DEEP

1. A New Beginning

It's the first time that I'm so far from home. Even though my desire to escape from my hometown has always been there, I didn't have the courage to leave it all behind and face the unknown. Changes are always scary, and the bigger they are the more they can terrify you.

I've always lived in Philly with my mother, in a flat of a few square metres located between Feltonville and Frankford. During the week she works as a hairdresser in a beauty salon, but I perfectly know that the proximity to the neighborhood of Kensington allows her to 'round up' on weekend. Her salary was never enough to meet all the expenses and Lord knows what happens to the extra money that she'll never admit to earning. In my small way I've always tried to help by doing odd jobs like office cleaning or library helper, but even the little money I could scrape together only end up in her vices.

Ever since dad left leaving just his denim jacket in the closet, mom hasn't been the same. Her absent gaze never interested in me again and drowning her pain in alcohol and antidepressants seemed to have become her only consolation.

Despite my attempts to talk to her, to help her, all she could see on my face was my father's. Maybe 'cause of my dark eyes, maybe 'cause of the nose shape so similar to his or maybe just because I was the only thing that still tied her to him. She probably started hating me, day after day. The physical, living proof that her husband had been in her life and that he was still out there. It must be that half of my DNA that pisses her off.

And I was just getting tired of it.

Tired of having to look after my mother like I'm her own. Of going home and finding her unconscious on the living room rug, with the cigarette still burning between her fingers. Tired of being yelled at when the money wasn't enough to pay for her stupid Friday's Chinese or being hit by objects during her fits of rage. I always thought I deserved more from this life. Some peace, at least.
So, I decided to leave. Making up every penny, I bought a plane ticket to the exact other side of the country. No matter where, just the first plane that would take me far enough away from her, and fate choosed Seattle.

Making some phone calls I was able to find a small apartment in the Capitol Hill area, but in the hurry to find an occupation I've not yet managed to arrange all my stuff.

I've been here for four days now and I don't know anyone. I don't have a single friend who can help me, just point me or cheer me up telling me everything's gonna be okay, but this morning I was lucky enough to find a job at a diner near my apartment. It's a really nice place. The owner is a 74-year-old lady named Meg and somehow she reminds me of my grandmother.

It was about ten in the morning and I was walking around my new neighborhood looking for some job ad, when I found one attached to the glass door of what I then discovered to be Meg's diner cafè. I crossed the street and, after peeking inside, gently opened the door by ringing the bells.

"Good morning..."

"Oh, hello darling! Please, take a sit! What can I get you?"

I smile, approaching the counter.

"Nothing, actually. I saw you're looking for a waitress."

She looks at me up and down.

"I do, actually. Have you ever done this before?"

"Yes, ma'am. I worked in a restaurant during the summer in Philadelphia."

"Philly, uh? And what brings you here to Seattle?"

This is a difficult question to answer.

"I just needed changes in my life. A change of scenery, you know."

She looks at me in silence for a few seconds, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"You here all alone?"