(I Just) Died In Your Arms ~ Stanley Uris

029

Julia's POV

It had been a couple weeks. Winter break had started without my knowledge since I wasn't attending school anyways, but I'd expect the losers to come visit more that they weren't chained to school. I couldn't blame them though, the hospital was such a dreadful place that brought too much sorrow. Still, I missed them.

But today, I wasn't in the hospital. For the first time in weeks I was finally outside the perimeter of the hospital grounds, sitting in my aunts blue mustang. My belongings from my old house were all in a moving van hooked up to the back her car, packed away in boxes during my stay. I had no clue what my house was going to look like, but I hoped it would be much better than the dirty apartment I used to live in. I also prayed it would be closer to my friends' houses.

My scar finally closed up, so the hospital no longer had a need for me there. I was finally ready to go home.

"Ready to go, Julia?" Bethany asked, putting her keys into the ignition. I stared up at the milk colored building, glancing at the brick rimmed windows and navy blue awnings.

"Yeah." I nodded, clutching the gauze packed over my incision sight for precaution.

The engine sputtered on, and the car rolled down the hill east of Derry, turning sharply onto Route Two. I rarely ever saw the outskirts of Derry, the land separating the big city from the rural town was merely rolling hills of green, white now since the most recent snowfall. I touched the window with my fingertips, we'd be home in a couple of minutes.

How am I already calling this new house my home without even seeing it? I had no idea where it's even located, because my aunt left that up to surprise. I hoped it wasn't another apartment. Anything that reminded me of that crappy place, I wanted it gone.

I was tired, eyes forced open so I would fall asleep against the window of the car, excitement preventing me from doing so. I perked up once she turned onto a road lined with great big houses, the type of houses where the perfect families I envied live in. I couldn't believe that a person like me could live on a street like this. They were perfectly aligned and all had cream colored fences, but all of it's walls varied from house to house. The house we finally stopped in front of had grayish blue walls and freshly paned windows,  a color depressing to some but brought me joy. I loved the color.

After examining my new street in awe I realized the only flaw with the perfect houses. A couple homes down was a familiar cherry red door, and a straw-colored hair boy was out in the front, watching on his bike. Stan was my neighbor.

I couldn't bare to acknowledge him, since I was actually enjoying having a new place to call home. I didn't need the bickering, the shouting, when we couldn't even get further than a hundred feet of each other.

His eyes were wide, full of shock and disbelief, standing there with his bike underneath his hands. I turned a blind eye, ignoring him as I walked into the house. I couldn't lift anything for another week, so it was my aunts job to lift up the boxes.

My smile returned as I stepped foot into the living room, something which I never had. There was two big leather couches and a reclining chair in the corner, the type you'd only see in movies. The TV was the like the models you saw in magazines that you knew that you couldn't afford. The kitchen was that out of my dreams, marble countertops and a big oven full of potential. The downstairs looked so lovely, so much so that I couldn't wait to see my room.

I rushed up the stairs, like those kids in movies on Christmas Eve. The walls were all a pure snowy white, the banisters a deep brown with smooth edges. The upstairs was just as spacious as downstairs, high ceilings with hanging lights. There was only two bedrooms, but seeing how big the living room was they must be huge.