Max

Chapter One, Water Witch

The room was dark all but one light, it pierced into my eyes from its spot above the table where I was sitting.
"What's your name?" a voice rang
"Max" I answered.

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The moving truck was going over far to many bumps on the gravely road it was going down. All of the glassware in the back that was lose store in the center of cardboard walls had to be scratched up or even broken by now, and with every other bump they would get worse. I could just see the surface of the road from where I was sitting, if I leaned forward a bit and pushed off the seat a tad with my feet pressed into the glove compartment. Their were pebbles that were pushed into the dirt and grass that boarded the paved road but nothing that would be making the truck move the way it was.

I turned to face my dad, he looked nervous, sweat on his brow, his brownish redish hair messy, a lot messier then normal. He wasn't used to driving trucks like this, but we were trying to save money and he couldn't pay to add a driver to the truck so he tried to convince himself he could drive the moving truck alone. The car we had was a 2 door Fiat 500, this truck was a huge difference from what he normally drove. We would have to go do another trip in this truck to go and return it and walk to our old apartment in order to drive that Fiat to our new house. I was thankful the walk was only 15 minutes and the drive was about half of that.

"Why are we moving." I asked, it was less of a question and more of a statement because I already knew the answer. My dad sighed as he drove.

"You already know the answer to that question Max." he informed me, I crossed my arms and tossed myself back onto my seat, slouching so the seat belt was at my neck.

"Oh, I know you have answered this question before but I don't believe the answer so I want to hear it again." I argued back. My dad groaned and rolled his eyes, he had been doing that a lot lately. He didn't answer my question and the car was silent again.

"I don't get it - you and mom fight all the time why was this time different?" I growled, I could see my dad wanted to look at me and give me a talking to but he kept his green eyes on the road and raised his voice so that it would still carry to me as it would if he were staring at me.

"Max, first off parents aren't supposed to fight all the time, and second your mom got on my last nerve. You wouldn't understand, your too young. Just know what I'm doing is for the best." he replied. I examined him briefly. His hair was a disaster, he had bags under his eyes, his skin looked paler than normal and his clothes were wrinkled beyond repair. He looked awful, there was no way this was 'for the best' like he said. Ever since that night where him and my mom had that huge argument he had been a grumpy, annoyed, depressed dad. He barely felt like my dad now, and I actually hadn't addressed him as such since that night.

'The reason I was with him was because you ignore me!' mom screamed, I couldn't see her through my bedroom wall but I knew she was stomping her feet.

'Just because I'm busy with work doesn't mean this whole thing is my fault!' dad replied, mom made a noise of frustration.

'It is all your fault! If you actually loved me I wouldn't have to go and get drunk and find it somewhere else!' she yelled, soon the voices got quieter and I couldn't hear them anymore, and this was when dad actually came into my room and told me to go to sleep. He tucked me in and kissed me on the forehead and told me he loved me, and this was the last time he had done this since that night.

"Max, I know this is hard for you, but I promise you will like the new house and I promise everything will get back to how it was before." he told me, I was ignoring him now, just flicking at the grime on the car door, the bottom of the window was lined with it. Dad drove a bit faster now, undistracted as I wasn't speaking to him the rest of the way to the new house. We soon pulled up to a building that had pink siding and white trim, along with a sign right out front that read "Pink Palace" on it in fancy writing. When we pulled into the driveway, I felt like dying.