Chapter 1- Our new home for six months
Cassandra
How many times have you moved from one place to another in just couple of years? I bet no more than my family did!
Moving had always been something that made me happy. Because every time we moved to someplace else, I had hope.
Hope for better. Hope for my family to be happy again.
And, the fact that my entire family was a bunch of crazies always helped through long journeys we covered together. It consisted of coolest dad in the world, a jock, a nerd, a cheerleader, and me who’s... well, still figuring out where I’d fit in.
Travelling to an unknown town or a state was always a chaos-- a fun chaos nonetheless-- as my dad tunelessly sang to any song that rang up on the radio torturing his vocal chords and us until we all joined him in singing to satisfy him, an older brother who cracked humorless jokes which only made him laugh, a sister who kept bragging about the trending clothes of the month or how she learnt to do makeup and cute hairstyles from YouTube all the while giving me steps on how to act like a girl, and last but not the least, my younger brother whose nose was always glued to a book tied to his hands while he narrated some gross and some awfully gross facts to no one in particular.
And me?
Well, I preferred to just observe you know--being on the sidelines-- and soak in the feeling of just being grateful to be here with all of them.
That’s us. And I loved us.
So, you see...? Why I’d never complained about moving.
Home for me was where they all were.
But, once upon a time we had a house we all called home. It was where mom and dad moved after their marriage, where Alden and I were born-- not literally, but you get the point. Where Tabby and Jamey found their safe place.
And we lived there till mom was alive. Her death broke all of us in ways we couldn’t heal. She was the strongest pillar of our home who held all of us in one place. After her, we all shattered. Crumbling and crashing. In our own ways.
After her we all were miserable for months on end. But someone had to get up and gather those broken remains so at least the healing could get started. And that was me. It was hard not to cry when I was alone and harder in front of my brothers and sisters. Watching them lose it and not cry was the hardest.
It took more than a year for my dad to snap out of wherever he was stuck after mom left. He’d lost his job by that time and we were barely surviving on the leftovers and what Alden could earn under the table since he was only 13.
And the worst was yet to come.
I blinked back the tears and sucked in a deep breath as I glanced outside the window at the open fields sparkling under the sunlight. At least they seem happy.
This time I hated the move. I didn’t want to move. There was no tuneless singing or humorless jokes or tips on how to become a girl for me.
I didn’t want to leave my dad behind. None of us did but we had to.
Just the thought of living without him, made me feel like someone just ripped out those shattered pieces of my heart and stomped on them, mercilessly.
I still reminisce the look in his dark eyes, as he started to tear up, his bush of brows drawn together when he spoke looking at all of us at once-- only he knew how he did that.
“Listen up... pumpkin, peaches, and smart-asses, come on here.” We gathered around him, anxious as to what he had to say, not having a clue why he felt so emotional. For a second, I’d thought it was about mom.
But I was so wrong.
“Listen to me very carefully because I ain’t getting sappy with you all again. It’d been sappy couple of years alright!” I had unintentionally smiled at that and Alden nudged me to stay put, we were supposed to be angry with him. So, I’d swiped off the smile and placed the poker face back on.
“I love you all very much but... after your mom, it’s been hard for me-- for us-- as you can see with all the moving around and barely able to earn two meals a day. But,” He paused to breathe, “all of this can disappear if I’ll take up this job offer in Westcosin. It’s really an amazing opportunity for us to start doing better, and those guys want my experience for their company more than I want this job-- which is why I can’t let go of this one chance.”
Couple of days ago dad got a call saying his work experience was exactly what they were looking for and they would like to give him a chance to work with them. I didn’t even think he would react over it since it was literally 1000 or so miles away.
Jamey crossed his arms across his bony chest and then uncrossed them, pushing back his eyeglasses higher up his nose and then crossed his arms again this time on his puffed out chest, muttering, “Why can’t you take us with you like before?”
Dad sighed and looked at him, “You just answered your own question, my smartass. I’ve been selfish enough to take you guys along on my failure path. Before all of this, y’all had a stable house and school and friends. But, not anymore. I hate that for you guys. I never wanted to let this happen. And now I’m putting a stop to it.” I knew what he meant, and I knew no one would say a word after that. And that’s exactly what happened.
So, he continued, “It’s only for six months kids. If I nail this, they’ll heir me permanently and then I can get the transfer. The pay will be good and by then Alden would have already graduated.”
He broke into a small smile, his eyes tearing up again.
“None of you will have to change schools anymore. You can make friends for real without the fear of being attached. And I want you guys to know how it feels to be steady again.”
Tears stream down my cheeks. My heart hurt.
“I want you to make friends and have fun and for once not worry about how to put food on the table every single day. Let me do this for you guys, okay?” A tear had strolled down his cheek, he stood up from the couch and opened his arms for us, goofily grinning, “Now give your daddy a choking goodluck hug.” We all groaned for at the dramatic flare but jumped at the given opportunity.
Someone vigorously shook my shoulders, yanking my earphones out. “We’re here!!” Tabby’s chirpy voice pierced my ears, causing me to wince.
I felt moisture in my eyes and before it could stroll down in tears, I rubbed at them, heaving a much-struggled sigh.
I knew I had to be strong for each of them. I had to play the Joker. Meaning, keep smiling and make everyone laugh. Not that I was complaining. After years of practice, it came naturally to me.
I glanced at my sister who was trying to put on bored expressions which contradicted her delirious goofy widened eyes. I yawned and she rolled her beautiful grey eyes at me with a shake of her head, “How nice of you to share the same enthusiasm as me.” Her sarcasm always made me laugh.
She huffed, pulled out a hand mirror from her bag then dug into her bag again grabbing what looked like a comb and a pink gloss.
“Ugh!” I growled, looking upfront at Jamey who as usual had his nose stuck in a book glued in his hands, his eyes moving frantically over the words as if the world was coming to an end and he had to finish it before that.
I sighed, sagging back in my seat.
I realized Alden had halted our old beat up Honda civic at the side of the road just couple of feet from the long black iron gates.
What’s the hold up? I looked around and found nothing trying to stop us. I stretched forward to talk to Alden.
“Alden?” I asked, poking my head in the middle of his and Jamey’s seat.
His eyes were fixed upfront. A nerve ticking in his hardened jaw. I had my eyes closed most of the time so I didn’t even see anything on our way here-- which now I thought might have been a mistake on my part. I tilted my head and then some more. My jaw hung open and my eyes widened at what I could see.
Jeez, this place seemed gigantic. Like mansions I’d read about in those cheesy rom-com novels.
Oh, my god! It was gorgeous and did I mention ginormous?
There had to be a mistake.
“Hmmm?” Alden replied a minute later, I had almost forgot what I wanted to say by then.
I swallowed the lump back down my throat, licking my lips.
My eyes still glued to the house, but I managed to chock the words out, “Where are we?” That’s not the question I previously wanted to ask but after glancing at the house it was the most appropriate one.
This had to be a mistake!!
This house couldn’t be the one. Blake Brinkley couldn’t be this rich... or was he?
My heart leaped in my throat causing me to lean back in my seat-- thudding loudly in my chest.
Alden turned his head around and then very slowly a scowl appeared on his face. “At fucking Brinkley’s house.”
I bit at my bottom lip while Tabby jumped chirping excitedly beside me. She grabbed my arm and gushed, “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? I bet there’s a pool too. Oh mi gosh!!! Can’t we just get out of this car already?”
Alden broke a sigh and turned the car back on. The guard on the gate let us pass-- seemed already informed about our arrival.
He parked the car in the driveway, where a guy with navy blue and white tux stood with a grin on his face.
Tabby opened her side door with a little more than needed force and jumped out, grinning from ear to ear. She fished out her phone from her back pocket and started texting-- probably to one of her friends back in Charleston.
I sighed and glanced back at Alden. His caramel eyes had visible bags under them, his brown hair were dishevelled to the point that it made me wonder if he’d ever used a comb.
Alden was touched hard by dad’s speech but not convinced. He didn’t want this. None of us did but, I could tell he already hated this.
He always despised handouts. I did too but I also understood that sometimes you must pick the thrown-out piece and eat it, to survive. But apparently this understanding lacked in him.
I could tell that he’d already made up his mind about this place, the people in this house, and this town.
I placed a hand on his arm and smiled. “We’ll stick together. It’s going to be fine.” He gave me a forced half smile and nodded.
“We always will.” Then he turned his eyes to Jamey and ruffled his unruly curly brown hair. “Right, kiddo?”
Jamey nodded, without even taking his eyes off of the book-- probably having no idea on what he just nodded.
Alden and I shared a knowing laugh. This was our Jamey.
Jamey’s light green eyes lifted and met ours and he grinned, and we knew what was coming, “Did you guys know the longest time between two twins being born is 87 days?” and that’s one decent fact he told in... ever.
We chuckled and shook our heads in response. We knew that was all for our conversation with him when he looked back down, tuning all of us and everything around him off, so easily. Sometimes I was envious of him for having that ability.
I feigned a huge smile and muttered, “Let’s go and say hi to our new home for six months.”
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Thank you :)
~D <3
