everlong ; sal fisher x reader

chapter 1

"rise and shine, sleeping beauty. we're here."

"..huh?" i was rudely awoken to my mom opening the car door and announcing our arrival to our new home; a small town called nockfell. i looked behind her through the door and at the apartment complex. it looked dingy and old. maybe even haunted.

"is this it?" i inquired, unbuckling my seatbelt and stepping out.

"sure is. addison apartments, paradise on earth." mom replied, rather unenthusiastically.

the only reason we had moved here was because both my parents had lived here when they were young. they moved to new york when they turned 18, got married, had me, and everything was fine. but after my dad got sick, his wish was for us to move back to their hometown.

and so, i left the loud, restless city, and ended up in a small quiet town that probably has tumbleweed blowing down the streets.

i peeked through the back window of the car. "where's all the luggage?"

"i took it up already. could have been nice to have a little help."

"you could've just woken me up earlier, y'know."

"it's fine. i got to meet a few people so it wasn't totally bad. let's go, my back hurts."

"wait. where's my guitar?" i asked, with a sliver of panic in my voice. i had sworn that it was sitting next to me in the backseat.

"it's leaning up against the boxes with all your shit by your room, don't look so worried." i heaved a sigh of relief. my guitar was my most prized possession.

i picked up my earbuds attached to the ipod. after making sure my phone was in my pocket, i pressed shuffle on my playlist. everlong started playing. my favorite. i began to follow my mom into the building, the elevator, and finally the 3rd floor. she was stopped by a janitor with long brown hair that was mopping up what looked like fruit punch. poor lady. the stain looked pretty bad.

i assumed that this is what my mom was referring to when she said she met people while taking up the luggage, by the way they were able to strike up a conversation so fast. i felt a tap on my shoulder, followed by mom pointing at her ears, signaling for me to take out my earbuds.

"this is my daughter, y/n."

"well aren't you a cute one? i'm lisa, i live down in the basement. it's real nice to meet ya." lisa smiled warmly at me.

i smiled back, a little surprised at how kind she was. "it's nice meeting you, too."

"i think you and your mom will do great here. there's a few boys around your age that live here, including my son. very nice, i assure you. i'll tell larry to drop by and say hi when he gets back."

boys? ew.

"oh. i'll keep an eye out for him, i guess."

"i'm sure you will y/n." mom gave me a weird look. "anyways. we gotta go and unpack. bye lisa."

"see ya!" lisa waved and kept mopping.

we had finally made it to our new apartment. it was pretty much what i had expected. it wasn't horrible, but i could definitely get used to it. there was different boxes in different rooms, and sure enough, my guitar was in it's fabric case by the boxes next to my new room. i bent down in front of it, running my fingers over the name, 'rosemary' that was stitched onto the case in shiny grey thread, with stars in red thread around it. after naming my guitar, stitching it onto the case felt sort of like an initiation. kind of like naming a child. i picked up rosemary and set it down on the wall opposite of the boxes by the other side of the door. i reached for a box, but mom swatted my hand away.