Last Stop

Chapter one

The small town smells weird, a smell you do not find in New York. The smell of freshly mown lawn and gasoline. I sigh, lifting my hand up to ring the doorbell of the gigantic house, another thing you do not see a whole lot of in New York. It makes a clucking noise as I shift my bag in my hand and glance around.

The next house is fifty yards away and I see two small girls playing on the porch. Unlike the house I stand in front of now. Which is pale blue theirs is pale yellow with a small rose garden on the side. I internally roll my eyes at the scene. Small country life. My mom always said that the quiet only made her head spin and the fact that everyone knew your schedule made her insane.

I always wondered how, if she left the small town she was still insane. From the youngest age I knew I had to take care of my mom who didn't know that I had to be in school by six and that lunch money didn't mean hand your eight year old a hundred dollars and a chocolate bar incase he got hungry. We made it work though. I would study while I waited for her to get home and by puberty I was an expert at how to put  my mother to bed when she were drunk and usually high.

I never had parties growing up. My birthday, when it was remembered, my mom took me to the latest club, it was a nightmare but it taught me how to fight, how to be strong. Because I had to be strong for the both of us. Social services were always on our backs and despite my home situation I knew my mom would not survive without me. So I cleaned the house and sobered her up before each visit. Made sure I was always dressed and fed neatly at school. It worked for a while but eventually that lifestyles catches up with you.

For my mom that time was two weeks ago when she shoved herself off a bridge and is now in a rehab center in New York and because I am not yet of  legal age I am being sent to live with my moms older sister. Millie.

Millie opens the door, looking every bit the small town house wife. My mom told me it was always Millie's dream to marry and raise a family. My mom always said it with scorn but Millie looks happy and she isn't the one in a rehab center. So it makes me think. What else was my mom wrong about?

"Cameron." Millie pulls me into a hug, I saw her a few days ago when she flew to New York to sort out the legalities of the situation. But she had to fly back early because her daughter, my cousin had some camp she was coming back from in time for school and her husband was currently on a business trip.

"Hi Aunt Millie." I say as I follow her into the house, my other cousin Justin who is four is hanging on the railing at the bottom of the stairs, his blonde hair neatly brushed to the side as he eyes me.

"Justin, come say hello to your cousin, Cameron." Aunt says and Justin hops down the last step to stand in front of me. Sticking out his hand for me to shake formally. 

"I am Justin and I am four, five in three days and I will be getting a tractor." I raise my eyebrows and my aunt shakes her head behind him, I grin.

"Hi Justin, I am Cameron and I am 17 turning  eighteen in one hundred and fifteen days."

Justin looks at me with wide eyes before glancing  at his mom. "Can I show Cameron my trains?"

My aunt smiles "why don't  we show him his room first and let him freshen up."

After a pout he reluctantly agrees and I follow them up the wide wooden stairs. My room is another flight up and my aunt explains that the guest room is essentially the attic but it has been done up to give privacy.

It doesn't  look like an attic at all, apart from the sloping roof by the window. But the room is big, almost as big as our whole apartment in NYC. With a huge king sized bed in the middle of the room. It has navy covers on, matching the lamp shades and curtains. A flat screen TV sits on the wall in front of the bed as well as a mini lounge just under the sky light, deeper in the room.

The carpet is a off white while there are two doors leading to a closet and a bathroom.

It is beautiful.

My aunt smiles as I thank her.

"I am glad you like it, Mark wishes he could be here but he should arrive tomorrow,  Lola is at her riding lesson but she will be here for dinner." My aunt pats her leg before pulling Justin away, he was about to knock over the lamp.

"Get yourself Comfortable, Cameron and don't  feel shy to ask for anything. " She sighs." I  know this situation  isn't ideal but I am glad you are here. "

I  smile with a nod as she ushers Justin out. If I have to stay anywhere, she seems nice enough. Homey. Once I  am alone I glance around once more. I really like the room. Nothing like the small, mold smelling one I had back home.

Although my heart pangs when I think of my mom and the situation she got us into I do not think this small town thing is as disastrous as she once did. I will manage just fine. I have survived this long on my own, I can handle a small town.

I  decide that it would be best to unpack seeing as I am here for the unseeable future.  The closest is huge and the minimal clothes I brought fit in perfectly with plenty of space for another three people. My suitcase was mostly filled with books which I pile on my bedside table as well as the shelves in the room.

Taking a hot shower then changing into my dark jeans and black t-shirt when I am done unpacking. In NYC I dressed dark to blend in and become invisible but here it seems like I am a lightening rod. Amongst the pastels I am a dark blemish. But I have no other clothes and even if I did after all these years I do not think I would feel comfortable in colours.

I  sigh as I head downstairs, my aunt is making the kitchen  smell delicious and as I take a seat at the huge wooden kitchen counter I tell her so.

"Thanks Cam, I  hope you are not allergic to anything?" I shake my head as I plop a grape in my mouth she smiles "Thank goodness! This household is the hardest to cook for. I swear I have the fussiest children in town."

I  smile and  we chat until Justin runs in and drags me to play trains. Growing  up  I always wanted siblings. I wished for an older brother who would know what to do when mom didn't  come home. An older sister to tell me everything  was going to be okay.

At school  I could never relate to the kids my age as they seemed so immature, so carefree when my life was plagued with worry. Once this kid Jimmy invited me to his house for a play date. My mom was supposed to pick me up at seven but she turned up at twelve, drunk. I never got invited again. The story must of spread amongst the parents because I was never invited anywhere again. 

As it starts getting dark outside I hear a car in the driveway, Millie appears in the lounge where we are playing.

"That must  be Lola."

Sure enough a few seconds later the front door opens and my cousin walks in.

She is clothed in a white riding outfit with pale pink stripes down the side. Leather riding boots. Her blonde hair is on a long braid down her back.

She is eyeing me as Millie introduces us. "Lola you remember  I told you Cameron will be staying  with us, say hi."

Without looking  at me she turns to her mom. " Is he a goth?"

Aunt Millie looks shocked before recovering "Lola-Rose we do not do stereotypes in this house now say hello to your cousin and be nice."

Lola glances lazily at me "hi." She says in a flat tone and Millie rolls her eyes, telling her to wash up for dinner but as soon as she leaves the room Lola sticks her tongue out at me. Brat much.

She saunters out the room like a teenager and I gape after her.

"Lola doesn't have friends." Justin says, not even pausing in his playing. 

I  furrow my eyebrows at him. "How do you know."

"Sometimes she cry's 'cus no one likes her."

"Oh." I say wondering  how someone as nice as Millie and Uncle Mark could raise such a child. I can tell she has issues and I have known her for all of three seconds. Well, her and I are the same in the friend department. 

Dinner is wonderful,  despite Lola's brooding attitude and refusal to say anything  to me. Justin is full of beans and energy to make up for it.

By the evening  the days events have exhausted me and I head to bed, immediately collapsing onto the bed, out like a light.