CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO MY LIFE
Friday, August 20, 2014
Dearest Diary,
This is the story of my life, the life of Carter Rosenthal. I’ve been going through some pretty traumatic events lately, so I’ve decided to create a diary. I want to write down all of the feelings and things that I have experienced so I never forget. I can never forget this. Unfortunately or fortunately (I haven’t decided yet), I have a feeling the climax hasn’t hit yet, so stay tuned, boys and girls.
Before I start the rising action of the story, I have to tell you a little background information.
I’m a seventeen-year old girl whose lived in Florida her entire life. I’m not from northern Florida, which is constituted of solely rednecks and hunters. I’m from southern Florida, specifically a little town called Palms. Now let me tell you, Palms was a rich kid’s utopia. Everyone had sports cars and “daddys” with multiple “mommys.” Because of these family issues, parents weren’t really around much. Kids drank, smoked, you name it. All they had to do was put it on the platinum piece of plastic that had all the answers in the world. It didn’t matter that your mother missed your award ceremony or piano concert, the new shoes from the window of Nieman’s always took the pain away.
Now, you probably think I’m one of these rich kid snobs. Thankfully, I’m not. Therefore, I’ve always been on the outside. I don’t really have that many friends here, well, except for Abe.
Abe can only be described in one word: amazing. He was simply… astonishing. He was brave, intelligent, dashing, and so much more. He was captain of the soccer team and one of the most popular kids in school. His father was the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, which meant that he fit the whole “daddy” stereotype that I presented before you previously. Right now, he’s on “mommy” number four. She’s like all of the other ones: blond, big breasted, young, dumb. Abe hated these women, but always treated them with the utmost respect.
You probably think I’m in love with Abe. I’m not. I already went through that stage. You know, that stage where you think you’re in love with your best friend but too scared to admit it and then just cower in fear until it either goes away or you live in agony. Luckily, it wasn’t the latter. It gradually went away. I realized I had too much to lose to put our friendship on the line. Rationalizing is always the best way. Rational over dramatic, that’s what I always say.
I was always that under the radar prodigy type. I could easily be top in the school, hell maybe the county, but I have to try really hard to be third. I don’t want to be categorized as a nerd. No, I don’t mean it like THAT. I mean I don’t want to be categorized as anything. Like, at home I study the Bible. I don’t want to be labeled as a “Bible babe” or anything like that. I just… want to be in the middle. I try to be average, but the best that is for me is third, so I’ll take it.
Alright, now I’ll introduce the family. My mother is a stay at home mom. I love that. I don’t know how people deal with both parents working. My father is a doctor, a cardiologist. I have an older sister named Katie and a younger brother named Bennie. Katie has bright blond hair, like me, and dark blue eyes. Ben has blond hair and bright green eyes. My mom looks exactly like Katie, except with green eyes and a bit of time. My father looks like Ben when he was a kid. Everyone calls my brother Ben, but I call him Bennie. He only lets me call him that. We live in a two story Key-West style home on the beach. It’s light blue and very airy. Our labrador’s name is Stan. Love that little guy.
Okay, I think you have enough knowledge to start the tale. It all started when Dad got a call at 6:30 AM on August 20th…
“Hello?” my father said groggily.
