Chapter One
1221 Words
The music played into my earpiece as Dad drove to our new destination. Why was I even trying?
It felt like he wanted to ruin my life, on purpose.
I turned my head and looked out the truck's back window. Nothing but open road whirled by.
There wasn't another soul in sight. Just the pitch darkness of the road that reflected the loneliness deep inside of me.
I was fifteen, going on sixteen in a few months, and my life, ever since I could remember, had been like this, on the run.
Every three months, Dad would pack up and hit the road. Why? I had no idea, but it was getting tedious and something I was completely over it.
He acted as if the Devil were chasing us, but in honest truth, I was starting to believe that it was all in his head.
I couldn't wait until I was eighteen. I couldn't wait to finally start my life. To get rid of this constant uproaring.
Dad tapped my arm softly and I looked at him. He showed me to take out my earpiece and I took out the one.
"Do you want to listen to it on the radio?"
"No, I'm fine." I looked back through the window on my side and slumped further down in my chair.
He left me to be. Knowing that this was his fault. His fault that I had no friends, no social life, no nothing.
I closed my eyes and blew out a huge breathe.
I hated fighting with my father. It was so draining. It was probably one of the reasons Mom left us so many years ago.
I couldn't even remember her anymore. I was two, and if it wasn't for the picture I hid in my treasure box, I wouldn't even know what she looked like. He never talked about her and when I brought the topic up, he would shut it down faster than one could count to three.
It was becoming clearer each time Dad would make us pack up and fled why Mom left.
She was over it too. Why she didn't take her two-year-old daughter with her at that time? Now that was the million-dollar question.
One that probably would never get answered.
***
Someone shook me, and my eyes flew open.
For the love of blueberries! He wanted to give me a heart attack.
"Elena, we are here," Dad said calmly and climbed out of the truck.
The sun was already starting to rise. Orange with a hint of purple, colored the sky. My watch said it was around five-thirty.
l looked around and saw the trees first that was on the edge of the property. It was like a feature that came with all the places we rented, a nearby forest.
My mind made up so many reasons why a forest was always part of our new life. The possibilities were endless. At a time, I thought Dad was either a vampire or a werewolf that needed the forest to go hunt, but then again, I never saw a fang insight, and werewolves had the full moon thing, and Dad never left me by myself, especially during the full moons.
Still, it was creepy why trees or a patch of forest were always close by.
The house was big. It reminded me of a farm for some reason but there were no animals in sight.
It had a barn.
"Home sweet home," I whispered softly and opened the truck's door.
I got out and stretched my arms above my head. The air certainly smelled different here.
"Where are we?" I asked as Dad took one of his backs from the truck.
"Falmouth, in Maine," Dad answered.
Yay, Maine. The tone in my head was a sarcastic one. Just three months and then we definitely hit the road again.
I picked up my bag and followed Dad around the house to hunt down the front door.
At least we had neighbors. I could see the outline of their house in the distance.
Maybe this place wouldn't be that bad.
****
I rushed up the stairs to go choose a room. It would never be mine, but for the next three months, it would become my dwelling.
It was a lot bigger than my last room.
All our places had furniture. It wouldn't be wise to be on the run if you had furniture to drag along.
The sad part was, I had no bed to call my own, no belongings, except the few things that I carried along in a tin box. Mom's picture was among them.
I sat down on the bed.
It was one of those bouncy ones, the ones whose mattresses are so thick and heavy.
I took the tin box out of my backpack and opened the tin.
Mom's picture was the first thing that stared back at me.
She was really so beautiful. Had these long golden blonde hair, which we shared, and had the friendliest green eyes, which we shared too. Mine was just a different shade of green. A forest green, where her's was piercing grass green.
Dad was the odd one out with his copper hair and dark brown eyes.
I looked nothing like him.
I pushed her picture away and looked at the admit tickets that I kept. It was a great memory I shared with Dad. He took me to the carnival, I think I was twelve. It was the best time of my life. He was so relaxed and I really thought that we were going to stay, but a few days later, we moved.
The next piece that I treasured was a leather bracelet. Where I got it from, I had no idea. But it was exquisite. Not like the other bracelets they sell. I would know. I tried to find something similar in all the shops that sell bracelets since I could remember, and yet I hadn't found one.
It was something I always had.
I went through all my treasures and closed it. I put it under my bed. I needed to be grateful for what I had.
To stop trying to figure out the reasoning behind Dad's irrational behavior. He wasn't crazy, he didn't act like crazy people usually do, but then again, how did crazy people act?
He was just paranoid, and the reason was something I still yet to discover.
I knew it would be something probably worthy, Dad was as smart as a person could get. He freelanced most of the time and always worked from home.
Still, why he was paranoid around the three-month mark was a topic he refused to talk about. He kept telling me that I wasn't ready.
I wondered now if I would ever be ready.
I stared at the ceiling, with my earphones still in my ear. The music blared and for some reason, the melody seemed so familiar. It wasn't because I listened to this song a thousand times. It was a feeling that something about this tune felt familiar. Like music had a deeper meaning than just a girl listening to songs.
Like music was part of my life in a deeper way, a more spiritual way.
A tune suddenly popped into my head.
It wasn't the one that played in my ear, and I switched off my iPod.
I could still hear it. It always happened when I listened to a song on this level. The tune didn't belong to any song that I heard before. But it was so familiar. Like it used to be part of my life a long time ago.
And then, just like that...it disappeared.
- Writer
