Down The Cobblestone Lane

chapter one (a)

down the cobblestone lane - chapter one (aphrodite)

Saturday, 9:48 pm

I don't know if you understand how severe the situation was, but I think you should.

With a warrant out for my mother's arrest, my sister and I had nowhere to run. I mean, yeah, there are obviously places to run. But to make a fifteen-year-old choose what to do when in a situation that insane? Not to mention having to take an 11-year-old with them? That's just unreasonable.

Now I did the only logical thing there was to do; I booked it to Oakley's house.

He's probably home, I thought. If Oakley wasn't home, he was probably at a party or hooking up with some random girl. Not that I cared. I could tidy up while I waited for him to get home, as I always do when I'm nervous and need something to do. I could set Raya up in an extra room if we potentially needed to stay the night.

I forgot to mention; Raya is my sister. Now, I don't think you understand why I had to flee when it was my mother getting arrested, but I think that it is my responsibility to make sure that my mother can't get her hands on me when she's not in a good mood.

I also forgot to mention a few other things; my mother is an alcoholic. A violent alcoholic. Now, that shouldn't sound too bad if you've never been in a situation like mine, but let me paint you a picture; imagine two young, desperate kids trying to get out of the splash zone of their crazy, abusive, psychotic mother. If you're caught within arm's reach, you're as good as dead.

Don't think this is a new thing, either. This has been going on ever since Raya was born. I was born into a psychotic, abusive family. Raya was the only family member I actually cared about, at this point. Neither of my parents deserved my love, anyway.

Back at Oakley's house, I saw his Bronco parked in the driveway. The outdoor lights were on, giving me the mental signal that he was home. Perfect, I thought. I don't have to stress clean by myself. I mean, it's not as if Oakley makes a mess. I'm just a nervous wreck.

I rang the doorbell, trying to not show the fear and nervousness in my eyes. Oakley answered the door groggily, seeming as though he was not ready to see me. Fair enough, I hadn't given him a warning anyway.

"Oh, hi Aspen. What's u-"

His sentence was cut short by my body crashing into his in the biggest bear hug I have ever given. I could feel my heart racing through every inch of my body.

"Well shit, that's one way. And you have Raya with you... is everything okay? Come in. You're getting soaked." I realized that in all my hurry, I hadn't realized that it had started raining. I looked back at my sister, and grabbed her hand to guide her inside the house.

Now, to say "house" when referring to Oakley's place was an understatement. He lived in the most grand mini-mansion you could find around. It was no mystery to most people on how his family could afford such a place. Now, I'm not supposed to talk about his family life without his permission, so I'll let him explain that to you

Oakley grabbed us some towels to dry off. He also did me a favor by grabbing one of his hoodies for me to replace my damp lavender cardigan. Oakley may have been the biggest frat boy you have ever seen, but he has the biggest heart when it comes to his friends.

Oakley had also given me free rein of his kitchen, and I was planning on wreaking havoc on a bowl of tomato soup. If you couldn't already tell that I am the mother of this friend group, allow me to enlighten you with that information now.

"Thank you Oakley. I'm sorry for coming over on such short notice." I apologized, mixing the soup in a large pot.

"It's alright, Aspen. Now, could someone please explain what's going on?"

My normally quiet sister decided it was her turn to speak up. "Our mom's getting arrested."

"Oh. I am... so sorry. That must be... stressful." Oakley replied. "You can stay here as long as you need here. No pressure to rush back home."

"Thank you, Oakley. Seriously. I don't know what I'd do without you." I hugged him again, attempting to be more gentle this time.

"It's not a problem, r-really." Oakley said, fumbling on his words. "I can set Raya up in an extra room. Aspen, you know your way around this shit hole, do whatever you want. Plus my dad is out for a few days, so don't worry about him."

I glanced at the clock on the stove. 10:08, it read. I didn't need to sleep, but it's the only thing that sounded like a good option. I grabbed the backpack of quickly packed essentials and headed to an extra guest room after devouring the soup I had made for myself. I threw the backpack into the closet and climbed into bed. I didn't have to worry about school in the morning, thank god.

Word count: 888

a/n from aphrodite : hey guys! tysm for reading this chapter! i'm super excited to get this project started, and to have the ability to collaborate with my friends in one large story. we're super excited for this project. so my name is aphrodite ( my main account is swagbeepbeep ) and i am collaborating with my friends lee and lucid. the next chapter will be from lucid so stay tuned for their chapter! love y'all sm and thank you for reading, stay tuned for more <33