The Unruly City

Nightmares. We can all go without them.

"I he asleep yet?" Asked Daniel, my step dad. "Sweety, it's Blake's summer vacation, let him be." Replied my mom. "It's ten o'clock how is he still up." I could hear him say upstairs. We lived in an old house on the edge of town.The walls were so thin if you got a 1 inch nail you could almost drive it completely through the century old wood. I was in the living room. It had freshly replaced carpet, deep blue walls, a small leather couch and armchair, and a big old TV on an old coffee table. Why am I still up? I thought to myself, maybe it was because I liked to stay up late and watch cartoons, or maybe I hated going to bed. Or maybe, Just maybe I just drank a liter bottle of Mountain Dew, Who knows? I was watching reruns of Popeye. Popeye was just about to knock Bluto into next friday for the umpteenth time when I heard Daniel yell down the stairs "Go to bed and get a haircut or tomorrow I'll get a razor and shave your head myself!!" I tossed the baseball I had in the air. It took all my will not to throw up at Daniel's fat bald head.

Ding Dong. I was about to get up when I heard Daniel run down the stairs yelling "Touch that door knob and you're dead". He was wearing his red and black plaid bathrobe and green slippers. I was wondering why anyone would come ringing our doorbell at ten o'clock at night. As he opened the door I heard two sharp clicking noises, I knew that noise but I couldn't place it. Before I knew what was happening I heard a BANG as Daniel fell to the floor with a thud. Then whoever was at the front door threw two objects into the house and left yelling "Get the car started Lasky you idiot" and heard a car drive off. I turned around to see what the two objects were to see two fires already starting to grow at an alarming rate.

I ran upstairs to my mom to see her there reading one of her Bon Appétit magazines. She asked "What was that loud bang I heard downstairs?" shocked for what I just saw I stuttered the words "Daniel. Dead. Fire. Get out now." as I grabbed her hand a rushed down the hallway practically dragging her down the stairs. Just as we got down the stairs the overhead support beam collapsed and I tripped losing over a piece of fallen wood and lost my mother's hand. I looked back to try to find her but all I could see was A pile of burning wood. I hear her yelling "Go on. Get out now!" Just then another part of the ceiling collapsed blocking the door. I picked up the baseball I had sitting in the couch and threw it at the large window to the right of the door and watched the glass shattered. Then I jumped through the broken window in the the worst diving motion ever and Landed on the front yard. I crawled to the sidewalk and collapsed. I saw flashing lights in the distance and heard sirens. My sight began to fade. All I saw was back.

My eye snapped open. I was sweating. I sat up, my stupid air mattress had deflated again. I looked at my watch, it read 6:59. I groaned as another crappy day was about to begin. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, I hit my watch against the ground five time before I finally got it to shut up. I could've just simply pressed on of the tiny buttons on the side but I do things my own way. I heard the cellar door open and Jack yell down "get up now or you'll get yourself another belt wooper" Jack was drunk as usual. "This stupid shack doesn't open for another...." I looked at my watch again "for another two hours" I yelled at him. "shut up and get your sorry little butt in to the kitchen now". I growled at him, got on my dirty jeans and shirt and walked up the stairs into the old rundown bar and dinner. Coffee was already in the pot and bacon was sizzling away on the grill. I poured myself some Coffee and had some bacon and started folding up silverware in napkins for the day. As I thought back to the nightmare I just had I realized how much I took that life for granted. That night I didn't care about losing my home, everything I ever owned, and especially Daniel. I knew he was a good man and never did anything to hurt me or my mom. But secretly I would've liked to be on the other side of that trigger sometimes. Though I kind of sounds mean to say, I almost never regret see Daniel lay there in his own drunken blood. The only thing that bothered me was that my mom was gone forever.

After I saw the house burn to crisp, I was taken to my closest relative. Since my mom was an only child and so was my grandparents and of course, me. So I had to traveled from Boston Massachusetts to Thames Town Texas, a city near the border that doesn't show on any map, to live with my uncle Jack removed fifteen thousand times, probably for good reasons. That was three years ago, now I'm sixteen with a driver's license but not enough money to leave this stupid state. For one I hate the Cowboys, and the Rangers and somewhat the Rockets. I'm a Chicago fan and a Red Soxs fan but thats it. Jack owns a bar and leaves all the cooking to me and his wife, who almost hates him as much as me, Veronica.

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