Bumps in the Road °l.h°

november 16, 2013

I stepped out into the crisp, cool November air taking in the sight of my new house. The dread and anxiety of entering this place overwhelmed me, making my stomach churn. It was a large, pale yellow house with a wrap-around porch. The many windows that covered the house were clad with white shutters. By all means, the house was absolutely beautiful. It's only flaw was the purpose of me being there.

My mom married my terrible step-dad, Kalvin, about a month ago. She met him just a short time after my dad died in a car accident two years ago. A truck driver lost control, swerved into oncoming traffic and straight into my dad's 2011 Ford Escape, killing him on impact. It was a hard time for my mother, sister and I, to say the very least. But everything turned around for mom when she met Kal. He made her genuinely happy, but he made sure every second she had her back turned that he made my sister and I's life complete hell.

"Welcome to your new home, girls," Mom squealed excitedly as she practically ran toward the house she now called "home". Kal ran up behind her, placing his hands on her waist and kissing her neck, which made me shutter in disgust and look away. The absolute weirdest part about having Kalvin around is how young he is--holding only eight years over my staggering eighteen. He's young enough to be my older brother. My mother is forty-seven while Kal is only twenty-six. My little sister, Emma, groaned from beside me and I let out the tiniest hint of a chuckle. "It's not funny, Ella. It's disgusting," she rolled her eyes harshly. Emma was definetly hit the hardest after dad died. She was only thirteen and she did everything with dad.

Emma decided she wanted the room the furthest away from mom and Kal. The two of them made it no secret that they had sex-- unnecessarily loud sex. It was gross. I chose the room straight across from Emma just to be closer to her. Despite the three year age gap, Em and I are really close and I love it. She is without a doubt the only reason I'm still sane.

The room I chose was medium in size, which is perfect for me, with creme-colored walls and dark furnishings. It had a large window overlooking the entire street. Trees littered the edges of sidewalks and the yards of neighboring houses. The season had changed most of the leaves to various shades of orange, red and brown. I took a seat on the edge of the full-sized bed and glanced out the window, only to lock eyes with someone-- a boy from the house directly across the street.

The exchange lasted no more than four seconds before the boy disappeared into the darkness behind him. I gazed at the boxes that surrounded me and thought about their contents. My old life was in those cardboard boxes. I get a fresh start over 200 miles from my home of Albany, in Portland, Maine, a place I hadn't known even existed until it was announced that we were to move here.

The dread of starting in a brand new school for my senior year came over me. A new house, new school, new friends all in the matter of a month. My mind wandered to Emma, who would have to start as a sophomore, and I pitied her. At least for me, if this year sucked as much or even more than I expected, I don't have to go back. But Emma would unfortunately have to finish high school here. High school is already hard enough without having to worry about fitting in with a completely new group of friends in an entire different state.

In the midst of unpacking my clothes, I heard a knock on the front door. I tried to peer out my window to find out if I could see whoever it was from there, but was not successful. I decided to head downstairs to see whoever it was who had decided to pay us a visit. While in the hallway, I heard a few unfamiliar voices ring through the air. I slowly creeped down the stairs, attempting to remain undetected until I wanted to be seen.

Mom stood in the foyer with Kal, a blonde woman and two blonde boys. One of the boys being the same boy I'd exchanged eye contact with from the window earlier. He was the only one who noticed me coming down the stairs and he made it no secret that he knew, staring at me all the way down until a creak of the stairs alerted everyone else of my presence. Mom was quick to introduce me before offering the strangers tea, which they gladly accepted. The boy and I remained in the foyer while the others proceeded to the kitchen.