Life Changing

This Town.

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping, car horns honking and the smell of bacon frying. I climbed out of bed and reached for my phone. I had four missed calls from all of my friends back home. It was 9:56 am, which means they were at school already so I'd call them back later. I'll be starting school tomorrow at Moreover High. We are a wealthy family but this job offer moved us from the riches to rags. And since my dad died, mom doesn't spend any money anymore. Dad was the money maker so she put majority of our living money into my college fund. I climbed out of bed and didn't want to go out to the kitchen yet so I grabbed some comfy clothes to relax in for the day and went to the shower. I was thinking about my life in the shower, as the warm water dropped down my body. I kept thinking about how much my life's changed. Three more years and I'll be gone, off to college at Clemson University, my dream college.

"MANDA!"
I jumped at the sound of my mom yelling, she ruined my sweet, dreamy thoughts. I turned the water off after I got the remaining soap off of my body,  and jumped out. I put on a light, comfortable outfit and went out to the living room. Our curtains were open, along with the windows. I felt the cool breeze from the mild temperature outside fill the house, from one wall to another. My mom was just finishing scrambling the eggs. I set the table and we ate. As I was eating, I was thinking I might go explore our neighborhood and a little bit of the town, everything was walking distance.

After I finished eating I went back to my room, put on some appropriate clothes and went back out to the living room and told my mom I was going to check out the area. She seemed iffy about it. "Amanda, this isn't the best part of town, let me go with you" she said. "Mom I'll be fine" I replied. She handed me pepper spray because she said it was "for protection" and set me off. When I opened the door, I felt the cool air hit my hair and my loose shirt went up with the wind. I set out on the sidewalk. I looked all around me, the houses were small and dinky. Everything felt off, it put an uncomfortable feeling deep in my gut. I walked a few blocks and stopped at a few small shops in the middle of town.

I walked to the main church, they had a big, beautiful garden on the side of the old, cracking building. I walked over to it and leaned down to pick a yellow buttercup, I smiled. When I was younger, my dad and I used to hover the flower under our chins and if it casted a yellow shadow on the bottom of our chins then that meant we liked butter.  I sure miss him. He passed away in a head on car accident from a drunk driver. The sound of coughing pulled me out of my sorrowing thoughts. I heard laughter slowly approaching me. When I looked up from the blooming flowers, I saw two young girls and a young man, about my age walking in my direction. I went to turn around and they called out "Hey". I turned around and waited. They approached me. "Hi" one of the girls said. "H..i.." I replied in an uncomfortable tone. "I'm new in town". "Where are you from?" They asked. "New York" I answered. "Ooooh rich girl" the boy said with a smirk. I was confused, I didn't know weather to be nice or walk away.

One of the girls began introducing herself, "My name is Camila, this is my boyfriend Reese, and this is my best friend Kimber" she said, pointing to her best friend. "It's a pleasure meeting you all" I said. "When did you get here?" Reese asked me. "We just got into town yesterday". They didn't respond. They all looked zoned out. Like they were high or maybe that was just how they looked but I didn't bother with any questions. "Well it's getting dark, I should probably head on home, thanks for introducing yourselves, see you around" I said. "Back at ya" they all said at different times with different tones. I wasn't sure about them, but I was the new girl in town so I couldn't be very picky with the people I talked too.

I turned away and started to walk away. I heard them in a whisper as I made my way in the opposite direction. The darker it got, the more uneasy I became. I walked the whole way home thinking about my dad and what he would say about this town. My thoughts were ended when I saw my house at the end of the street, my stomach settled. I started to walk at a faster pace because I couldn't bare the feeling I had anymore. When I touched my door knob, something happened. I fell to my knees in fear.

Three loud pops, gunshots, they went off so close to me that it seemed like they buzzed right by my ear. It had to have been three houses down so I got up and ran inside. I locked the door and ran to my room. My mother was in the shower and I wondered if she'd heard them. I knocked on the door and asked her if she heard the gunshots. She told me no in a worrisome voice so I proceeded to tell her what happened. She told to call the non emergency number to inform them of the gunshots. I made my way downstairs and grabbed the house phone. I dialed the number and after a few rings, an operator picked up. I told the operator what I heard and she asked me where we lived. After telling her, she calmly explained that gunshots in this area were not uncommon, she told me that she would send an officer out to inspect the area but I shouldn't worry. She told me things like that won't effect me as long as I stay away from the wrong crowd. I was in shock that this wasn't being taken seriously but I was too drained to even care, I thanked the operator and hung up. I grabbed a glass of ice water and double checked all of our doors to make sure they were locked. I went up to my room, got into my pajamas and crawled into bed. All I could think about was the sound of those gunshots and the feeling I had walking home. I continued thinking, I've never heard a real live gun shot before. Everything about this new town was off and I knew nothing good was going to come out of it. I was plain scared of this town and wished more than anything we could go back to New York. I made sure my alarms were set and closed my eyes to try to get some sleep.