HEAVEN; e. cullen

one

Sitting in the passenger seat of the cop car my dad had picked me up in, I watched as the grand redwood trees whisk by me, the Pacific ocean glittering past the cliffs we drove on. The road glistened from the rain of the night before. The radio was playing softly as I stared out the window, overlooking the details of Washington.

We were headed to Forks, a small town outside of Seattle. Everyone knew everybody here and it was quiet and quaint. It was almost like the town I had grown up in in Virginia, but only this time, my dad was the chief of police. Knowing everyone here was a given, however, I only came for the summers after my parents' divorce so I only knew a couple of families.

"You ready for school tomorrow? Bella is going to be there. Maybe you two can do girl stuff and shop around town. The school has that homecoming in a couple of months." My dad was trying to make conversation clear more of the awkward tension. It wasn't really working. I didn't even think about homecoming so much, more like hoping to graduate early and move to Seattle after high school.

"Not really, Bella is the only person I really know and she doesn't talk to me much." Bella was the daughter of one of my dad's friends and I've only talked to her here and there or whenever people came over during the summer. She was the same age as me and only the other girl in this town willing to talk to me. Bella was quite the introvert and it was weird to have her talk to me first. My dad didn't respond back and that was the end of the conversation about school. Good effort from Charlie, I suppose.

I call my dad 'Charlie' as it was the only name my mom would refer to him, not as 'your father' or 'your dad'. It became a name that I used here and there but it was mostly to give my mom relief against the grudge she held against my dad after the divorce. None of it ended pretty from what I remember and it's still pretty prevalent today.

Charlie pulled up to the small house and I noticed the exterior of the house seemed more gloomy but the smell of rain was comforting, to say the least. Same old white-colored house with no foliage surrounding the porch. The atmosphere surrounding the house was different from the warm, however wet, summers I stayed here with my dad.

"You go ahead inside, I got you some more stuff for the school year," my dad said as he grabbed the last of my bags out of the trunk of the sheriff's car, "I didn't get any clothes or feminine whatevers, but I hope you like it."

I walked into the house and walked up the stairs to my room that I had stayed in. Opening the door, it was actually not too bad than what I had in mind. The walls of a yellow-tinted white room with an already made bed and moving boxes scattered around.

"I got you some better sheets, the other ones were pretty old since you only came for the summers. Wanted it to be more homey." My dad scratched the back of his head like talking about bedsheets was embarrassing.

"No, thanks, it's nice. I'm glad you got me all this stuff." I fall back onto the bed and feel the soft duvet warm my skin up. For the first time that day, I felt exhausted as I laid down.

"Okay, well, I'll let you get settled and everything." Charlie's footsteps were heard descending down the stairs. The noise of a baseball game was immediately present followed by the sound of a beer can opening.

I sit back up and look around my room some more. It had some more knick-knacks than the summer I was here as I usually kept it bare. Picture frames of photos predivorce were placed along the dresser. Twinkling lights sparingly pinned above the wooden bed frame I was on. I walked over to the boxes that had been sent over and started to unpack the rest of my things and I heard voices downstairs in the living room.

"Hey, Gwen! Could you come down for a sec'? There's people here to see ya." Charlie called up the stairs and I dropped the clothes I held to see who was here. Slowly going down the stairs, I see a man in a wheelchair and a boy with long hair standing and talking to my dad.