Bear with me here in the beginning. It starts out somewhat slow.
Please review. I lose interest in things easily so I need to know if there's any interest here at all, so it would be fantastic if you'd give me your opinion.
This story is based off of Demi Lovato's song Heart Attack.
Things I don't have:
Money (Like, any)
A boyfriend (Shocker)
A life (Obviously)
Ownership of Twilight (I might have all of the above if I did)
"Has anyone seen my phone?!" Vera shrieks from the passenger seat, whipping her head in all different directions in search for it.
My mother flinches at the volume of her voice "Vera. Please. Not so loud, honey."
Vera ignores her "You don't think I left it at the rest stop, do you? No, I couldn't have. I just had it a-"
She was cut off by a loud annoying female voice singing "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard!" I feel a vibration under my butt -a sensation I am not used to feeling- as the singing got louder. I pull out a gemstone covered iPhone out from my downstairs area; before I could hand it to her Vera snatches it from my hand with a glare.
"Why do you have my phone?" she asks accusingly, holding up what looks like the Barbie Dream Phone.
I blink "I think the bigger question here is why you have My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard as your ringtone." I deadpan.
"Whatever." She concludes. The next Bill Gates, ladies and gentlemen.
"Could you guys just shut up?" Vera's twin, Lissa, asks impatiently. Except Lissa has a way of asking things in ways that sound more like demands. One of her many talents. "I have tryouts tomorrow and would like to get at least five minutes of undisturbed sleep."
I roll my eyes and put in an earbud as Vera sits back against her seat "As long as this biz-natch refrains from stealing any more of my things, we'll be ok."
"Ok, for one," I start, slightly impressed at her proper use of refrain "We switched seats at the last pit stop because you claimed that sitting in the back was "deflating your hair bump" so you just had to sit in the front for the sake of your pretentious Jersey Shore hair do. Which means you probably left your phone back here to begin with." I sit up a little straighter "And second, biz-natch? Really, V? I thought even your pitiful brain could come up with something better than that. Last time I checked we were in high school, not some teeny bopper junior high. Holy h-e-double-hockey-sticks."
"Girls, don't start." Mom reprimands as Lissa groans angrily next to me, pushing her sweatshirt over her ears.
Vera turns so fast in her seat I swear I could hear her miniscule brain rattle in her head "What is your problem, Preston? We get it, ok? You have no life. You don't have to take it out on the rest of us. It's just sad, really, you trying to take your frustration out on others. You know, maybe if you did your makeup correctly you could hide those droopy eyes and puffy cheeks of yours. A guy might just glance your way."
That one stung a little. My sisters and I are always going back and forth, especially me and Vera. We all know what button to push. I fall back into my seat, feigning defeat "Well, sugar-honey-iced-tea. You got me there."
Vera opened her mouth to reply, surely it would've been brilliant, but Lissa interrupted by shouting "Are you kidding me right now?! I didn't sleep at all last night and probably won't tonight either, so all I'm asking for is some peace and quiet but you two are too busy acting like children! You guys are so selfish!"
April, my younger sister pops up from the very back of the suburban "What is with all the shouting?"
"That is it!" My mom has finally had enough "The next person who speaks will be grounded until they're thirty."
Lissa murmurs something that sounds like "Finally" while Vera huffs and sends a glare my way. My clueless little sister shrugs and flops back down on the seat. The car was filled with a heavy silence. I really do hate road trips.
Our family never used to be like this. I mean, yeah, we had the occasional fight over the bathroom or a lost item but that was usual when six girls lived under one roof.
What was that? Oh, no, you heard right. I have four older sisters and one younger sister, all of us being very blonde yet very different. You know how they say opposites attract? Yeah, well that guy must have had an IQ equivalent to Vera's.
If I'm being completely honest, the fighting started getting bad when the second oldest sister, and my personal favorite, Henley, moved out. She's older than me by four years, Lissa and Vera by about two. Henley kept us all united, even when the eldest, Madyn moved out. There was always something about her that kept us sane. Her humor, her positivity, her blunt accusations. Or maybe it was just because she gave all of us a common enemy: Lupus.
Henley was diagnosed with Lupus Erythematosus when she was 12 years old. For those who have no idea what that is, I'll give you a basic rundown. Hell. It's hell. It can cause butterfly shaped rashes over the cheeks or skin exposed to the sun. Luckily my gorgeous sister never had many problems with that symptom. For her it's mostly joint and chest pains when she breathes too deeply or exhibits strenuous movements. The anemia that came with the disease often causes her to be cold or get excruciating migraines. She even started losing her hair at one point. She has "remission" periods but there are also those times I fear for her life.
In all, Henley's Lupus gave us something to unite against. None of us could bear the thought of losing her. But in our battle, we didn't realize one of our troops was lagging behind.
My father had a heart attack a month after my fifteenth birthday. He fell into a coma just hours later. In those two weeks we waited for him to wake up, I realized that there are two types of waiting. There's the waiting you do for something you know is coming, sooner or later- like waiting for Madyn to pick me up from school, or April complaining about nothing being on TV, or maybe even being invited to Madison Evans party. And then there's the waiting for something you don't know is coming. You don't even know what it is exactly, but you're preparing yourself for it. You're imagining your life differently. That's the kind of waiting that makes a fist in your heart.
I like to think I wasn't waiting for my father's death. But if I'm being completely honest, it's what I expected. I have a hard time with hope. You see, each sister has a quality about us that sets us apart from the others. Lissa is bossy while Madyn is constantly calm. April is scary observant and Vera is high maintenance. Henley is wise beyond her years. Me? I'm disappointed. Always left disappointed.
XXX
The house is pink. Like Easter egg, ten-year-old-girl's room pink.
We all pile out of the car in silence and stare at the horror that is our new home. Granted, it's cute. The white picket fence across the porch is a nice touch, along with the girly doily things connected to the thin pillars. It stands in a tiny neighborhood in front of the forest. Cute house, awful color.
My mom broke the silence by murmuring "I thought it was white." She turns to us and gestures to the house with her arm "Well? What do you girls think?"
I see April tilt her head to the side from the corner of my eye as Lissa narrows her eyes in thought. I pop my gum. "Well, I think it's adorable. Small but cute." Vera concludes. Of course she does, it's dumb blonde blush.
"Ok!" mom says enthusiastically, moving toward the house a little "I realize it's smaller than our old house and a little… flashy, but come on guys! It's…" she pauses to examine it again "quaint."
Our last house, located in Sacramento, California, was large enough that each of us could have our own room. Of course, that was when we were a two income household. What they fail to show in the movies is that when a family member dies, their insurance doesn't always cover everything. Especially when they don't take out a life insurance policy. Which, of course, my father did not do.
Dad was a salesman, the best in California, actually. He was the main source of income since Mom's job as an Algebra teacher only went so far. I wouldn't necessarily say we were rich, but we always had spending money. That says a lot considering how many people we had in our family.
Now here we are: Forks, Washington. The "cute" little town in which my mother grew up in and our Grandma Selma still lives. Mom thought it crucial to be around family we barely even saw.
Honestly, this whole experience makes me want to jump off a bridge.
"Well," Lissa says unsurely "I guess it could be worse. We might want to do something about the color, though."
"That's the spirit!" mom cheers. Barf.
April shrugs as her reply, nobody really expected anymore. April is the strong, silent type; she gets it from our Grandpa Carlos. She's gotten a lot quieter since Dad's passing. Probably the only one in the family who doesn't give their opinion on a daily basis.
I felt my mom's eyes on me. This is where my life gets complicated. Well, aside from the long distance relationship between my refrigerator and me.
My mom used to be outspoken and opinionated. Henley and I were a lot like her in that way. When us girls started fighting, she'd put a stop to it immediately. I remember when Lissa and Vera were into dressing up in the same clothes to try to trick people. That ended when Dad told Lissa to clean up her room, only he really said it Vera. They were devastated, which never really made sense to me since their goal was to confuse people.
Nonetheless, after the incident they tried to be as different as possible. Being they still had all the same clothes, they fought over who got to keep or get rid of what. They handled it as well as two nine year olds could. That was until they were sorting through their shoes. A pair of sparkly red ballet flats our Grandma Selma sent them for Christmas. They'd gotten the shoes because they resembled those of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. My mom was so tired of the constant fighting so she did the only rational thing. Threw them away. Well, one pair. So Vera and Lissa were forced to share.
Now her patience level borders on Saint Status and she barely has the energy to stop us from arguing. I, on the other hand, am still the same opinionated, blunt individual I've always been. I constantly walk on eggshells around her. The last thing I want is to cause my mom more pain.
I feel my sisters' eyes on me as I open my mouth to speak. It's like we all knew I'd say a dick thing before I made any noise at all. Which I did. "It's a vagina." I state simply.
I felt Lissa cringe next to me as my mom made a face. Of course I couldn't stop there "I mean, seriously. I can't be the only one who thinks so. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure this is close to the color of mine."
I may have forgotten to mention something before. I'm an asshole.
Not only do I lack the filter from my mind to my mouth, but I also have an uncanny ability to make everything tense and awkward. Just a few talents of mine.
My mother's face fell slightly and Vera murmured "Nice one, gothasaurus."
"The color is just a minor… flaw. It can be repainted. Besides, it's a fresh start! A new beginning! The house is just a start." Mom says, frantic to get my approval.
Lissa puts her hand on our mother's shoulder "It's great, Mom. I'm sure Preston is just tired and cranky from the trip. Right, Pres?" she glares daggers at me as she speaks. Well, excuse me.
Not liking the desperation in Mom's eyes, I nod "Yeah. You know how I get when I'm stuck in one place too long. And I'm on my period. Vaginas are the only thing I can think about right now considering mine feels like it's about to fall off." I totally could've left it after mentioning my slight ADHD, but my brain just doesn't work that way. I am full of fun talents.
Used to my over-explanations, my mother smiles brightly and gestures to our "new beginning". "Well? What are we waiting for?!"
Our furniture had arrived and been unloaded a week prior, the only thing left to do was arrange it the way we liked and personalize the house. Not an easy task when you live with three opinionated teenagers and an adult who refuses to help resolve conflict.
We spent the rest of the day rearranging the house to our liking and unloading the rest of our belongings from the car. Around six we decided to order pizza since the amount of food in our house bordered on Mother Hubbard.
After everybody turned in for the night, Vera making a big production about getting her "beauty sleep" and me claiming I could wipe off 75% of that beauty with a wash rag, I headed to my new room. If I'm being completely honest, I really do like the house. Its originally three bedrooms, two bathrooms but it has an attic that April quickly claimed and a basement my mother graciously offered to take. It was small, especially for the five of us but Lissa and Vera are seniors and will be (hopefully) leaving next year. But with Vera's grades, I don't know.
I'm embarrassingly smart. Not really because I study all the time but because I have a photographic memory and can remember everything I've seen, heard or felt. It comes in handy taking tests.
Needless to say, I don't really question myself if I see or hear something out of the ordinary. So when I heard a strange rustling sound outside, I freaked out slightly. By slightly I mean shrieking and falling off my bed. I quickly pause my iPod that I had playing softly on some old speakers and listened carefully.
Maybe it was because it was my first night in the new house, or that we lived next to a fucking forest but a wave of paranoia came over me. If I were being rational, I'd realize that this was a small ass town where everybody knew everybody. I'm pretty sure my Nana would've told us about any stalker or serial killer living in the area.
Because I'm me, unrealistic fear washed over me as I heard another rustle.
Now, I'm not proud of this, and if anyone ever asked I'd deny it but I actually threw myself on my bed and brought the covers over my head. I don't ever remember being such a pussy.
The rustling continued and I tried to pinpoint where it could be coming from and what could be causing it. The tree just outside the house? My sisters doing God knows what in the next room? Some kind of pipe problem? A ghost? Rapists coming to kidnap, torture, then murder me?
I slowly reach my hand out to feel around my bedside table for my phone. When I find it, I quickly pull my arm back under the blanket and dial the first number I can think of.
"You've got to be shitting me." a feminine voice mutters then sings into the pone "Helloooo?"
"Henley?" I whisper.
"Um, yeah?" she whispers back "Why are we whispering?"
I peek out from under my comforter and look around my room "There's a rapist outside my window."
There's a long pause and then "Excuse me?"
I tell my sister what happened and she listens patiently. That's the thing about Henley, no matter the circumstances or how ridiculous the situation she is always willing to hear you out "Well. It's definitely someone looking to steal your innocence." She says dryly.
"Shut up." I sit up "Should I go check it out?" says my mouth without my brain's permission.
"It's probably nothing, P. I'll stay on the phone with you while you look." She's silent for a second and then a distinct pounding noise comes through her end "Ok, go ahead."
Bless her soul "Thanks," I toss the covers from my body and stand, looking around the room for something to defend myself with. I grab one of my only pair of heels from my unloaded shoe box. Shut up, ok! You have no room to judge. I have no idea what's out there and I'm pretty sure a three inch heel through the chest would kill about anyone.
I throw on a hoodie and some flip flops and head outside. When I quietly shut the back sliding door behind me, Henley asks "You outside?"
"Yeah."
She sighs "You brought a weapon, didn't you?"
I move my phone so I can look at it and make a face "A shoe, yes."
She laughs "Oh great. You're set for a spider invasion."
I huff and continue looking around my backyard "You know, I'm getting real tired of your shit, Henley. I'm probably about to get murdered out here and when the cops ask you the last thing you said to me, you're gonna regretfully say-"
I cut off when I heard the familiar rustling coming from the woods "Did you hear that?" I squeak.
"If you're talking about my neighbors having violent intercourse, then yes." There was some shuffling on her end and then some insane banging "Hey! Calm the fuck down! If I wanted to hear this much moaning and banging I would've rented Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Shut up before I call the cops!"
I would've laughed but I was too busy pissing myself from fear and my oh-so-supportive sister wasn't exactly helping. I continued slowly creeping toward the forest and gripped my phone tightly "Henley!" I whisper-yelled "It's coming from the woods."
"What? Hang on, P, I can't hear you because of these banshees next door fucking like there's no tomorrow." There's faint pounding noises before Henley speaks again "Can you hear that? Are they having sex on the goddamn wall or something? Jesus."
I was only half paying attention to Henley's rant as I crept closer to the sound. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and feel my blood running cold. I had pinpointed the noise, something or someone behind a big shrub on the edge of the woods.
"Let's move to Forks," she said "It'll be great," She said. I can only hope mom moves the family after my death. Save them from my fate. I hope Henley becomes the best song writer America has ever seen, I hope April gets over her stupid hipster stage. I hope Lissa somehow finds a way to remove the stick from her ass. I hope Madyn discovers tweezers and plucks those caterpillars on her face and I pray to sweet baby Jesus that doctors figure out how to do a successful brain transplant. That's Vera's only chance.
I had finally reached the bush where the noise in question was coming from. Henley was still screaming at her sex addict neighbors so I was on my own.
I reached a shaky hand toward the large shrub to pull it out of the way. I took a few deep breaths as the bush rustles once more. I berate myself for being such a girl for a moment then quickly, before I change my mind, pull the shrub away.
I think the saddest part of this little adventure was the fact that I didn't even take into consideration that my rapist could be a little woodland creature.
A small, brown rabbit hopped out of the shrub and back into the forest.
If this shit kept happening, I'd be moving in with Henley. Living next to a porno is better than living next to a zoo.
Like I said up top, I lose interest easily so if you want me to continue please review.
Ok, I'm gonna go now.
So fucking REVIEW!
Please.
(:
-Blondie
