Never Alone

(Kenzie)

I heard the moving truck before I saw it. I glanced out the window as I continued to scrub the dishes in the sink. I saw a big U-Haul truck pulling into the house across the street. Intrigued, I watched as the truck pulled in and a black Chevy pickup followed the truck onto the driveway. I sighed as I returned back to washing the dishes. I had to finish before Luke came back.

“It’s probably some old geezers again,” I muttered to myself, not getting my hopes up again. A couple years ago, when I was fifteen and had just moved here and was desperate for any kind of friends, someone had moved into our neighborhood, I got my expectations up and thought they had a child my age. Turns out it was only Mr. and Mrs. Overchock, an elderly couple who likes to argue loudly at night.

Every night.

Our neighborhood wasn’t the best for people with kids anyways. Generally, if a family wanted to move, they would not look her for their first option. Uncle Luke and I lived in one of those neighborhoods. Yeah, those.

The inner-city kind that when you drive by you subconsciously imagine getting jumped by a group of thugs and an involuntary shiver runs down your spine and you drive a little faster. Most people immediately assume that because we can’t afford to live in the suburbs with all the soccer moms, we are automatically bad people who do awful things.

Some of us are, some of us aren’t, just like anywhere else in the world.

It wasn’t the cleanest place, both literally and figuratively. Our house, however, was on the higher side of the cleanliness scale. Most of the surrounding houses were run-down with boarded up windows and yellowing lawns. The consensus around here mostly consisted of older men and women who rarely left their little burrows and middle-aged men who didn’t know hygiene if it was wearing a name tag and slapped them in the face. A few families were sprinkled around the neighborhood, whom I occasionally babysat for for extra money.There is a dingy, old gas station about two houses down, but the only good thing they sell is their slushies. I, at least, try to keep the house looking halfway decent. It wasn’t a mansion by any means, or even nice, with its peeling white paint on the exterior and ugly, gross yellow wallpaper that ran throughout the house. The furniture had seen better days and the TV looked like it belonged in the eighties, but it was clean for the most part. Not that Uncle Luke contributed to that.

But, it wasn’t all bad here.

There was a vintage-looking bookstore by the gas station that I worked at some nights. It had a warm, clean atmosphere that the rest of the neighborhood lacked and I craved.

The neighbors made living here a bit more bearable. Sugar Cane next door was absolutely lovely, even if she might have a questionable, some might say even immoral, lifestyle. She had bright red hair like me and she had a tendency to have spontaneous ‘real life lessons’ that she says and I quote, “You ain’t ever gonna learn this in school, so I might as well teach it to you now, sugar-cup!” For a thirty- four year old, Sugar Cane was a little ray of sunshine in the bleak gray that my life had transformed into over the past two years because of Uncle Luke. Also, there was Fingers, who’s real name was something like Harold or Henry. He had a tendency to take things, no matter the worth, that didn’t belong to him. He returns the stuff he takes, eventually, but sometimes it’s not always in the same condition he found it in. One time, he took someone’s gardens decorations for a couple of day and returned them in obscene positions on their front yard.

We all got by on our lives and we didn’t complain about it.

At least most of us.

Loud yelling sounded from across the street, which caused me to raise my head again, snapping me from my wandering thoughts. My eyes widened when I took in the sight of my new neighbors.

‘They’re all teenagers’ I thought, ‘Well, except for that guy, he looks like he’s twenty.’ I chuckled at the giant who seemed out of place with the rest of them.

The first person I noticed was the shortest out of all of them. She looked a little shorter than me and she had waist-length wavy brown curls. She had a beautiful mocha complexion but I couldn’t quite make out the rest of her features from this far away. She seemed to be trying to calm everyone down, her hands moving in placating gestures towards one of her companions. The girl she was talking to, a much taller girl next to her seemed to be in a very heated argument with one of the guys leaning on the pickup. The other girl was about the same height as the guy she was arguing with. She looked to be Korean with long raven black hair that reached her waist. She had gangly limbs that were flailing around as she was yelling. She was yelling loudly and gesturing wildly with her hands at the teen in front of her.

The guy seemed to just smile at her and egg her on. I chuckled lightly at the scene. The more he didn’t react, the more she reacted. I finished washing the last dish and set down the sponge. I pushed my bright red curls out of my face and dried my hands off with the towel by the sink.

I looked back out and found them still arguing. The guy seemed pretty tall, almost taller than the truck he was standing next to, and he had dark brown dreadlocks. He had a similar complexion to the shorter girl and was wearing a Jamaican beanie over his head that seemed a bit too big for his head. It was rumpled slightly with distinct holes throughout. I laughed lightly when the smaller girl jumped up and grabbed the ears of the tall girl and boy and dragged them to her level to yell at them. I could faintly hear her voice but I couldn’t make out the words she was saying.

I looked over to the man standing beside them, chuckling on the sidelines. He was taller than all of them which made me assume he was older. He was very attractive from what I could see from across the street. His dark cocoa complexion shone in the bright Arizona sun. He was muscular, similar to the other guy who was now holding his head in obvious pain and looked thoroughly scolded as did the taller girl. The smaller one looked accomplished with herself and walked off smugly. I chuckled again and thought ‘They must be really close.’

Suddenly, the front door slammed open and I grew stiff, my smile gone. I heard his heavy footsteps before I saw him. I stole one last glance at the teens on the other side of the street. They had stopped and were now looking over at my house, obviously wondering why the disheveled man next door just slammed the door and curiosity got the best of them.

‘Please let this be quick.’ I pleaded in my head to nobody in particular. Suddenly, the guy with the shining smile whipped his head and connected with my line of sight. I knew he could clearly see my face from the widening of his eyes at my frightened expression.

The footsteps stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and I inhaled a deep breath.

‘Don’t show it, don’t show it,’ I chanted internally as I met eyes with the man who has made my life a living hell for the past two years. I gulped as my uncle staggered his way into the kitchen, clearly intoxicated. I could almost see the scent of alcohol wafting off from him. The smell burned my eyes.

“Where did you go?” he grumbled, almost incoherently.

“I had to go to school to get my-my schedule for school this year.” I stuttered out, quickly glancing down to the floor so I didn’t make direct eye contact. He moved a step closer and the scent of alcohol and smoke grew stronger.

He scowled and gritted out, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I couldn’t believe him. I leave one day before he wakes up, which is around noon, and he’s mad at me but he’s fine with me working until midnight?

I stared at him with disbelief, “You weren’t even awake, uncle." I spat the last word with as much venom as I could muster. “Don’t pretend you would have cared either.” I added, my earlier fear and hesitation gone.

He blinked seeming to remember that small fact. The alcohol seemed to be doing its job at impairing his brain.

Unbelievable.

He shook his head then glared at me again, “Did you clean the house, girl?”

My temper flared, “What am I, your maid?”

He took a menacing step forward and deepened his glare, “Watch your tone!” he gritted out.

Maybe I should have backed down. But I was tired of obeying this drunkard. I was almost an adult for Christ’s sake.

I stared him in the eye and stepped closer.

“You can go to hell, you old drunk!”

Next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the room. My head pounded and something trickled down my face. I tried to think, but the room seemed to spin. Then it hit me. The old bastard had thrown into the wall. I felt a sting where he grabbed me on my arm.

I reached up and felt my forehead and looked down at my hand and seeing blood. My blood.

“Don’t ever speak to me like that again, selfish brat!” he screamed, hurtling the beer bottle in his hand at my head. I ducked just in time but the glass shattered above me and fell into my hair. I reached up to grab a piece but pulled away when I felt a sharp sting across my hand. I winced as I examined the cut. There was a gash extending from the bottom of my index finger across my palm.

I glared up at him and he sneered, “I’m going out,” he gestured to the kitchen, “Clean this up before I get home.”

He walked back out, slamming the door behind him again.

I stayed there, leaning back on the wall which now had a new dent in it from my body. I stared at my hand, watching the wound slowly drip.

‘I hope this doesn’t scar like the last one’ I thought internally.

I got up and checked my face in the mirror in the hallway. There was a cut above my eye and I could tell there would be a bruise on the right side of my face where I connected with the wall. I knew the bruise and cut wouldn’t heal fast.

I shivered, remembering a memory that I was trying so hard to keep in the past. My father. I still have nightmares about seeing his body.

He was supposed to be working late that night, at the bar he bartended at, so when he didn’t come home while I was awake, I thought nothing of it. But when I woke up and found him still not home, I went to the police. I had an awful feeling, but I tried to brush it off and kept on reassuring myself that he was okay, then a police officer told me they found a body with no I.D. I prayed to whatever god there was that it wasn’t him.. They didn’t hear me.

I wiped away the tear that threatened to fall. ‘This is why you only have two friends. You’re so goddamn depressing all the time.’ I chuckled wryly to myself and pushed away the haunting memories.

I head back into the kitchen and start cleaning up all the glass and plaster. I manage to get all the glass out of my unruly hair. I cleaned up the last bit of plaster when I heard a knock on the door. It caught me off guard and I walked to it, trying to figure out who it could be. It’s not Drake, he’s at some college class for the summer. It can’t be Mason because he’s visiting his probation officer, Brian, and Brian’s family. I always laugh at how close he is with his probation officer. It’s definitely not Uncle Luke because he wouldn’t knock.

I finally get to the door and stop abruptly in front of it when I hear unfamiliar voices.

“I think you are hallucinating. I didn’t see a girl in the window and neither did Skye or Clark,” a soft feminine voice says.

“Sierra, I know what I saw. And anyways, those two were too busy fighting over who was going to get the big room to notice anything,” another voice said, this one much deeper and obviously male.

“Hey!” two voices chorused in unison, one male and one female.

I heard a light knock and then one of the guys lowly say, as if he could sense that I was on the other side, “Hey, we can come back another time if you want.”

I took a deep breath and hesitantly opened the door. I slowly poked my head out to see them and my anxiety levels skyrocketed. I wasn’t usually shy around people I knew but meeting new people made my head hurt and my mouth go dry. I looked up to meet their faces.

“Hi.” I said but then wished I could take it back because I sounded lame to myself.

‘You are lame.’ my subconscious said.

The tall Korean girl stepped forward. She smiled and greeted, “Nice to meet you, I’m Skylar but just call me Skye.”

I smiled back slightly, “McKenzie, but everyone calls me Kenzie.”

The other girl walked up and smiled too, “I’m Sierra.”

‘Do they all have smiles glued to their faces?’

I nodded, slowly inching myself outside. Then I heard Sierra’s sharp intake of breath and I suddenly felt the pain on my face rush back full force and I realized I forgot about the cut from the wall.

Damnit.

I automatically looked down and avoided eye contact.

I heard “What happened to your face?”

I looked up at the voice which sounded like one of the guys from Dude, Where’s My Car? and saw it was the guy with dreads. I noticed he had a slight accent but it was very faint. He had playful features and seemed to be one of those who was always ready to smile.

Suddenly, I saw Skye smack him in the head and yell, “Shut up, Clark.” ‘Was she always this aggressive?’ I wondered.

She went to hit him again but he ducked this time.

I laughed quietly.

Sierra and the other guy turned towards me. “Sorry about that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“I’m Adrian. Nice to meet you, McKenzie.” he smiled, showing off a set of pearly white teeth.

I gave a small smile back.

“So Kenzie,” Sierra began, snapping my attention away from Adrian, “do you go to Jackson High?”

I nodded, “Yes. I’m a senior this year.”

Sierra squealed, “Really? So are we.” She gestured to Adrian and Skye and Clark who had somehow managed to start a fight about who had to go grocery shopping, “Even though some of us don’t act like it.” Sierra forced a smile.

“Are they siblings? They don’t look related,” I asked but then regretted it when Adrian and Sierra turned back to look at me, eyebrows raised at my blurted out words, “Not to assume or anything. That was insensitive I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

Adrian cut off my rambling with a laugh, “You aren’t the first person to think that, Kenzie. Yes, they’re siblings.” All of a sudden Skye and Clark’s conversation gained volume.

“I want to go because you never buy the right kind of chips.” I heard Clark yell.

“And you don’t get anything except chips, idiot!”, Skye replied.

Adrian turned back around and faced me, smiling and looking embarrassed. “They’re adopted.” he explained.

“Do they always argue like that over everything?” I asked.

Adrian smiled fondly at them, “Usually. Although, today is worse since they’ve been in the truck together for about two days.”

I nodded smiling. Suddenly, a phone started ringing loudly in the quiet neighborhood. It took me a minute to realize it was mine. My face flushed bright red as I reached for my phone in my back pocket. I looked at the caller I.D. and saw Mason with a picture of Mason, Drake, and I at Christmas last year. Mason was smirking while Dylan was blushing bright red from when Mason and I surprised him at his job. Although at the time, he failed to mention exactly what his job was. We were equally parts delighted and surprised to see Dylan in an elf costume, helping little kids with the store Santa.

He hasn’t lived it down yet.

I pressed the button and greeted him, “Hey, Mason.”

“ ’Sup, Red,” his deep voice was loud in my ear. He wasn’t yelling but whenever I talked to him on the phone, he seemed way louder than he usually was. I blame my sensitive ears.

“What do you need?” I asked knowing Mason hates technology, besides Skype, and would only call if he needed something.

“Can’t I just call a friend to say hi?” He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, “No.”

He laughed, “True, very true. Anyways, I’m coming back today and Dylan isn’t back yet. Can I crash at your place?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you just go to your house?” I asked.

There was a pause and I almost thought the line dropped but then he spoke up. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?”

“How hard I was rolling my eyes at you,” he responded, “Did you somehow forget that I was staying at my crazy aunt’s house and for some reason she doesn’t let me in unless she caught wind that child services was coming to check up?”

I facepalmed, both mentally and physically. Sierra and Adrian looked confused and I could still hear Clark and Skye arguing in the background.

“Yeah sure you can crash in the guest room.” I answered, feeling my cheeks heat up when Adrian shot me a curious glance.

I zoned out of what Mason was saying and looked over Sierra and Adrian as they watched Clark and Skye form my porch. Adrian was breathtaking. I couldn’t see it form the window but he was very handsome. I couldn’t believe he was my age. He just looked older or maybe it was just because he had a certain air of maturity. He was taller than me by aa good foot maybe more and had lean muscles, which I could see clearly under his white t-shirt. He returned my gaze and we kinda just stood there. I realized his eyes were crystal blue and it struck me as odd at how warm his eyes made me feel.

Then I remembered Mason.

“Huh,” I shook my head at my train of thoughts.

“Red, I know you haven’t heard a word I just said.” Mason sighed but I could hear his smile.

“Nope.” I admitted.

He chuckled, “I was saying that I was five minutes out but now I’m almost to your street.I’m hanging up now Red. Dylan’s calling and I know at least he will listen to me when I talk.” he said dramatically.

I rolled my eyes when I heard the click. I glanced at Sierra and Adrian.

“Sorry about that. It was my friend, Mason, he needed a place to crash.”

Sierra nodded but I swore I saw a flash of something in Adrian’s eyes. I just couldn’t tell what.

I turned my head when I heard a truck turn onto the street. I smiled thinking it was Mason. But as the vehicle got closer, I recognized it.

“Shit,” I mumbled as Sierra and Adrian turned to see what I was looking at. Clark and Skye had calmed down and were now talking placidly on my front lawn, “You should leave.” I said to Sierra and Adrian, trying to avoid anymore conflict.

“Why?” I met the concerned gazes of Sierra and Adrian.

“Please.”

The car turned into my driveway. The guy got out of his car and everyone was silent for a moment.

Then he said, “Who the hell are all of you?” Uncle Luke growled.