Among The Cracks
Started on January 1st 2005
Finished on
Have you ever noticed something a few years after you bought it? Well, that happened to me when my family bought our house ten years ago. It all happened on the sixth of June in 1999. I was 13 at the time when we moved to Des Plaines, Illinois. The house was a huge farm house. It had several large yards covered in green thick grass. A garden is hidden among the trees, barely seen. But that's not where it started.
As we begin to unpack our items to the house, I noticed a window that looked like it was a mistake. It's so unusual that it looks different from the rest of the windows. The rest of the windows looked like something that you would see in a magazine. But this window made the house seem kind of creepy.
That's when I noticed something moving in the shadows of the house. I blinked and the figure disappeared. An odd feeling swept over my body, like something wasn't right. I got the chills go down my back when I felt like I was being watched. It took along time get over that feeling.
A few hours later , most of the boxes were unpacked and already in place by dinner. It was a hot and humid evening. " So how do you like your room Jackie?" Dad asked. My room. I hated it. It looked so old fashion and I felt really out of place. " It's alright, doesn't feel like home though." " Oh, it will once you put your junk on the wall." Mom said. " Just give it some time to get used to it." After seeing the look on my face she added, " Don't worry, next month maybe we could paint it. You know, make it look, uh, cool." " Yeah, whatever." I mumbled, rolling my eyes. Then I said in a hopeful tone " Can you tell me who lives around here? Like any one my age?" "I think I next door to us lives a family with a son about your age. I saw him when we were unpacking. Maybe you can go over there on your bike." Mom replied. My mom is so typical. She's always trying to get me out of the house. She thinks I should make better use of myself then just sit inside all summer and watch T.V until school is 3 weeks away so I can ponder my fate at being the "new kid."
My mom is a middle aged woman and people think I'm her mini me. We both have the same brown hair color but mine is a little darker. We both have the same honey like eyes and even the same smile. The smile that makes everyone feel welcomed. But on the other hand, I have my fathers nose and ears. I have those little ears and the slightly off centered nose. Even though the genetic gene pool made me look the way I do, I still have my own features. My face is one of them. I love the way the dimples show on my high cheekbones and my nice feminine chin. I don't really laugh, I am more likely to chuckle then laugh. I rarely show people my true laugh because I have a unique laugh that annoys me. I'm five-three, thirteen, in 8th grade and still haven't found a boyfriend or had a boyfriend yet. Mom says I'm to young to worry about guys, but she also says you'll find the right one, when the time comes. Time has been ticking away, and still none to be found.
When dinner ended and I finished cleaning the dishes- the washing machine wasn't installed yet- I went into my room. The dreaded room. The room, with a creaky wooden floor and the white with flowery pattern wall paper on my wall. The lights on and my posters of my favorite band Linkin Park and Usher were still in my box. The box of clothes were right next to the closest that's partially opened. I already set up my stereo so I won't be too bored. I decided to crank up the volume on my stereo and listen to the Linkin Park CD while I lay in bed. As I drift off to sleep I think about dating Usher.
The next day I wake up to find my mom putting my clothes away and into my closet. I tell her to leave out my green soccer jersey shirt and some blue jean so I can wear it after breakfast.
I go downstairs and notice that the stairs are also very creaky. I go down 3 steps to hear the sound of creaking. CREAK! CREAK! CREAK! the top three steps are creaky and then they alternate the creaking. Give it some time and I will put my foot down in a certain position and I bet you I can make it so it won't creak. I finally make it to the bottom and head into the bright yellow kitchen. I then eat Lucky Charms Cereal, my favorite.
After breakfast I get ready to leave and grab my bike from the garage. I love my bike. I fixed it up pretty good. I repainted it blue-ish black and tweaked the gears a little bit. My mountain bike has a six gear thing and anti-shock resistant for the tires.
As I ride my bike and look at the golden fields, I notice a crow eating some grain or is it corn? I'm not quite sure, but all I know is that I'm going to have to know what's what because I have to wake up earlier to help my dad around the farm. Today I got off because I was really tired from the long journey. Noticing that I'm starting to sweat under the hot scorching sun, I wipe my hands across my forehead. My legs are starting to cramp and before I know it, I'm at the next door neighbors house. A mailbox across the house has a name written across it: The Commersons. Their house looks sort of like ours. The have the same windows, but the window in the attic looks like it's at home. The shutters are the same as ours but ours are red, not blue. The door is a nice white color while ours is blue. The outside color is a nice clean white, just like ours. The walkway to the door has flowers that are blooming in purple and pink. The two flower pots hanging from the side of the door are blooming with bright red and blue flowers. As I go up to the door I hesitate to ring the bell or to even knock. Finally I made up my mind and was about to walk away thinking this was a waste of time and energy, when the door opened right behind my back, startling me.
At the door there was a three year old girl with pig-tails in her brown hair with pink flowers as the hair-ties. She's wearing pink denim shorts and a yellow t-shit with a flower embroidery on the sleeves. I noticed a boy behind her who looked about ten and had the same brown hair in only in bucket cut hair style. He was wearing denim shorts and no shirt because of the heat. I thought my mom said that there was a boy my age. Here I am greeted by a three year old girl and her probably ten year old brother. It's too late to leave now, so I decided to introduce myself. I felt kind of awkward because the two kids were just staring at me. "Hi, my name is-" "Hey! Who's at the door?" Said a deep but calm voice from a far away distance, cutting me off. "I dunno, she just popped out of nowhere." said the older boy in the doorway. "She looks like a guy." said the little one. I guess I blushed because I could feel my face turning hot. Suddenly, a guy that looked either thirteen or fourteen appeared in the doorway. He was pretty hot. He had light brown hair and nice eyes. I couldn't tell what color but from far away I can tell they're nice. He wasn't wearing a shirt so you could see his abs and his huge biceps when he crossed his arms. He didn't have a farmers tan so I bet he didn't wear a shirt much. I could tell that he was thinking about what his little sister just said because he took a good look at me he grinned.
I could really feel my face turn red now. I was so embarrassed that it was unbearable. I quickly turned away and regained my composure and turned back. The guy told his sibling to go back in the house and he just stood in the doorway. I couldn't tell what he was thinking but he was staring at me. He then noticed that I was watching him and he said "Um…wanna come in?" and pointed towards the house. "Um… sure?" I replied, too shy to say anything. As I walked in the door I saw that the inside of the house was just as pretty as the outside. The living room was a nice peaceful lavender color. The kitchen had an off-white color with a peach pattern. The hallway and kitchen had a wooden floor. While the living and dinning room had carpet. We sat down in the living room. I on the couch while he sat in a chair. I thought it would be wise to introduce myself when I noticed that he was staring at me again. It was kind of a nice stare. So I was about to introduce my self when he said "My name is Jake Commerson. You just moved in next door right?" I was taken back because normally people don't want to talk to me. So I was like, " Yeah I just moved here from Chicago. My dad always wanted to live on a farm and work. My mom just went along with it. She needed a change of scenery." I said. Realizing I forgot to say my name I added. "I'm Jackie Gavore by the way." He just sat there for a minute I guess to take in what I just said and finally got it because he did an Oh expression.
He then said "Jackie, I like it. It fits you." and nodded. Then he turned around towards the hallway and yelled "Go away, leave us alone." You heard some feet scampering away, along with chuckles and a screen door slam. He turns back and says "Siblings," with a sigh. I replied "Never had them before. I'm an only child." He then said "Want one? Come on, take one. It's a bonus day, get one and get the other one for free." I giggled. He raised one eyebrow and looked at me, which made me giggle more. "How can you do that? I can't and been trying forever." As I try to do that I accidentally scrunch up my nose which makes Jake chuckle. "Nope, can't do that." "It took me along time to do that. I practiced a lot." Jake replied. "How?" "I pretty much pushed one down and pushed the other one up until one day I could do that." He did it again and I just giggled. I heard a door slam and I hear " Jacob, who's here?" in a mom tone. "Mom, you know the family that just moved next door? Well, the girl we saw in the truck is here. Her name is Jackie." "Oh, hey Jackie, just make yourself at home ok? Did you settle in ok? I know moving is one tough job to do." "So many boxes, and to little time." "Yeah, I didn't really get all my stuff in my room unpacked. Of course all I have to do is just dump it on the floor and call it home." and I chuckled. "Well that's one way to unpack" said Jake's mom. She wore a pink tank top, shorts and had brown hair like her kids. She seemed like she had a bubbly sort of personality. She was very nice. She offered if I wanted anything to drink, so I said yes. The hot day had only started and it seemed only to get hotter. I don't know how I'm going to make it over the summer. I took the glass of water that Jake's mom handed me when she returned from the kitchen. It tasted so good and it cooled me down fast. We started talking and I found out that the little girl I saw in the hallway was named Kelly and she just turned three. She loves ducks I found out when she came in the living room with a duck stuff animal and said " I love ducks," and walked back out. I thought that was pretty weird, but I guess when your young you're a little weird. Her older brother and Jake's younger brother is ten years old and is named Benjamin but everybody calls him Benny. He's an average ten year old and loves to play with video games and swim in the creak behind there house.
