I walk over to the door with my dad carrying a couch from the moving van into our new house. When I walk through the doorway my finger gets pinched between the couch and the lock on the door. I forgot how much that hurt until now.
"Ow." I say under my breath so my dad won't hear me.
"Calvin, come over here real quick, one more thing to move in." I walk outside again and pick up the last book shelf and carry it in the house and set it down in the living room.
"That's it right?" I say.
"Yeah it is, I suggest we go meet some of the people around the neighborhood," he replies. I don't like to meet new people at all. I know this is usually the question that all of those fucking cringy ass coming of age movies say where the protagonist is all like
"Why do we have to move?" but I can completely agree with them.
We were doing great where we were. Sure it had been stressful since mom passed away but things were looking up where we were before. I had actual friends like Kairo and Suzanne. But now is the final year of highschool and we move. I mean I know why. Most of my friends and I got kidnapped and went to this corrupt military school for a while then came back after 6 months.
"Hey dad, I'm good. I'm gonna go setup my room." I walk upstairs and flop down on my mattress that is laying on the ground and stare at the ceiling. I miss my old room. It was way bigger than whatever this is. I look out the window to the left of my mattress and see the angry sun setting behind the neighbors house.
I put on my headset and start to unpack my stuff. I like listening to music from the late 2010's and early 2020's. Personally that's where music peaked for me. I put my desk up against the corner on the wall and move my bed over a bit to be able to fit it. While looking back at my work I see a little crack in the floorboards. I went down on one knee to examine it for a minute. Not thinking much of it. I pushed the crack back into place and went along with my day. I then lay back down on the bed and fall asleep for a bit.
My phone dings and I wake up. I lean over and pick up my phone off the nightstand and I see the text that I had very much expected but dreaded. From my girlfriend I met back at home. The text read this:
" I am sorry but I am not sure we can stay together anymore. You are halfway across the country and we might never see eachother again. I hope everything goes well for you down in California." Usually the average person would be crying or just sad at this moment but I had been expecting this and I was fine with it. She was right. When were we gonna see eachother again? Probably never. I go downstairs and ask my dad if I could go around the neighborhood a bit and explore the area and go check out the school. I walk to the key bowl and pick out my car keys from the bowl.
I walk outside and go to the side of the BMW M3 and unlock it with the key. This car I have a massive connection with. Me and my mom rebuilt it from the ground up after finding it in the scrap yard. Sure it has some dents and scrapes on it but it's still very very fun to drive. I hop in the driver's seat and turn the key. The engine struggles for a second but then finally rumbles to life. My dad runs out of the door and bangs on my window.
"Yeah dad?" I say. "Here I want you to have this" he hands me his pistol through the window.
"Come on really?" I responded. He shakes it at the window
"We don't know the people in this neighborhood anyways and plus I trust you to use it." its silver plating shines in the dying sunlight.
"Will you just take the goddamn thing?" I look at it for a second.
"Ok" I took it out of his hand and put it in my pocket.
"Fine," I say.
"It makes me feel like you're safer," he replies.
"Alright dad, thanks" I say as I roll down the window. Why'd he give me his gun? Are we in that bad of a neighborhood? I roll down the driveway as the radio turns on playing some sad songs. of everything I remember from this night that's the thing I remember most which is crazy. I drive through the neighborhood looking around and seeing the nice houses. One looks like a smaller version of the White House. All the songs I hear remind me of my old life. The one that I left behind. I try to think about something different. About my friends, about my new life, about who I'll meet. But I just can't. It feels like too much. My phone rings and I answer it. It's one of my old friends.
"Hey man, whats up." I say.
"Not much. Just wanted to hear how you're settling in'' he replies. I pull into a parking lot.
"Well, I'm settling in ok. I do wanna be back home." I said. He responds with a sigh and then says
"the thing is you are home. Home is not back here in New York. Now it's in California. It doesn't matter where your friends are but it does matter where your dad is. Ok?" There is a long silence.
"I guess, I think I just needed some time so I went on a drive. I wanna go back to our old place ya know. I don't like this new place at all. I know i've been here for two days but I probably won't like it here."
"Try to stay positive alright Calvin?" he says.
" Alright, talk to you later." I reply and hang up the call. I bury my head in the steering wheel of the car. I feel the sadness of it all over again. My mom and moving away. I stayed there for a few minutes. Just me, the darkness, and the car.
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When I finally look up I check the time. It's 11:46 pm. Oh shit i was supposed to be home an hour ago! I turn on the car and practically drift out of the parking space and down towards the main road. The roads are surprisingly empty at this hour so I step on the gas and bolt towards home. I see the really nice house again and turn down the street where my new house is. The lights are on outside but not inside. I get out of the car and notice a black suv parked outside. I walk towards the door of the house. A man in a black suit and tie sits in the kitchen talking to my dad.
"Uhhhhhh, hi?" I say. The Black suited man turns to face me where I see a nice old man behind a bowler hat.
"Hello, Calvin. Let me introduce myself. My name is Robert Mclan. I am here to see about you going into the military training portion of our school." my dad smiles
"He thinks you have what it takes to be an operator 2 years from now in the special forces denomination. After the incident with Young Carnated of course. He thought that you and a few others were pretty impressive in shutting it down." I walk into the kitchen
"Well that's nice that you were impressed by our actions. But it wasn't just me. Thank you for the offer Mr. Robert but I'm not sure I am interested in that line of work." My dad stares at me with a
"you better accept" look on his face. I stand my ground and don't change my mind.
"Well that's a shame" Robert starts disappointedly
"I'm guessing you won't want the 6 figure salary that comes from spec ops." My eyes widened. 6 figure salary! That's an amazing amount of money!
"How many people are joining other than me?"
"You are one of ten to be invited. Only two make it to the program Dash is currently one of the two. None of the others take the job seriously. We think you would be able to make it as long as you beat all the others in a sparring match." my face lights up even more. My wrestling, Karate, my weapons training, and taekwondo might actually end up helping me now.
"Where do I sign up?"
YOU ARE READING
Dark Room
Teen FictionA teenager Joins an ROTC program that could decide the fate of the world While struggling with the issues of being a teenager and hunted by a terrorist group while his friends get kidnapped and taken to a trafficking organization. Can he and his fri...
