Chapter two,
Laurens POV.
As I step out of the car I can't help but admire the house that is in front of me. I look around and smile to myself. Maybe this really was a good idea.
"Dad this house is amazing!" I say while turning around, smiling widely. He starts laughing and turns towards me. "Lauren, you ignorant child." He starts and my smile disappears at his harsh words.
"You know I could never afford a house like that!" He yells while pointing to the house that I thought was ours.
I follow behind him as he walks towards an old, fragile apartment complex which is right behind the beautiful house of our now called neighbours. It looks abandoned and I can't believe my dad actually spent all his money on this.
He walks towards the reception to get the keys to the apartment and surprisingly there's a well dressed women behind it. She hands him the keys and starts telling him about the complex.
I step away from them and decide to look around a little. There's ripped and torn paintings on the walls and you can barely see through the dirty windows. The holes in the walls are covered with spiderwebs and to make it even worse there are spiders in them.
The elevator looks like it hasn't been used in centuries and the staircase looks like it's about to collapse. I'm still going to take the stairs because I don't trust that elevator at all.
As I turn around I see my dad coming and he is about to step into the elevator. "What floor is our apartment?" I ask him, not wanting to take the elevator.
"The seventh floor." He spats at me and then closes the doors. I turn around and make my way up the enormously long stairs since it's on the seventh floor. Within two minutes I'm there and I wait for my dad to come out of the elevator.
I follow after my dad and he stops at an rotten door. He opens the door and steps in the freezing apartment after me. Is there even a heater in here?
"The heater is broken but they will fix that someday." He says in a careless tone, answering my question.
"Put your stuff in your room and get out, I want to be alone!" He yells at me while I rush to the small, cold room.
It's December eleventh! How do they not have heating? Especially now!
"Lauren leave now!" I hear my father yell from the living room.
I throw my suitcase onto my bed and grab my thin coat. I put it on while making my way to the door and I walk out.
As I make my way out of the lobby I can't help but walk past the beautiful house. I admire it for a while but I get distracted by a group of boys walking past me. I can hear them talk about me as I look for a bench to sit on.
There's snow everywhere and before I sit down on the bench I wipe off the bunch of snow that's on it. I sit down and stare at the snowflakes that are falling out of the sky.
I can't help but my thoughts wander off to my dad.
I don't know what went wrong with my dad. He never let go of the past. I didn't talk about it but I let it go. He never did that, he started drinking, lost his job and became totally miserable without mom.
I look around and peacefully enjoy the nature surrounding me. The light greyish clouds covering the earth and making snow fall onto our planet.
I take a look at my watch and see that it's already 5:30 PM. Maybe I should head back home. I don't want to be late for diner, my dad always wants me to be on time. Well that's what he wanted before he took the wrong path.
As I stand up from the bench I see the group of guys walking by again. They look me up and down, then start laughing. Ofcourse they did that.
As I pass the house of our neighbours again I see someone staring out of the window. I quickly look away and run back to the apartment. As I slowly open the door I peek my head through the door only to see my dad stumbling through the house, drunk.
I close the door again while turning around and walking back down the stairs then outside. Maybe I can find a place to get some food. God, what am I even thinking I barely know where I am.
I walk out of the street and pass a small basketball field with the same group of guys from earlier. Maybe I should just ask them the way, it's not like they know me anyway since I just moved in.
Here goes nothing.
I slowly walk towards the fence that's surrounding the field and I lean on it while taking a deep breath.
"Can I ask you something?" I say and they stop in their tracks.
They start laughing and one of them comes walking towards me, with a basketball in his hands.
"We were playing a game if you noticed." He says as he looks me in my eyes. "But we're already disturbed now so what's your question?" He finishes still looking me in my eyes.
"Do you know a place nearby where I can get something to eat?"
He starts laughing and looks back at his friends. "You know what," he starts while turning back to me. "If you can take the ball from me, I will tell you a place where you can eat."
I hesitate for a second, unsure if he's going to embarrass me in front of everyone if he hasn't already.
I look up and try to take the ball from him but he is too fast. I try again, and again but I fail.
I turn around and start walking away. I can try to find a place to eat myself then.
"Wait hold on!" I hear behind me.
I turn around to face the boy with the ball in his hands. I look up at him with a questioning look.
"Turn right, then walk out of that street and there's a pizza hut." He says with a small smile on his face.
"Thanks." I almost whisper and turn around again. "I'm Shawn by the way!" I hear him say quickly.
"Lauren." I say, giving him my name.
I turn around and walk away, glad that Shawn told me a place to eat. As I make my way to pizza hut I can't help but smile to myself. His eyes were kind of beautiful. Wait what? Lauren stop it, you barely know the kid!
I shake it off and continue walking. As I reach the place I walk in and order my food. I take a seat at an empty table in the back and rest my head on my arm.
Maybe this town isn't that bad.
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