Maria

Chapter 1

The taxi pulled up to my Nona's house. This is the first time I've ever been to Nona's house on my moms side. I've only ever talked to Nona through the phone or through FaceTime but that's really about it. It actually sad when you think about it. My grandpa died before I was even born from lung cancer, so Nona has been alone in this house with her pet cat for years by herself.

But that's going to change today, me and my mom are moving in.

My mom turned and looked at me with her welcoming chestnut colored eyes.

"Are you ready Maria?" She said to me.

"Yeah" I give her a reassuring smile.

We both get off the bright yellow taxi cab and pick up our luggages in the trunk of the taxi. Mom quickly paid and tipped the driver and we made our way up the white steps leading towards the door. The warm June air hit me, and I turn my head to see a beautiful red and gold tinted sunset setting behind me. I smile, I'm hopeful that moving here will help me move on and start a new life. Mom rang the door bell, and I can see Nona running down the hallway giddily opening the door with a large grin.

"Come in, come in, I made dinner!" she exclaims.

"Hi mom, I've missed you." Mom leaned in for a kiss and a hug for which Nona gladly accepted.

"Oh honey, Maria! You're so grown!" She slightly grabs my arms for a tight long loving hug. After we were done greeting each other, we dropped our luggages by the staircase and made our way to the kitchen.

"Rozanna, can you help set the table; Maria go ahead honey and uh go pick your room" Nona said.

While mom stayed downstairs and helped Nona with dinner, I picked up my heavy luggages and made my way up the squeaky stairs. I noticed that there was 3 rooms, and 2 bathrooms. 2 of the bedrooms were at the end of the hallway with a bathroom the middle of the hallway, and 1 of the bedrooms was right near the the staircase with a bathroom. I chose the bedroom near the staircase with a bathroom. It seemed to have a lot of room and windows which I like. I walk into the room and put my luggages on top of the bed. The white comforter smelt like fresh laundry lint which meant Nona did a little laundry before we came. She's so thoughtful.

I examined the room, the room was painted with white walls but with white wood accents. The dresser was huge, it had a big mirror with it too. The floor was dark wood. I walk north towards my new room and I look out the window. I saw the cobblestone road and the sunset turning into a dark blue hue.

"Maria! Dinners ready!" My mom yelled for me. I ran down the steps and walked towards the dining room. Nona had made spaghetti. My favorite.

We all got settled in around the table and said our prayers. We began to dig into the food with Nona's old radio was playing Maybe by The Chantel's in the back. I felt grandmas cat Ronnie brush up against my legs while we were eating and I jump back into my chair a little. "Oh sorry honey, he does that sometimes." Nona explains. I shrug it off.

Shortly after when we were done eating and cleaning, we all sat in the living room to talk.

"So how have you guys been?" Nona asks.

"We've been holding up, but you know it's just hard sometimes." Mom explains.

After Dad died, it hit both of us really hard. I lost my dad on my 18th birthday  and my mom lost the love of her life. And it wasn't in a lovely way either. Most people would wanna die in their sleep, peacefully in bed you know? But that's not how it is in our case.

My dad was murdered.

The night of my 18th birthday party, once we were all done celebrating, my dad went by the the nearest gas station to pick up a pack of cigarettes. When he was on his way back to the car, he was shot constantly until he was dead. Think about it.

One shot,
Two shots,
Three shots, and then he was gone, taken from us.

He collapsed to the ground and died on the spot. That's not even the messed up part of it all, the part that still irks me to this day is that all of that was caught on film by a security camera outside the gas station but we weren't able to identify who murdered him. To this day, I don't know who murdered my father, and being completely honest it scares the living hell out of me.  But after a couple weeks, me and my mom couldn't handle it. Everything reminded me of him.

Every time I laughed, I'd think of the jokes he used to tell me. Or every time I'm in a car, I'd think of the time he taught me how to drive in my old elementary school parking lot.            

It's even worse for my mom, they were married for more than 2 decades and they were still so happy with each other. Almost every night she would have anxiety attacks because she didn't know how to deal with life without him and I had to help her go through it. It also didn't help the fact that everyone at my school knew about it. The murder case was splattered across everybody's television screens in town, and everyone had an opinion on what happened. Just imagine it, the people I grew up with and respected, fellow classmates since I've known since kindergarten running up to me in hallways asking me about the case so they can run home to their nosey parents and tell them all about it. I was sick and tired of it, and so was my mom. Therefore, in the beginning of summer, my mom and I came to the decision to move to Nona's home in New Jersey after graduation to catch a break.

Like I said, I've never been here before, so it would be a fresh start for me but not so much my mom. My mom and my dad grew up and fell in love here in New Jersey before they decided to move to New York to have me. 

I just hope that this could be a refreshing new experience and I could just move on with my life. School starts in a couple months from now and I'm kinda freaked and kinda excited. I hope I can find freinds to help me through it.

I got so lost into my thoughts I didn't even realize that my mom and Nona were having a conversation about the case. It's gotten to the point where I was so tired about hearing about the case, I got annoyed and decided to leave. I kissed them both goodnight. Walking back into my room, I had forgotten that I didn't even put away my clothes yet.

I looked through my luggage in search of my pajamas. I found them and changed out of my clothes and slipped into a large tie dye shirt and my shorts. Shoving my luggage out of my bed deciding to just put my clothes away tomorrow morning. I crawl into my comfy bed and go on my phone for a little bit, then I drifted into a deep slumber.

I know this part is alittle rough, but I promise it's gets better. I just wanted to establish the setting and situation in anyway where it doesn't seem overbearing. You'll find out more as you read :)  plus feel free to listen to the songs for the chapter below, it'll help you get the vibe of what I'm trying to go for each chapter. I hope you enjoying this story so far and feel free to comment and vote for it!

SONGS FOR THE CHAPTER
Maybe by The Chantels
Dream by The Pied Pipers
Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey
Sign of the Times by Harry Styles
https://soundcloud.com/moonlightings/sleep-thru-your-alarms