All beautiful things must burn

chapter one

Thirteen years before
April 29th 1989

"I promise honey you'll love derry" my mother said as we got closer to the end of our very long 32 hour drive from my home town in Texas to a tiny little town in Maine.

I refused to acknowledge my mother because how did she know what I was going to love? She and my dad yanked me away from the life that I had in Dallas. A place that I did love full of people that I was going to miss.

They tried to tell me that it's because I didn't have a future there, despite me having college promising grades and a large group of friends that all wanted to do something big with their lives.

I saw right through what they tried to tell me. They didn't like my friends, the stuff I did or how i acted. That's why we were moving. But it wasn't my fault they couldn't handle me.

"Maybe you'll make some friends" my dad said and looked at me in the rearview mirror. I sknicked and rolled my eyes "if y'all want me to make friends why did you move me away from the ones I had?" I asked sarcastically and continued to look at my sketch that I was working on.

From what I could tell it was a boy, he was tall, lanky, had messy raven hair and had a lighter in one of his hands. I didn't add any face detail but when I started this sketch an hour ago, the closer i got to my new town the more details to everywhere but the face.

"We've been over this y/n we're not moving for our benefit we're moving for yours" my mother said and turned around in her seat to look at me. "You want to have a future don't ya?" My mother asked me then went to reach for my hand but I pulled away.

My mother pulled her hand back and looked forward. I didn't like being touched, I read somewhere that it was a fear called haphephobia. My mother didn't fully understand it but she tried to respect it. Mostly.

I continued working on my sketch till I saw my cat pop his head up over my knees. I put my sketchbook down and picked my cat up. His name was Jack I found him in an alley one night a few years ago when he was just old enough to survive with out his mother. He was eating a dead crow that he may or may have not caught and he had some of his left ear missing and bright yellow eyes.

I took him home that night and the first thing he did was scratch my dad's face and he still has the scratches till this day. My parents said I couldn't keep him but I did anyway. I kept him in my room so he didn't bother my mom or dad.

My mom almost threw him out when he brought home a baby bird and two mice in the same week. I told her that he only did it because he was hungry and they wouldn't let me get any food for him. I was allowed to keep him after that but in my dad's words 'he was my responsibility to keep alive'. After I started to buy Jack some food he still brought home small dead animals to me but we kept it from my parents.

We drove for a few more minutes till we came to a stop. The first thing I noticed about this place was that it was an older house. One that was built in the early 1900s. So even though it wasn't that old of a house it still had character.

I noticed a house across from mine one that had four boys on the porch. I paid them no mind and got out of the car. I threw my duffle bag full of my clothes over my shoulder, hanging off by its straps. I walked over to the back of the car and grabbed two boxes full of my stuff. Jack jumped onto the boxes and sat on them while I carried them. This cat was so clingy.

"Well aren't you helpful" I said sarcastically and rolled my eyes in a playful way. I looked over my shoulder once more to see the boys on the porch looking my way. I turned my head back around and began walking up the steps to my new yard, onto my new porch into my new house.