CHAPTER 2: ARRIVAL
Saturday, August 21, 2014
Dear Diary,
So, I just arrived at the new house. Like literally… Mom just pulled in. It’s so beautiful. This house… is just… wow. It’s a two floor manor with grey stones covering the first floor’s exterior. The second floor has two long windows that almost reach the stone covered bottom. The beige house was foreign to me but I could see myself happy here.
Wait… what the hell, Carter? You can never be happy here. Abe isn’t here. Abe. Abe would love it here.
Anyways, as I ran inside the house, I slammed the mahogany doors. I had to get a room with a bathroom before Katie did. As I entered the first room upstairs, I saw a beautiful mint colored room with white curtains and a marble bathroom. Mint. Mint ice cream. Sloane’s. Abe. I couldn’t live in this room.
As Katie walked up texting, I stopped her and said as quickly as I could, “Mint room. Marble bathroom. All yours.”
She gave me a look of astonishment as she said, “why the hell wouldn’t you want that? You got there first. You take it.”
“I can’t. Um, it’s too… girly for me.”
“You love mint, Carter.”
“Yeah, but um, it’s a gift from me to you. You need the bathroom more than me. Go for it before I change my mind” I warned.
“Aight weirdo.”
As I ran into the adjacent room, I entered a room of a beautiful royal blue color. There were red curtains and a basketball on the plaid-patterned bed. It was signed by Lebron James. Yeah, I know. What the hell, right? Who would leave a basketball signed by Lebron on a bed?
As Bennie shuffled up the stairs, he tried to stifle back tears.
“Hey Bennie?”
“Carter, I’m really not in the mood.”
“Bennie, there’s a little surprise for you in this room.”
“What is it?”
“Check!”
As he entered the room, his face lit up.
“Holy shit! Is that a basketball signed by Lebron James!”
“Bennie, what did I tell you about cursing?”
“Who cares?! Lebron James! MOM! LEBRON JAMES SIGNED MY BASKETBALL! MOOOMM!”
He couldn’t help but sprint down the stairs to find our biological mother. There was only one room left down the hall. All I could think was: please don’t remind me of Abe. Please don’t be a constant reminder of the pain and suffering…
As I opened the door, I suddenly forgot everything. I forgot about Abe. About Florida. About Bennie. About Katie. About Lebron. About New York. This room… was spectacular.
The snow colored walls pulled me inside. The white curtains revealed the shining sunlight through the patent windows. The white bed reminded me of clouds. The mahogany floors were so shiny that I thought it was all fake. All a dream. Everything about this room was perfect. But then reality hit me and I realized that it wasn’t perfect. Abe wasn’t here.
I left my backpack on the ground and walked down the stairs.
“Mom, I’m going for a walk!”
“Bring Stanley!” she screamed as she dialed the number for the hospital.
“Come on, boy!” I called, as Stan ran over.
Since I had literally just arrived, I had no idea where I was going. I really didn’t care at that point. I plugged in my headphones and tuned out. I turned left out of the driveway and just ran. I ran because that was the only thing I could do in my situation. Run.
I could help myself. I cried. Nah, that’s an understatement. I bawled. I held it in all this time and I was done with being the strong girl that I have always been. I finally land the boy of my dreams and I have to move to New York. I have to move because my grandfather, the one who used to give me a nickel to buy something nice every time I saw him, was dying. I knew his heart condition was incurable. Fatal, in other words. You don’t have to be a certified MD to know that when your mom cries in her sweatshirt when she thinks everyone is asleep on the plane, something is very wrong. I’ve only seen her cry two times in my entire life and that was one of them.
Blam! And now this day just got worse.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” I said, embarrassed out of my mind.
“Woah, watch- hey, who’re you?” said the black-haired mystery boy.
“I’m just… I just moved here. I’m sorry for bumping into you. I’ll just be on my way…”
“No wait. Are you crying? I mean I know you bumped into me but you don’t have to cry,” he said jokingly.
“I’m not crying. Who’re you anyway?” I said defensively.
"The real question is who are you?" he retorted.
“I asked you first, blue eyes.”
“Yeah? Well, I asked you second, green eyes.”
“I’m aware of the situation, brainiac.”
“Wow, Blondie’s got sass” he smirked.
“Blondie’s also got a schedule, so if you don’t mind…” I shoved past the boy and started jogging again.
“Hey! I didn’t even get your name!” he started to say, but it was too late. Hardwell was already blasting in my eardrums and I was long gone.
