Bitter Sweet

2. Home

The town looked more or less the same, exactly what she was expecting. The variety of houses stood very close together and yet, they had enough space for a decent backyard. The streets were empty, not a single soul could be seen, except for a dog or two staring suspiciously as the truck came to a halt.

Stephanie stepped out from it and turned to the same green house she left six years ago. The big tree in which she used to climb when she was five and offered a good shade in the summer, was still standing proudly. The roses her mother planted when Stephanie was nine still stood, dry and rose-less. She walked up to the opened garage and saw the old oil stain from when she spilled car oil when she was attempting to be a mechanic when she was sixteen was still there, the same size, the same color. She grabbed her bag and took a deep breath.

A loud squeal came from inside the house and Stephanie recognized it right away. Her seventeen-year-old sister threw the door open and Ashley ran out, still in her pajamas even though it was three in the afternoon, she wrapped her arms around her not allowing her to breathe.

"Stephanie!" She cried out.

"Ashley!"

"Look at you!" she said running her hand down Stephanie's long, thick hair. "How's the big city, huh?"

Stephanie tried to give her a smile only to feel her eyes watering. How was it? She thought. It was shit. "Oh you know, very hot."

Ashley laughed loudly and grabbed her bag from her shoulder. "Come on. You can have the top bunk."

Stephanie started following her through the door, but she stopped and took a few steps back. She wasn't ready to return. Ever since Stephanie decided to try her luck and move two hours away from home, Ashley had this twinkle in her eye every time Stephanie came home for the holidays. She had such deep admiration for her oldest sister. The fact that she had the guts to move out and live her life away from their parents, filled Ashley with pride. She wished she could do it once she was finished with high school, she planned on following her sister's footsteps.

But Stephanie was back home, jobless and broke, she wasn't brave enough to tell her the truth. Instead, she told her she was going to spend the holidays with them because she needed a vacation. She didn't question it, and their parents didn't want to say out loud that their daughter was a failure, so as far as everyone in town knew, Stephanie was on vacation.

Stephanie took a long look around her, she surveyed her surroundings as her parents and sister went inside without her. She saw the rows of quiet houses, she heard dogs barking in the distance, she felt the chill air shuffling her bangs. She then felt exhausted, she let her shoulders drop and took a deep breath, her ribs hurt as if they hadn't gone through such strain in a long time. This was her new reality.

She heard the crunching of leaves under feet and she turned next door.

"Stephanie? Is that you?"

Stephanie felt her back tense. "Daniela, hey!" she said faking a smile.

Her ex-best friend from high school walked towards the hedge separating their houses. "How have you been? I heard you were a chef in Phoenix."

"A pastry chef," she corrected even though it didn't even matter anymore.

Daniela smiled. "Yeah, your mom was telling me about that, that must be so cool," she replied.

Stephanie saw a five-year-old boy coming out of Daniela's house and stood behind her mother's legs. He started staring at Stephanie.

"Say hi!" Daniela told her son. "You remember Stephanie, don't you?"

Stephanie doubted he did. She only saw him once when he was a newborn and she didn't care much for him. Daniela got pregnant in Senior year in high school and the father ran away never taking any responsibility over his kid. Stephanie didn't even know she was seeing someone until Daniela told her that one day in the cafeteria. She had grabbed Stephanie's hand and placed it against her belly.

"I'm having a baby," Daniela had whispered with a big smile on her face.

Stephanie didn't know why, but she felt her world crumbling down. She stared at Daniela for the longest time until she forced herself to say a congratulations and gave her a hug. She had lost any respect she ever had for Daniela and she resented her for that.

"So, what brings you here?" Daniela asked her as she held her big boy in her arms.

"I'm staying for a while."

"I heard Phoenix is super crowded."

"Yeah, there is a lot of people." Stephanie stood awkwardly by the hedge and turned to look down at her feet. That child's staring was really making her uneasy. "Alright well, I won't take any more of your time!" she replied after a few minutes of silence.

She started up to the front porch but she kept feeling the boy's stare stabbing her back. She turned frustrated, why are kids so weird? She thought as she looked for him. But Daniela was already walking inside her house with her kid in her arms. She turned to look across the street and found the source to her uneasiness. A guy from across the street leaned against the wall of his house and watched her. She couldn't see much since he wore a black hoodie over his head shielding his face, but from what she could tell, he was tall and very fit. The sweater fit him tightly because of his muscular chest and arms.

Stephanie didn't move, neither did he. She tried to remember who their front door neighbor was but no one came to mind. She started to feel scared. She didn't like the way he was watching her, even if she couldn't literally see his face, she felt his eyes like daggers on her skin. Very casually, she turned around and entered her house. She looked out the peephole and he was still there, watching the house.