Stolen Dream

Prolog - The Move

(Averey Peterson's POV)

It's different when a five-year-old learns how to cook, clean, and do laundry before she knows how to read or write. It's different when a thirteen-year-old brother is looking after his little brothers and sister because their parents are too methed out to be the parents they should be. And don't even get me started on how a seven-year-old girl is going to school, learning, while worrying about her siblings. Not to mention that the same seven-year-old is paying her parents' bills with the money her mom gives her before she ever learns to play dolls. Typical five and seven-year-olds play out in the backyard after they come home from school. They don't have to worry about taking care of their family or their parent's bills. That little girl who learned to do all of that is me. 

Imagine being drug around from one state to the next, hitching it from one school to another. That's my life. I've lived in thirteen different states and in twenty-three different towns. I currently live in Palm Springs, Florida, a beautiful city that I've lived in three times. And now, my parents have decided to move to Kalispell, Montana, almost to the other end of the country. 

My room is full of boxes, packing everything up for the thirty-second time. I have the grand chore of packing my room, the kitchen, and Destiny's room. Destiny is my older sister who has gone missing and has been pronounced dead. Confusing, right? Yeah, that's what I said. Let me tell you, my big sis is NOT dead. The cops won't get off their lazy asses to find her. What I know for sure of is this past summer she got into a car wreck and her body has ended up missing. Because her car fell off a cliff and the cops could not find her body, they pronounced her dead after two weeks of searching for her. Gave her a funeral and everything. However, you can't give someone a funeral without a body, that's not how that works. Maybe this is why we are moving. 

I sigh and continue taking down my picture frames of my rewards from sports and clubs. I have three shelves nailed to my wall full of trophies I have earned from airsoft, soccer, hunting, tennis, cheerleading, track, cross-country, swimming, hockey, ice skating, soft ball, and basketball. I also got trophies for winning student of the month and student of the year. Not to mention trophies for winning projects in the fairs, having straight A's, and karate competitions. When it comes to my trophies from activities and school projects, I am very proud. I take pride in knowing that I am the over-achiever in the family. 

In other parts of my room is a vanity, and a shelf full of all my schoolbooks. I don't have much in my room. Everything in my room is almost everything I bought for myself. That's the kind of luck of having drug addicts for parents. They don't give two shits about you. They just care about their drugs and alcohol more than anything. That and their money. Here's the catch for you, my parents are rich from their drug runs. My dad works two different jobs, any day job he can get his hands on, and a surgeon during the night. My mom is a cosmetologist during the day and a nurse during the night. Neither of my parents are barely ever home, but when they are WATCH OUT. 

I have three brothers, two older than me and one my age. Travis is my oldest brother, he's twenty-three and lives in Fairbanks with his girlfriend, Eva. He has two kids, Dakotah and Nebraska. Adrian is my second oldest brother, and he is just one year older than me, about to be going into the eleventh grade. Adrian is my favorite sibling, he's very caring. Adrian is sixteen almost seventeen. Daverey is my twin. He isn't bad, but we barely ever get along. You'll see why he isn't my favorite much. 

I have Destiny's room already packed and my room is almost finished. After my room, I just got to pack the kitchen. Adrian has to pack the room he shares with Daverey, Dad's office, and the living room. Daverey has to pack the garage, and our parents' bedroom. If Travis was here, he wouldn't have to do any of the packing. Travis has always been Mom's favorite. 

I have everything in my room packed except for my clothes and the rest of my trophies and picture frames. I walk out and go to the room across from mine, which belongs to Daverey and Adrian. Daverey is downstairs packing the garage. Daverey already has our parents' bedroom packed. Adrian has Dad's office, and the living room already packed. We work fast because we are leaving Palm Springs this coming Saturday and it is currently Thursday. Adrian is in his and Daverey's bedroom, packing. 

"Hey, Adrian?" I say softly. 

Adrian looks up from packing video games, "Yeah?". 

"Where's the bubble wrap you bought? I need it to wrap the picture frames and trophies I have," I replied. 

"It should be on the table in the kitchen unless Daverey is using it," Adrian said. 

"A'ight, thanks!" I say, then go downstairs to the kitchen. Sure, enough the bubble wrap is not on the table. I sigh and go down to the garage where Daverey is. I open the door and take a look around at the surroundings. The garage looks different now that a lot of the stuff is packed. Daverey is in the far corner, putting my tools for fixing vehicles in a separate box. 

Daverey turns towards me as he hears the door creak. "Whaddup, Ave?" 

"Do you have the bubble wrap?" I ask him. 

"Whatcha need it for?" he asks. 

"To protect my picture frames and trophies," I reply. 

"Ah," he says, "Can ya catch?". 

"Yuh," I say as he tosses it to me. I lunge with my left leg and catch it with my right hand. 

"Nice," Daverey says. 

"Thanks," I say as I walk out of the garage. 

"No prob," Daverey calls from the garage. 

Okay, so I'm being a bit overboard, Daverey isn't too bad, but you haven't met his other side. He can be a huge jerk and toy with you, doing the exact opposite of what you've asked of him. I walk back to my room with a sigh. Saturday will be here soon and then all we have to do is get unpacked and get situated in our new house until we move again. I think as I sit down on my bed, wrapping my trophies and picture frames.