The Scarlet Chamber

Chapter One: Vile Taste

Authors Note: If there are any strange inconsistencies in the story don't fret those were intended and will be explained later...

"Aaron! Are you dressed?!" Yelled a voice from downstairs unknowingly falling on deafened ears. Aaron sat complacently on top of his blue sheets happily blasting music inside of his headphones. Music was a gateway for Aaron a portal to escape the confines of reality and it was at times like this he really wished music was a portal to a different world. Tonight Aaron was being dragged to their neighbor's house for dinner, something about their daughter returning from a long trip or something. Aaron didn't understand why they had to go after all he barely even knew these people and now they were being invited over for dinner? Aaron smelt something fishy and not just the Salmon casserole they were bringing over.

Suddenly the door to Aaron's room flung open a red and hunched-over woman standing inside the doorway. "Aaron! I've been calling you for five minutes! We are running late so put on that damn tie and get in the car!" Ties. The bane of his existence. In Aaron's opinion, clip-on ties were fine, simple to put on, and most importantly served the EXACT same purpose. Still according to Aaron's mother, clip-on's didn't look as fancy or some other line of bull. In his defense, regular ties required a level of coordination and patience he just didn't possess.

Begrudgingly Aaron rolled out of bed and onto the cold hardwood floor. "We're leaving in five minutes." His mother said as she frantically tapped her brown leather watch. "You BETTER be down there!" Like a Titan with drums for feet, Aaron's mother stomped down the stairs a certain weight in the way she walked. After more than a few failed attempts, Aaron successfully tied his red and blue striped noose around his neck in the narrow amount of time allotted to him by that feral beast he calls his mother. Slinging his headphones over his neck Aaron hastily ran downstairs and out the front door, their family's blue 2016 sedan an unwelcome sight in the driveway.

Imagine the frustration when he pulled on the door handle only to receive no response.

"Of COURSE it's locked!" Aaron's foot met the door with a loud bang a large dirt footprint visible on the paint. Suddenly the loud reverberations of an engine tore through the air followed by the burning sensation of smoke. Aaron's head was Pitched upwards at the sight of a large U-haul truck its worn orange paint and ghastly engine indicative of its age. Hastily it sped down the street bouncing in the air as it hit potholes as well as some kid's bike.

New people moved in all the time sure, but this one caught his attention. The condition of the paint and engine was terrible and the carelessness of how it drove was even stranger. Those things he might have ignored not all details are worthy of recognition. But when the truck stopped down the street THEN he was intrigued. Gazing down the long row of street lights Aaron surveyed the scene of blue collars. They were carrying in some brightly colored furniture, posters, and what looked like some clothing. He could be wrong but it seemed that they were carrying things for a girl's room. "Of course!" Aaron thought back on his mother's words. In truth, he wasn't paying too much attention but he did remember her saying that their neighbor's daughter was returning from a long trip.

"They must have shipped in her stuff..." He mumbled under his breath. "Come again?" Startled Aaron whipped around and formed a finger gun at his mother her ear inches away from him. "O-oh. I was just talking to myself." Unconvinced Aaron's mother waltzed over to the driver's side door before letting her son inside as well. The smell of dried bleach stung Aaron's nose as he entered the car a short and silent ride awaiting the duo. He wondered what these people were like, Were they nice? Is their house inhospitable? Are they secretly a reclusive cannibal cult? Who knows? But more importantly, what was their daughter like? If she was around his age he was guaranteed to be paired up with her at some point. Not like that! More like when the adults want to talk about adult things, so they dump their children off on each other and tell them to poke their eyes out with sticks for an hour.