Nine

2

"We're almost there, Asher," Aunt Claire says softly. I don't answer. Just continue looking out the window of the old faded Chevy truck. A snide, evil voice breaks through and rattles in my brain. 'You're a murderer..' I let a tear escape. I've cried so much in the past 24 hours that my nose has turned crusty and my eyes watery and red.

When I woke up, a policeman told me I had a breakdown. Crying and hyperventilating and eventually passing out. I stayed in the hospital last night and after I woke up, they declared I'd be living with my Aunt Claire in Eastman, California and a plane was leaving in two hours.

I didn't have anything to pack. It was all gone.

I got to say goodbye to Nathan.
He cried.
So did I.

And then I got on a plane and Aunt Claire met me at the airport.

I've only met her three times in my entire 17 years. The reason being, she's my dads sister. And my dads family thinks that education is the most important thing in the world. So when Aunt Claire dropped out of high school and moved to Eastman, well let's just say her family didn't like it.

I've seen pictures of her before. Her thick blonde hair, smooth skin, and chocolate brown eyes made her very beautiful. But living by yourself in a trailer park working at McDonalds at age 39 can do something to a person.

Her hair thinned out and is streaked with gray. Her eyes don't twinkle like in the pictures, they look permanently tired. She's real skinny now.

Eastman, California is going to be the worst thing that's ever happened to me.
Besides the fact that I killed my family.

Population 348, Eastman is tiny town that consists of a large trailer park that houses most of the community, a rundown neighborhood of small houses, and a few businesses. And one school that are for grades kindergarten-12th grade.

We've been driving for the past 3 hours. Aunt Claire tries to get me to talk but I barely say 3 words. I stare at the night sky and the dark objects that resemble trees passing.

'You're a murderer," the voice hisses.

Aunt Claire finally pulls her shitty truck off the road and onto a dirt path that must lead straight to hell.

There's no welcoming sign. Just dirt.

There's a couple small restaurants, a bar, a tiny grocery store, some fast food joints, a church, and then finally we reach the trailer park. There's about 200 hundred broken trailers scattered about. Aunt Claire pulls into a faded light blue one with a screen door and a porch that's covered with leaves and other junk.

"We'll go to the store tomorrow and get you some things," Aunt Claire mumbles.

I nod like I care and follow her inside.

It's small. Enough to fit maybe 4 people. There's a little kitchen area that doubles as a dining room and living room. A small 80s tv, a ragged gray love seat, and little bathroom off in an alcove.

I try not to cry.

"I'll make you a sandwich."

I don't want to be rude so I sit at the small round table in a creaky chair that I'm pretty sure is gonna break. She puts a ham and cheese sandwich in front of me and sits across. She doesn't eat anything. I pick at my food.

"So, you don't have to go to school for the rest of the year. You have enough credits to just not go. So you don't have to worry about that." Her voice trails off.

"Look I know you don't want to be here. But Eastman's special. And you'll learn to be okay. But I'm real sorry about your folks and about Fiona." I flinch at the mention of them.

I look up at her. "I killed them." My voice is barely above a whisper.

Aunt Claire didn't look at me with pity, which I was thankful for. "Nah. The world did. It likes to take and give whenever it wants just because it can. Look kiddo, the world will crush you if you let it. You just gotta be tough."

You know how cats have nine lives? Well, there's this myth that we do too. Not like we die and come back nine times, but there're nine people out there that will change you. I never really thought much of it. But I haven't changed around my parents or sister or Nathan. And now I think I have, at least a little bit.

So I've decided to make Aunt Claire one of my nine.