enough to throw in a busted refrigerator and oven. A door went out to the back of the house and a small window above the sink allowed a view of the side of the house. She placed the box on the countertop and turned for more boxes, running right into phoenix.
"Geez, watch where you're going would ya?"
"I wasn't paying attention, calm down," Ash said, going back to leaving the kitchen. Phoenix mumbled something under her breath causing Ash to turn back around, placing her hands on her hips. The true mom stance. "Hey skippy, why don't you check out your room and zip it."
Her eyes lit up at the suggestion and she skipped into the room that was in the kitchen. It was originally used as a dining room according to the man that had sold her the house but Ash saw no use in a whole room for dining. Especially since they could easily fit a small table for the two of them in the kitchen and they would probably end up eating in the living room like the slobs they were. Ash left her to marvel at her room, heading for more boxes.
Phoenix stared slack jawed at the empty room. It was small, sure but she couldn't help but imagine all that she could make it to be. She'd had her own room before but she had never been able to decorate it to her own content. Before it was always pink and white frills when all she wanted was a bookcase. And a record player. She knew it was weird to want a record player when everyone her age had a phone and music streaming services-her included. But the thought of all of those vinyls made her starry eyed. The bare room was her canvas, ready for painting.
Outside Ash was surprised to find that Phoenix had taken care of most of the boxes, presumably leaving them upstairs since she hadn't seen any in the living room. She had only left the heavier ones, either because they were too heavy for her or she was too lazy she couldn't guess. She slid the box into her arms, grunting when the full weight was in her arms. This time she decided that maybe one box would be enough for this trip.
She carried the box into the house and after a quick check of the markings on top she took the box upstairs and into her own room. It was a small room, bigger than Phoenixs but still small nonetheless. The room was old fashioned like the rest of the house but she had her own plans on spinning it to more of an eclectic style. Her passion for interior design shines through. The walls were covered in a pale yellow wallpaper decorated with some type of red flower. Nothing interesting about the room...yet, except for a beautiful bay window. Ash felt pulled to it, ready to place pillows on the seat and spend hours there reading.
Ash meets Phoenix back down stairs. "So we could unpack or we could find someplace to eat," Ash weighed, opening a box in the kitchen. "I remember seeing a diner in town square, not too far a walk."
"You want me to walk, after a twelve hour drive," she complained.
"That you slept through," she mocked, causing Phoenix to roll her eyes and sprawl out on her bedroom carpet.
"Alright, we can just spend a few hours unpacking. Then we can go look for a place to eat but by then it'll be pretty late and there might not be anywhere open. We'll have to wait until the morning to eat but by then we'll have died of starvation-"
"Ok, shut up," Phoenix interrupted. "We can go now but can we please drive."
"Nope," she responded, grabbing her bag. "Gas is not cheap nor is it near. Grab the keys and let's go."