Inner city Chicago was rough. It was just mom and I for years, trying to survive and live honest. Between having our apartment broken into twice and having our door kicked down by the police in a raid, we were always looking over our shoulders. In that raid, all of our things were knocked around and both of us were handcuffed, just to be released a few hours later, they had the wrong apartment. Renee was too flighty to pick a job and stick with it, so money was always tight. She would go from being promoted to manager at some hole in the wall restaurant to being the dish washer at another restaurant. I was convinced that my mother was lost and after all these years was still searching for who she was.
Renee didn't start dating until I was 15. She met some punk named Jason who wanted to be a world famous artist. He was 40 at the time and his art career hadn't taken off after 25 years of painting and sculpting. I was convinced he claimed to be an artist just so he could mooch and avoid having a regular job. The guy couldn't paint to save his life and his sculptures were easily kindergarten level stick art. Jason was a mess, but our entire life here in Chicago had been a mess and I knew nothing would change anytime soon.
After Jason came Allan, when I was 16. I decided then, my mother had an affinity for trashy men with greasy long hair and short, scrawny builds. Allan wanted to be a restauranteur, I loved to cook, so I was excited to hear it, but I quickly found out the man was a disgrace to all cooking everywhere. He could burn a pot just boiling water.
Then came Phil when I was 17. He was the nicest of all the men my mother let pick her up at the dive bar a couple streets over. He bought her nice things and took her nice places. Phil was a minor league baseball player, so good I was surprised he hadn't been pulled into the majors. Unlike the others, he was tall and toned, his dreams were in his hands and he was making the most of every opportunity. This guy wasn't a mess and I was thrown for a loop when he sat me down and told me he loved my mother. I was a little disoriented when he continued and asked for my blessings to marry her.
I thought things were moving pretty quick, but I let it happen, it seemed like Phil was good for my mother and I wasn't going to take this chance at happiness from her. One minute our low end apartment was empty and the next, I had a Nintendo 64 and a large collection of things to play on it. My mother wasn't sleeping on a mattress on the floor anymore because she had a bed frame. I wasn't sleeping on a taped up air mattress anymore because I had a real bed. Things were looking up for us and for once I smiled because I was happy and not just to reassure my mother.
I was half way through the first day of my senior year when the police came. They said they were here to escort me to the hospital and my world began crumbling. I was only a few months into happiness and I forgot that life was always a mess and now it seemed things weren't going to start looking up. Renee was caught in the cross fires of a gang related shoot out. Phil was never that attached to me, so he wished me luck and I broke open my piggy bank. I started working when I was 16, so I had enough money saved and enough coming in to keep paying the bills.
The funeral was expensive, but luckily Phil was willing to pay for it. That's the first time I saw my dad since I was 7, he approached me after the funeral, a somber expression on his face.
"I'm sorry, kid." Charlie was always a bit awkward, but it seemed now he was working through it to give me a hug. I didn't cry, things were rough, but I needed to be strong to survive this. I was good at surviving and I would always appreciate my mother for that.
"Yeah, me too, dad. Me too." Our hug didn't last too long, we weren't strangers, but we weren't close enough to take much comfort in the other. Charlie opened his mouth his eyebrows furrowing and closed it. I knew he wanted to say something, but I was going to wait for him to find the words.
"I think you should come live with me." He finally said. He ran his hand through his hair and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. This was the dad I remembered and I couldn't help the smile that came. Forks wasn't my home, it hadn't been in a long time, but I know going back to Washington with him would be better than living in that apartment all alone.
"I would love that, dad." So we headed back to my apartment and packed my stuff. I didn't have much clothing even after Phil came into our lives, he only did enough for me to make my mother smile. A bag for clothes, a bag for toiletries, and a bag for my game console. We were on the plane to Forks as the sun was rising and I silently said my goodbyes to the place I was raised, the place I called home. This was a chance at a new beginning, a chance to start over and try again.
One thing I loved about my dad was his stability, he's had the same job my entire life, he told the same jokes and kept the same hairstyle. Charlie wasn't a complicated man, he enjoyed his steak and potatoes at the diner every Sunday and mostly alternated between Maruchan noodles and frozen pizzas the rest of the week. When we touched down in Seattle, Washington I breathed a sigh of relief. I could recreate myself here, I would do anything to feel happiness again. Before I was happy because my mother was, but with this second chance I would make myself happy for me.
Charlie's cruiser was in the airport's parking garage. We took the elevator to the 3rd floor and my dad helped put my bags in the trunk before throwing his in the back seat.
"I made a few changes to the house since you last saw it, I think you'll like it." He smiled and that made me smile. I was going to love the house even if my little twin sized princess bed was still in it. I was just excited for the change of scenery and the new beginning. He started the cruiser and it purred softly as he pulled from the parking spot and began the descent to the ground floor.
We were in the car a little over three and a half hours swapping dad jokes and talking about everything that's happened in our lives since we last saw each other. Charlie being a simple man didn't have much to tell besides his trips to La Push on the weekends for fishing. I learned that my Godfather, Billy Black, had an accident a few years back and was now paralyzed from the waist down. It was sad, but I was glad the smiley man was still alive and still the life of the party.
"Billy gave you his truck, so you have something to drive back and forth to school in." I smiled even wider, I never dreamed of having my own car back in Chicago. Besides Phil teaching me to drive in his, I never had the chance to get behind to wheel again.
"I'll have to tell him 'thank you' when I see him." Charlie chuckled and pulled his cruiser in to the driveway of the house. I remembered it being sky blue with white around each window, but now it was brick red, the white window frames were untouched though.
"I thought I'd do some upgrading here and there, not too different though." He gestured our the window to a rusty red truck parked on the other side of the driveway. "What do you think?" I don't think Renee ever let Charlie know how hard times were in Chicago. She didn't want him to take legal action to pull me away from her, so she made it out like things were perfect back home. Charlie didn't realize that this truck could be a bike with bad brakes and I'd still be more than just a little grateful for it.
"I love it, dad!" I opened my door and immediately began looking around the truck. New tires, clean interior, it was perfect.
"He's all yours." Charlie grinned as he pulled my bags from the trunk. "I'll show you how to check the fluid levels and change the tires and you'll be all set."
We spent the rest of the night in front of the TV. Charlie grabbed a beer and I grabbed a soda and we ate pizza while yelling at the game Charlie turned on. I hated sports, but I knew a bad play when I saw one and I was happy to call the coach on his crap. I liked spending time with my dad too, so I was fine with watching a match or two.
"I'm going to head upstairs and get some sleep, dad." Charlie nodded and shut off the TV.
"Yeah, I should get some shut eye too. I'll wake you up in the morning for school." I gave him a tired smile and went upstairs. My room was different, no more pink walls or princess bed. There was a queen sized bed in the room with a beige duvet to match the beige walls. A computer was hookup up and sat in the middle of the desk near the door. The only thing that looked the same was my old rocking chair in the corner near the window.
I changed into an oversized T-shirt and gym shorts before crawling into my bed. The mattress and sheets were so soft that I moaned out my comfort. My eyes slid shut and I drifted into the best sleep I've had in years.