Man Down

Chapter Two A Dreaded Place

The drive was long and sickening, Kristen could feel the possibility of going for visits disappearing as the hours passed. Each mile distancing the possibility of returning. She was going to make her mom regret the shopping trip offer just out of spite. Kristen was not known to let things go; this certainly was not going to be the exception. With each mile passing the anxiety filled her stomach with dread. As over dramatic as it seems she felt she was living in her own personal hell. She could not bear it anymore, counting the hours, the minutes, and the miles was taking a toll on her heart. Maybe if she slept this would all disappear.

She had awoken to truck doors slamming shut.

“shouldn’t we wake her dad?” said logan in a worried tone, was he actually being a caring brother for once?

“No, let her rest.” Dad said patting logans shoulder “your sister is not taking this move well; sleep might lessen the chances of the devil coming to play.”

As if. Although joking, Kristen did not find this in the least bit funny. She knew everyone eventually had to leave their childhood homes, but she had hoped It would be on her own terms. She sat in the car while her mother, father, and brother carried the stuff inside the new house. She could hear how happy her mom was, which softened her heart a bit. She stared at the trees that surrounded the property, the sun that poked through the trees. It really was beautiful. She heard her dad step out of the house and down the steps that led into the house. He was on the phone with the movers, there had been a delay. Kristen could see the frustration building on her dad’s face. He was scratching the back of his head and cussing into the phone. He turned and saw that Kristen was awake, his expression immediately shifted to excitement. He began waving at her like a mad man with a wide grin and motioned for her to come inside.

Reluctantly, Kristen opened the door and turned to face the house. She could see the appeal, but she would not be won over that easily. She walked into the house and was immediately greeted by the ridiculously high ceilings that her mother could not stop fanning over. The first room was a huge living room area with a grand fireplace. The room adjacent to that was the dining room it was quite small compared to the grandness of this house, and through a swinging door was the kitchen. The kitchen was filled with so many cupboards, she didn’t know what her mom could possibly fill all of them with. It had seemed like a ridiculous amount. There was a beautiful marble island in the middle of the kitchen, Kristen knew this would have been the main selling point to her mom despite her inability to cook.

“Kay, come check out the bathroom!” echoed her mom from a room a little bit down the hallway.

Kristen walked down the hallway, she had high expectations for this bathroom based on every other room in the house she had visited so far. It was everything she expected it to be. The biggest tub she had ever seen, surrounded by beautiful black marble. Kristen was most excited for that; she would be needing to soak away lots of stress after today.

“When we get back from the mall maybe you could use it to de-stress!” her mom suggested, Kristen was thinking the exact same thing.

Kristen smirked to herself. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after-all, but in true Kristen fashion she could not admit that yet. She quickly wiped the smirk off her face and began sulking again. She was not ready to admit defeat, no matter how dramatic she was being. Teenagers.

“Hun! I’m going to take Kristen to the mall to cheer her up, want me to grab some dinner on my way home?” her mom asked her dad.

“Yes! That would be lovely dear!” dad responded.

“Ok just text me what you want!”

Kristen’s mom grabbed the car keys from the kitchen island and her purse. Kristen followed her out to the car already knowing what the car ride would entail. Mom had always taken the private drives with Kristen as an opportunity to have deep discussions so Kristen couldn’t retreat. Although this time, Kristen was ok with it. She needed to talk, she had so many questions. They hoped in the car and her mom turned the ignition, it started, and they pulled out of the driveway.

“Kay, I know you’ve been taking this move really hard. But I want you to know that we are all here for you and you’re going to like it here. I just know it.” Her mom said to her.

“I know…” Kristen began “I just wasn’t ready for this; I know I will be ok it’s just hard saying goodbye to everything you’ve known.”

“This shopping trip is definitely what you need!” her mom exclaimed trying to lighten the mood “I was thinking you could use some pampering, it’s a lot moving and starting at a new school in the same week! I was thinking we could go to the nail salon and maybe get your hair done?”

Kristen smiled at this; her mom was right she could use some pampering. She was nervous about school and maybe the superficial things would help her feel a little bit more confident. Fake it till you make it she thought.

They pulled into the mall parking lot, it was huge and was packed full of people. Her mom got out of the car and Kristen followed. Their first stop was the salon. Kirsten had decided she was going to get some highlights and a classic white acrylic nail. White made her look a bit more tanned than she actually was, at least she thought it did. When they were done, they went into a few clothing stores, her mom had picked out some clothes for her, but you could not get Kristen away from her usual look of black leggings and hoodies. She did humour her mom however by getting the pair of glittery strappy sandals she had picked for her. They next went to a jewelry store and Kristen had gotten some new earrings and a few bracelets. By then end of it, Kristen definitely cheered up, there was a coffee shop in the mall, and she had sat at one of the tables waiting for her mom to grab their order.

“So, mom,” Kristen began as her mom sat down with their drinks “what will this new school be like do you think?”

“I am not too familiar with it, but the staff seem very nice” her mom responded taking a sip of her coffee.

Her mom’s phone began to vibrate over and over, so did Kristen short seconds after. Must have been the family group chat. They both looked down and sure enough, her father and her brother were arguing about what they wanted to eat. Logan wanted pizza and dad wanted to try something new that we couldn’t get where we lived before. Kristen and her mom looked at each other rolling their eyes and giggling. Dad finally decided he wanted to try this little Greek restaurant that had good reviews and logan reluctantly agreed, luckily, they also served pizza. We made the drive back home with all our shopping bags in the back and the food was hot on my lap. As they pulled into the dark driveway, Kristen felt a feeling of dread in her gut. She would have to sleep here, she missed home even more now. She wanted nothing more than to return home. They exited the vehicle as her father and brother came down to help with the food and the bags.

“The movers won’t be here until tomorrow.” Dad said in a huff.

“Well good thing we went shopping then.” Her mom chuckled “did you see your daughter’s hair?”

“Looks great kay!” her dad began “are you feeling a bit better now?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Said Kristen

They all sat at the dinning room table in the empty house. It gave almost an eery feeling to the place. It felt as though they didn’t belong, like intruders into someone else’s empty home. Kristen took the last bit of her food to her room; her father had laid out the blankets on the floor for her since her mattress wouldn’t be there until tomorrow. At least she would be at school while her dad put all the furniture together, she couldn’t handle that amount of chaos right now. She turned out the light and began scrolling through her phone, her heart sunk when she saw her old friends at, what appeared to be a fair in her hometown. Kristen’s body filled with a hot burning anger, she slammed her phone next to her and rolled off to attempt to sleep. Kristen would not be getting that much sleep tonight, she had too much on her mind. What was her new school going to be like? Would she be able to make friends in the last year of school? Would she find a date for prom? What are city boys like? Would they like her? In her old town Kristen was used to being liked, and everyone knowing who she was. It was a small town Afterall. After several hours of tossing and turning, Kristen had finally drifted off to sleep. she didn’t like not knowing what comes next, she liked to be ready for anything and everything. She enjoyed routine, she liked knowing what came next. She had no idea that this move would change her life in more ways than she would know, and in more ways than she could ever possibly prepare for.