Chapter One: Home
Dear Diary,
Everyone has a story to tell. A young couple has a story about love. A soldier has a story about saving lives. A sailor has a story about adventure. A child has a story about imagination. A rock star has a story about music. Even a newborn, a baby just brought into this world, has a story of opening their eyes for the first time.
However, not everyone is allowed to tell their story. A rare few must put their story under lock-and-key, because there are certain stories which were never meant to be told. If these stories were told, disastrous things would happen. The one who told their story, would loose everything: the ones they love, the things they cherish, or even their own life.
For these reasons, my story will never be spoken allowed. I will keep it locked in this journal, quietly living on this fine white paper. It will bleed ink, so that those I love do not have to bleed blood.
Bonjour. My name is Eve Bentley. I am the daughter of Emilie Fredrick and Halvard Bentley. I have one sibling, my older brother Derrick Bentley, and one friend (who's really my brother's friend) Leo Romero. I am sixteen and a half, and I have the most interesting life ever. This is my story….
"Eve! Get out!"
Leo stood in the door frame of the bedroom, his blond hair brushed back, and his light blue eyes shining in the dim light. He wore a dark blue jacket, and a brand new pair of jeans that were soaked in what must have been extremely cold water.
"What happened to you?" Eve asked. She shut the small notebook she had been writing in, and rolled off the violet comforters of the king size bed and onto the floor. Her dark brown hair followed her, like a shadow following a cat.
"I got caught in the rain." Leo laughed. His voice was as warm as a heated blanket. Eve was always happy to hear it. "I was just about to change."
"Will you please hurry? I don't want to open presents with out you."
"Of course, Eve. I'd be quicker if you'd get out of here so I can grab my clothes." Leo stepped into the room, and held out his hand, signaling Eve to leave.
Eve rolled her eyes and, grabbing the notebook, shuffled through the door frame. She heard the door close behind her, and she tried to hold back a moan. Now, she would have to be alone with her brother, for a full five minutes.
Outside of the bedroom, was a larger, opened room that served as both a kitchen and a living room. To the far right, was a large white leather sofa, and before it, an all-glass coffee table. On top of the table sat a small pile of poorly wrapped boxes, and beside those boxes (to Eve's surprise) was a one-foot-tall plastic tree.
Eve was immediately drawn to it, a grin growing on her face. Kneeling down beside the table, it was easy to see that the dark green pines were fake, and that the trunk was just a tall plastic stick; but in just the right light, at just the right distance, it would look as real as if it had been cut right from an Alaskan forest.
"Leo thought you'd like it."
Eve jumped up, and turned to face her brother. Derrick was at least a foot taller than her, and his dark hair was cut so short that you could barely tell it was black. He stared at Eve through his dark green eyes, the same eyes Eve was cursed to have.
"I love it." Eve growled. She noticed Derrick was holding a half full wine glass. On the kitchen counter that was placed at the opposite end of the room, sat an opened bottle filled with the same dark red substance.
"I thought it was kind of cheesy. Too much like A Charlie Brown Christmas." Derrick shifted his eyes down to the small tree, and Eve fought the urge to reach down and rip it from his view.
"You have no Christmas spirit. You're such a scrooge!"
"Fine. I'm a scrooge. A scrooge who got you a wonderful present." Derrick lifted a small box off the table that was wrapped in light blue paper. It was obviously a jewelry box. Probably just another useless necklace. "Will you open your present now?"
"No, not until Leo gets out here!"
Eve had been holding off opening the presents all night. She, Derrick, and Leo had checked into the hotel at 5:00 p.m., but Leo had left to go pick up some essentials almost immediately. Derrick had wanted Eve to open her present right away, but she had refused to until Leo got back. It was now 9:00 p.m., and Derrick was obviously tired of Eve's procrastination. He threw the present back on the table, and fell down upon the couch. He kept his eyes on the wooden floor, refusing to look up at his younger sister.
"Oh, very mature." Eve mumbled. She had gotten used to her brother's hissy-fits. Even though Derrick was twelve years older than her, he hadn't seemed to have grown up just yet. It was moments like this, where she wished he would just act like the adult he was.
"Are you two already bickering?" Leo's voice hummed over the tense moment. He crept from the bedroom, and gabbing a bar stool from the kitchen, made his way to where Eve and Derrick were. "Hope that couch is comfy, bro. Because I call the bed for tonight. It's too fancy for your liking, anyways."
Derrick sighed, and sat his wine glass upon the table. "What ever you want, Leo. Thanks for getting the wine."
Eve hated it when Derrick and Leo talked like this. It was as if they had both forgotten she existed. Derrick and Leo had been friends since high school, and even though Leo wasn't related to them by blood, he was just like Eve's other brother. He had always been there for her, even when Derrick wasn't. He was the closest thing she had to a friend.
"Come on, Eve. Go ahead and open your presents." Leo whispered to her.
"You have to open yours, too!"
"Fine, fine. Let's just get this over with."
On the table, were six boxes. The boxes were quickly separated into three piles. Two presents for Leo, two for Derrick, and two for Eve. Each of the three grabbed one present, and began to open it (Eve made sure she didn't grab the small box from Derrick).
Eve knew what her present was before it was even fully opened. She could see the faded figures of the album cover. As she unwrapped it even more, she could read the words "Everclear So Much for the Afterglow".
"Oh, Leo! It's the C.D. I've been wanting!"
Leo laughed. He had also unwrapped his present. Eve saw the shiny cover of the brand new Stephen King book, and smiled. It was the present she'd gotten him.
Derrick was holding up a tan leather jacket, examining it. Eve knew that he was starring at the golden letters that were sowed into the front, spelling out "Derrick".
"Thanks, Eve." Derrick looked up from the jacket, and smiled at his younger sister. It was a true smile, not the kind one fakes after getting a horrible present. Eve felt guilt tug at her heart. Even though her brother could get on her nerves, she still loved him; and she knew that, no matter what, he still loved her. "Now open the present I got you."
Sighing, Eve reached for the jewelry box. She waited a second, examining the wrapping, then, in one quick tug, ripped the wrapping off of the box.
Eve froze, the sound of the two boys unwrapping their presents, seemed to fade into the distance. Within the box, sat the most gorgeous locket she had ever seen. It was gold, and shaped into a heart. Pink and blue flowers were carved into the sides, and in the center was a cursive E.
"Well, do you like it Eve?" Derrick was staring at her, his grin the size of Texas.
"It's… beautiful." It was the first word that cam to Eve's mind. Though, it deserved a much better description. Something more along the lines of exquisite or stunning.
"It used to be mom's… I figured she'd want you to have it." At this, Eve looked up at her older brother. In his eyes, she could see the pain he kept so well hidden; a pain Eve herself would never understand. Derrick had known their mother. She hadn't been as lucky.
"Open it." Leo hissed at her, and she glanced at both him and Derrick. They stared at her, obviously waiting.
Eve took the large golden heart, and fiddled with the clasp. Finally, after a few seconds of tension, she was able to get it to open. The insides of the locket were lined with red velvet and gold, but it wasn't completely empty. As Eve opened the heart, a small piece of lined paper fell out and onto the table. It was about the size of something that would be stuffed in a fortune cookie.
Picking up the paper, she held it before her. She read it, at first not being able to make sense of the jumbled numbers and letters, then realizing that it was a house address.
"Eve, darling, how would you like to live here in New York?" Derrick asked.
"Live? As in stay here for the rest of our lives?"
"Well, at least for a little while." Leo laughed.
"I've got us a house." Derrick whispered, leaning forward so that he could stare into her eyes. "I'd meant for us to move in tonight, but it won't be ready till tomorrow."
Eve stood up from her kneeling position on the floor, and ran to her brother. He laughed, hugging her, and let her sit down on the couch beside him. They hadn't had a house in a whole year. For so many months they had been on the move, hopping from one hotel to the next, unable to stay in one place for too long. Eve had been missing their old home so much. She prayed for a new one every night. A home meant that they could stay in one place, if only "for a little while".
Then a terrifying thought occurred to her. She glanced up at Leo, who quickly read her mind.
"Derrick promised me the third floor all to myself. As long as I pay rent, of course." He winked at Eve, and Eve giggled.
This was the best Christmas ever.
"I will buy you a garden,
Where your flowers can bloom.
I will buy you a new car,
Perfect shiny and new.
I will buy you that big house,
Way up in the west hills.
I will buy you a new life,
Yes I will."
~Everclear
