I stared out the window, out at the sheet of never ending gray clouds and endless mud puddles and rain drops as my iPhone music was on as loud as it would go.
"How could she do this to me?" I thought. "Take me out of sunny Los Angeles to this," I glower at the window. "rainy Washington State." When she said "Washington" I imagined D.C., or Seattle, but no. She meant the-middle-of-absolute-nowhere- La Push. Not only is it in the middle of nowhere, but it is freezing. It is a Native American reserve. That's the other thing. We aren't even Native American, we are Argentinian! I sighed angrily and rolled my eyes for one millionth time since she told us we were moving, which was soon followed by a smack to the back of my head.
"Ouch! Mom, why did you do that?" I yelled, clutching the back of my head.
"Abril, I swear, roll your eyes one more time; that was just a warning." My mom threatened me, keeping her eyes on the misty road ahead of us.
"Ugh…" I murmured. I kept my eyes on the window also. Soon, we passed through a small town called, "Forks."
"What a cute town!" My mom cheered, smiling. "Te gusta? (You like)?" She asked, looking at me.
I took the earphones out of my ears. "It is cute," I admitted, looking at the small shops with wooden bears on every porch. "but not to live in." I quickly added darkly, placing the earphones back in my ears. I started to pick at my pink nail polish, listening to the song, "Replay by Iyaz." Now all I saw were monumental pine trees speeding by. The dark most wood started to blend together with the dark green pine needles. Soon enough were on a narrow road. One side was the forest of huge pine trees and the other had a shiny, metal guard rail blocking cars from a sharp cliff that lead to a navy, gray cold ocean and a rocky beach.
"Wow, that's the beach, isn't it?" I thought. Even more disappointment seeped into the pit of my stomach. When I needed it most, my phone died.
"Fuck my life…" I whispered, ripping the earphones out of my ears and tossing my phone into my Love Pink carry-on bag that was at my feet.
"Abril, who said you could talk like that?" My mom yelled at me. "Stop being such a drama queen! You have been like this the whole drive up here. Moving is better for our family, why are you being so selfish? You think that moving isn't difficult for me? I left my parents, my sisters, my brother, my job and where I grew up. I bet that you only miss your drug addicted friends and that trashy school that you went to." I stared at her in disbelief. I was at loss of words.
"'All I miss is my friends'?" I quoted her, blinking slowly. "What about most of my family? Your parents happen to be my grandparents. Your sisters and brother happen to be my aunts and uncle. Their kids happen to my cousins. That school is where I always brought home A's on my report card. Those friends were the ones who comforted me when you and Papi divorced. Here, I have no memories. No place to look back and be proud of myself for. So, get your facts straight. Also, Papi just got his life together. You aren't the only one hurting, either. What about Angelic? She just started to get used to playing with the little girl that lives upstairs. Who lives here to play with her?" Taking a much needed breath, I tied my dark brown mess of curls into a messy bun.
At this point, my mom was in tears with her jaw clenched, and the guilt was so strong in the air, I could almost smell it.
Because of our excessive arguing, my little sister woke up crying. "Abby!" She whined, stretching her pudgy arms to me, squeezing her hands together. I turned in my seat, and held her hands.
"Abby is here." I crooned, rubbing her hand with my thumb. She stopped crying, but we still held hands.
"Thank you." My mom whispered. "We are almost at the house." I rolled my eyes, but because my head was turned, she couldn't see.
Sure enough, we were on the road of our new house, and a few seconds later, we turned into a driveway that contained a huge moving truck. I let go of Angelic's hands and grabbed my carry-on bag opening the car door. I got out of the car and stretched my legs, arms, and back. I crouched down and pulled the lever of the seat, moving it forward, so Angelic could get out of the car. Once she got out of the small, pink Volkswagen Beetle, I slammed the door and looked at the house. It was medium sized brick house with a medium sized front porch, a medium sized garage, and would soon be home to a medium sized family.
I inhaled the smell of firewood, coldness, forest, and clean rain. It was better than inhaling polluted heat, illegal street venders and marijuana, and smog. I sighed and made my way to the medium sized front door. Soggy earth squished underneath my multi colored DC's. As I was walking, a clean mist rose from the pine trees and felt refreshing on my face. The air was much cleaner hear than in L.A. Finally reaching the porch, I hopped up the stairs and opened the wooden front door revealing my older brother Thalis writing a check and a moving man standing in a fully furnished living room.
"Hey, Thalis." I said to him, carelessly waving. He looked up from his checkbook.
"Hey, Abby!" He tore the check out of the checkbook handing it to the mover.
"Have a safe drive." My brother said to the mover as he headed out the door.
"Thanks, man, enjoy your new house." The man shut and front door. My brother and I watched him make his way to the truck. He pulled out around my mom's Volkswagen Beetle and my brother's black Mazda 6. We then looked at each other with same look of disappointment. He half smiled at me as my mom came in with our suitcases. She set them down in front of the door and wiped some sweat from her brow. She walked over to Thalis and kissed him on the cheek.
"How are you? How was the drive? Did everything go okay with the moving people?" My mom shot down questions like a machine gun shoots bullets, but Thalis wasn't intimidated.
"Fine, good, yes, in that order." He replied grinning at her. My mom smiled. Before she could say anything else, Angelic toddled into the room from outside clutching her teddy bear that we bought for her in the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
"Thalis," She screamed, running towards him.
"Ang," He yelled back, lifting her into the air. Her laughter filled the room that was empty of emotion. He flew her around in circles, making her scream happily. I grew tired of this, and I wanted to isolate myself in solitary confinement.
"Thalis, can you show me to my room?" I asked, lifting my assorted Victoria Secret's and LOVE Pink bags from the carpeted floor. He looked at me skeptically and set Angelic down.
"Sure," He said, taking a few bags from me. "Let me help you." I nodded. He stepped in front of me leading me down a hallway that was to the left of the front door.
"Bathroom," He pointed to the first door on the right. "Angelic's room," He pointed to the door next to the bathroom. "Mom's room, closet, basement door, which is also my sanctuary," He pointed to three doors on the left. The first was my mom's room, the second was the linen closet, and the third was Thalis' room/basement. "And here," He began, opening the door at the end of the hallway. "is your room."
My room was fully furnished and set up just the way I had it back in LA. My four poster bed was up against the wall opposite the door, my leopard print bean bag was to the right of it, my white night stand was to the left of my bed which had a lamp on it, my desk was against the wall next to my door which had my purple desk lamp and Mac Pro on it, and my dresser and flat screen TV were against the wall that my door was on.
I stepped into my room, dropping my bags.
"Wow, Thalis, it's perfect." I murmured, staring at everything. "This is just like the room in-"
"In LA?" He cut me off, leaning against my door way. "I know; that's exactly how I planned it to look." He set my bags down. "Are you okay, though, Abby?" He asked, his face filled with concern.
I bit my lip and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine." Thalis looked at me and closed the door behind him.
"Are you okay?" He repeated. I walked over to my bean bag with my carry-on bag in hand. I plopped down on it, setting my bag aside.
"No, I'm not." I replied, feeling tears build up in my throat. He walked over and sat on my bed.
"What happened on the way up here?" he asked. I took a deep breath and felt a surge of adrenaline rush through my body just thinking about the ride up here. I prepared to tell the story.
"Let me start by saying it friggin' sucked," I began. He nodded. "When we got to Sacramento, I was getting really pissed off and started an argument by telling mom that this is the worst thing she could do to me. Then she yelled at me and smacked me. We got into a huge argument which caused Angelic to get scared and cry. Mom yelled at Angelic to be quiet, so I yelled at her for yelling at Angelic. She told me to mind my business, so I stopped talking to her. Angelic fell asleep for about an hour and woke up crying because she was hungry and had a wet diaper. By this time, it was about 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning. So we stopped, ate, and mom and I switched places, so I drove for a while. Mom had to pee, so we went to go to the bathroom and we switched again. Now it is about 10 in the morning. After that, we got into another argument, stopped, and Mom gave me the cold shoulder all the way up to Seattle.
"But when we got to Forks…? She acted like nothing happened!" I flopped back on my bean bag with tears streaming down my face. I took a much needed breath, and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I glanced over at Thalis who was wide eyed.
"Damn," He muttered. "The worst thing that thing that happened to me was that Tia Josefina kept texting me and talking shit about mom, and Carmen called. I looked at him skeptically. Carmen was his girlfriend that I didn't really like. He sighed. "She wasn't bitchy, she was just worried." I relaxed.
"I see." I leaned over to get my bag; I fished through it to find my phone and charger. Finding them, I plugged in my phone to the charger and plugged my charger into the outlet that was conveniently placed beside my bean bag. My phone turned on, and I had 13 new text messages saying something along the lines of, "I miss you" "I loved you" or "summer will be boring now, thanks."
"Great," I said sarcastically. "Everyone misses me." I locked my screen and set my phone down. Thalis was playing Angry Birds on his phone. I observed my room closer. Beside my dresser were two doors. I assumed they were closets.
"Thalis?"
"Yes?"
"Please explain to me why I have two closets? Or is one of them a furnace thing?" Thalis laughed and shook his head.
"Dear, one of those closets is really a bathroom." He got up and opened the door closest to my dresser. My own bathroom? Yay! Nobody will bang on the door telling me to hurry up or anything! At least this day is going somewhere now! I got up and skipped to the bathroom. It had a shower, toilet, and a big counter and mirror. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had mascara streaks on my cheeks and my hair was messy. I turned on the sink and wet my hands to wipe the make-up from my face. I undid my bun and shook my hair.
"That's better." I whisper. "Maybe I should look around; get some fresh air?" I think. I shut off the light and close the bathroom door, pushing passed Thalis. I walk over to my bean bag and unplug my phone. "I'm going for a walk."
"Ok." Thalis says, leaving my room. I follow him out and close my door. Entering the living room, I see my mom cooking through a window in the wall that leads to the kitchen.
"Mom, I am going for a walk, okay?" I call to her as I open the front door.
"Ok, don't get lost." She replies. I slam the door shut. I unwrap my headphones from around my phone and stick them in my ear. I unlocked my phone and chose to listen to Eminem. I cranked up the volume until the bass thudded in the back of my skull. I walked on for what seemed like a mile, when I noticed something; silence. Not silence as in my music stopped, silence as in no one was around. No homeless people begging for money or people wearing strange outfits, just me, my iPhone, a few houses, and the forest.
Sucking me back into reality, someone tapped on my shoulder scaring me so bad I screamed. I turned around to see a copper-skinned girl of about 18 smiling at me.
"Hi, my name is Leah Clearwater. Welcome to La Push."