Three's Company

2.03 | An Abnormal Start to an Altering Day

An Abnormal Start to an Altering Day

new: [noo, nyoo]; adjective; of a kind now existing or appearing for the first time; novel.

    5:49 was far too early for Nova to wake up on her own.

    She was in an old hotel, lying in the same bed as her mother and younger sister, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. The hotel was the best that the Desai's could afford: unwashed sheets and blankets, pillowcases that smelled like smoke and cigarettes, a ceiling that was stained with all manner of terrible-looking colors, and a carpet that was littered with crumbs and strange sticky areas that the three Desai/Brannon girls had learned how to avoid.

It was the absolute best that they could do, as her mother, Brittany Brannon, had been making minimum wage while supporting two growing daughters for eleven years.

    Her mother had come from a well-off family that had a hard time asking for help, even when there was a dire need for it. Her father, Joseph Desai, a name that was forbidden from being spoken in front of her mother, had been the complete opposite: he was completely comfortable with taking handouts from everyone and anyone, but a hard time paying them back in time.

    Eventually, it had all caught up to him. Brittany had told her eldest daughter, years later, that she had seen it coming for months before it had happened. But she didn't do anything about it. Because pride is a very fragile thing, and Brittany Brannon had more pride than anyone Nova knew.

    Nova could hardly remember her father, as he had left the family when she was six years old. She remembered bits and pieces, fragments of memories and flashes of faces. The first day of her life that she could remember with vivid accuracy was the day that he left; the day that her mother had stayed in her bedroom, crying for sixteen hours. Nova had fed Natalie, her sister of just one year at the time, her bottle and played with her until she fell asleep, listening to the hushed sobs of her mother in the next room.

    She hated her father for that.

    Brittany Desai became Brittany Brannon, and her life became a constant back-and-forth game between caring for her daughters at home and working consistently to provide them with a home in the first place. And eventually, it all became too much.

    Their house was taken from them on Nova's sixteenth birthday, and they were thrown onto the streets of California to fend for themselves. Brittany continued to go to work and Nova would take Natalie to parks and beaches and anywhere that was free. She would do her best to keep her little sister from feeling the reality of their situation.

    But the gravity of it always hit Nova when she laid down to sleep at night, her head resting on a pillow made of trash bags and her blanket nonexistent.

    As she laid awake at 5:49 in the morning, in the most disgusting hotel she had ever stepped foot in, Nova realized that she was lucky her Uncle Bart had called their old brick phone on Easter Sunday. He had called to wish them a happy Easter and was confused by the constant blaring of horns in the background, serenading his sister's words.

    It took half an hour to get all of the information out of Brittany, but after learning that his extended family was homeless, Bart insisted that they stay with him and his family until they could get on their feet again. Before Brittany could protest, he had said that he would send three plane tickets to a local hotel for them to pick up. And Brittany had no choice but to agree.

    With the plane tickets, which arrived a month later, came three iPhones with data plans already covered, an envelope containing $1500, and a letter from Uncle Bart with their address, phone numbers, and general information. The Desai girls began to get back on their feet.

    Their things would be moved into the Brannon's home while Nova and Natalie were at school that day. Their first day of school. Their first day living anywhere but California. Their first day attending any school away from their friends.

    Nova laid in bed, at 5:49, a million thoughts running through her head. She would be in a new school, in a new state, on a new side of the country. She had no idea what to expect, and the only person she knew in the school was a cousin she hadn't seen in years. A cousin who she was pretty sure was some sort of genius kid who would take one look at her and laugh at the stupidity that was practically oozing out of her.

    But at least she had someone.

    Nova hoped that she would be able to get something out of this new school, and the only way she knew how was with a musical. Back home, she had participated in every school musical throughout high school. She had played Chip in Beauty & the Beast as a freshman, the only freshman to receive a part in the main cast. She had played the fairy godmother in Cinderella as a sophomore, and had her first lead as a junior, playing Ariel in the Little Mermaid. Musicals were her home, and if this new West Virginia school didn't have one, she wasn't sure if she would be able to adjust whatsoever.

    Nova glanced over at her sister, sleeping soundly beside her, and her mother, snoring on the other side of Natalie. Nova had almost been pushed off of the bed numerous times in the week that they had been living in the hotel, but that was all ending; she would no longer have to worry about falling into a sticky pile of what smelled like year-old maple syrup every night.

    She was ready for what the new school year would bring, because she was hoping that it would just bring two things: a musical and a home. There was nothing else that she wanted, nothing else that she needed, in her life.

    Nova sat up in bed at 5:50 and walked to the bathroom to begin getting ready for the day, stepping around boxes and stains and smells as she went. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, long and hard, staring into the green eyes of someone who had been to hell on a handcart, and who was only just now beginning to ride the other way.

Remember (to all Dear Sydney readers) to check it out on Goodreads and leave a review! The link is in my bio.

Also, feel free to check out my short story "Sunset", up now on my profile!

-Katherine