Remember

Chapter 1

"You ready?" Aunt Sarah asks from behind me. I turn around to find her standing in front of her big black SUV. Her eyes were small and droopy, obviously tired from those sleepless nights.

I don't want to give her an answer but standing here in front of my home for any longer will drive her insane. I glance up at the sky and nod.

"Yeah." I sigh. I face the front door once again and slowly take out the house key. This is it. I am actually leaving this place. I sniffle and a tear leaves my now stinging eyes.

Get a grip, Chloe. I roll my eyes and pick up my backpack. 

"Why can't I just live with you?" I ask my aunt quietly as I open the passenger door. I drop the keys in her bag as I hop onto my seat. She doesn't give me an answer until the engine starts. 

"I don't know, honey. It's what your mother wanted." She tells me. The mention of Mom hurt even after all these weeks. And with that, we leave my driveway.

I look at her. She is really beautiful. Aunt Sarah and Mom always looked alike and seeing her made it easier to forget that they're gone; it made it less real. 

Now I have to leave her and it'll be a whole lot more real. I nod, knowing fully well that she can't see me. I rest my Beats on my head and 'If I had A Heart' by Fever Ray blasted through my ears. 

I mean, who lives in Ipswich? Is that even a real place? Cause, really, it's in the middle of nowhere. I bet there's no real cell reception. I look out my window at the trees that passed by. There were no other cars on the road. No one even knows where this place is.

It is cloudy outside and not a patch of blue sky to be seen. A single, small rain drop falls onto my window, sliding down onto the edge. 

I look back at Aunt Sarah. I know this isn't her fault but for some reason, I still feel angry at her. I groan under my breath but I'm pretty sure it's louder than I think because of the music that's blasting through the headphones. 

"Chloe." Aunt Sarah calls my name. I can't actually hear her but I could make out her soft voice. I remove my headphones and nod.

"Yeah?"

"We're here." She tells me. I sharply breathe in as we drive by a sign that clearly says Salem. I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head in confusion. I thought I was going to Ipswich.

"You said, I'm going to Ipswich." I tell her. We talked about this yesterday.

"No, honey. You are going to be living in Salem but you're gonna have to go to school in Ipswich." I can't believe what I'm hearing. 

"Wait, what? I have to drive to another town every morning to get to school." I say darkly. She can't be serious. "No. I don't want to." I tell her angrily. 

I can't take this. It feels like I was just punched from the inside of my chest. This is getting harder by the minute.

"Chloe, please." She begs me, slightly irritated. "I know you do not like this but it's the only way." This is definitely not the only way. 

There's a moment of silence as I think about all the different ways. I could live alone. I am 17, almost 18. I don't need supervision, especially from my grandmother who I last saw 15 years ago. Or I could get an apartment not far from Aunt Sarah and have her check up on me every now and then. This is really not happening.

I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to hold back my anger. Yeah, it's really not working out.

"You're telling me that I have to wake up every morning twice as early as I do now just to get driven by some old woman that I don't even know just to get to some school I don't want to go to?" I'm yelling by now. "No! No way!"