Hiding Behind a Mask

Chapter 1-Welcome Home

The beat up minivan pulls into a small blue house with a smaller backyard in a trashy looking neighborhood. Lance looks out and wishes he was back in his old home. He was sick of the long drive in the summer heat not to mention it building up with five other people in the small van.

"Is this our house, seriously Mamá?" He asks his Mother. She rolls her eyes and got out of the mini van. Lance's little sister Sarah looks out of the window and stares blankly at the house.

"What a dump." Sarah's little voice spoke up. Lance pushes her head down and stares at the house. It was an ugly shade of blue and hell the paint was chipped away. Lance looks down and sees the grass dying, and a lot of ants. He saw the deck had a few pieces missing. He looks back at Sarah and the rest of his siblings who were either asleep or on their phones.

"Rebecca?" Lance calls to his older sister. "What do you think of the house?" He asks. She looks out then back at her phone.

"Trash."

"Yeah." He nods in agreement, Sarah looks up at her older brother. She was waiting for one of her other siblings to make a comment. Rebecca looks out again and sighs.

"We left our hometown for this? ¡Joder! " There, Mom comes back and whacks Rebecca in the head. "OW MAMA!" She whines. Her Mother glares at her and walks to the house. Lance glances back at his siblings and got their attention.

"Sam, get Rico and come on." Lance said to his younger brother. He held Sarah's hand and the five kids follow their Mom into the small house. They look around and saw how ugly it was on the inside. Rebecca took a few pictures on her phone while Sarah looks at the place.

"Lance this place is so dirty." She said. Lance nods and sighs, his Mom didn't pick a good house but this was probably the best they could do at the moment.

"Yo Lance come check this out!" Sam shouts from upstairs. Lance lets go of Sarah's hand and runs after his little brother. He looks around the small hallway and couldn't see Sam anywhere.

"Sam? Where are you?"

"Lance!" Sam comes out of one room. Lance jumps back in surprise. "There is something cool in this room!" Lance follows his brother in the room and saw him go out the window.

"Sam what the hell?!" Lance panics and follows Sam out. "Dude come on this is dangerous!"

"No it's not man, look it's like a perfect place to sit and watch." Sam said. "Oh I see Mamá, hi Mamá!" He waves.

"Samuel you'd better get down if you know what's good for you!" His Mom shouts back. That only made the young teen laugh.

"Come on you heard Mamá." Lance said. "Let's go in and meet up with everyone else." The two boys walk downstairs and meet their Mom outside while the movers helped unpack their belongings.

"Well now." Their Mom starts. "This is our new home. I know it isn't much but it's something right?"

" Basura ." Sarah said. The rest of the children chuckle.

"Sarah!" Their Mother glares at her. "All of you hush up, it's the best I could afford and who knows. With a little paint and maybe some care, this house could be worthy enough to call home." She smiles at her kids.

Lance didn't care how the place looked, he wanted to be back home, his home. The one they had to leave behind. Why did his Dad get to keep the house, and why did his Mom want to move so far from him? He huffs a bit knowing that no matter how much he hated the new city, which was larger than his old town, and no matter how much he missed home. He was going to have to suck it up and put up with this until he can leave.