ᴬˡˡ ᴺᵉʷ - chris sturniolo

001

August 1st

here i am, standing in front of my 'old house' taking in the surroundings one final time..

the pretty white and pink tiger lillie's in the front of the house me and my mom planted when i was 13 years old, the tire swing slightly swaying in the wind, leaving little creaks of noise behind, and lastly my eyes fall on the ugly bright red front door my mom insisted on having done for her 38th birthday

"shane.." my friend zoey says from in front of me

my eyes were busy taking some last mental snapshots going from her, to my parents loading up our old car with suitcases and basically any objects they could randomly squeeze into the trunk, to the house, to the giant red 'For Sale' sign stuck in the middle of the lawn, and then back to her

"yeah zoe?" i choked out, deciding to ignore the lump in my throat and the hot tears threatening to erupt from my eyes

"i'm going to miss you so much..." she said voice just above a whisper, wiping her reddening eyes

"i'm going to miss you so much more zoe.." i said matching her tone and right as i finished speaking my eyes gave way. sorta like a dam had broke, i started bawling like a baby and sprung into my best friends arms for a hug

zoey took no hesitation before she wrapped her arms around me as well, allowing ourselves to cry into each others arms

as we hugged, i just couldn't seem to process the fact i was actually leaving my seemingly perfect neighborhood with my family, friends, and memories to go to some town in boston... i'm going to have to make new friends, start a new school, and get used to a new house for what purpose? i've asked all this to my parents, but when i do they just tell me "things will be better for us in boston" and  i don't know what they mean by all that... why and who the fuck gave them permission to be so ominous!?

a loud car honk snaps me into my seemingly crumbling reality again, "come on kid, we gotta he going" my dad shouts from inside the car, causing me break away from zoey with a sad smile and damp cheeks, which i wiped at immediately

"see ya later alligator" zoey said with the same sad smile "in a while crocodile" i said while walking to the car

zoey and i promised when we were in second grade that if one of us ever had to move away we had to say that each other, no doubt about it

i got in the backseat of my dads car, and patted our family dog frankie "you ready darling?" my mom asked from the passenger seat

no. but i only nodded and pulled up the hood of my sweatshirt

as we started driving out of the neighborhood i lay my cheek on cold window and desperately try to take in all the small details about it, despite already knowing i'd most likely forget them within a week...

the only thing that really stands out to me is seeing my sad best friend walking to her house, i have to look away before i start crying again

i went into the small bag i packed for the ride and grabbed out my headphones. i figured listening to music would help make this long ass drive somewhat shorter...

___________________________________
A/n

a little bit of a sad first chapter... and it's super short buttt (haha butt) that's okay, gotta start somewhere right? 😭

hope you having an amazing day/night
and i love you ❤️

-Averie