More to Life by: Taylor A. Pulyer
Chapter 1.
"We're here Noel!" my Aunt Petunia announced as we pulled up into her gravel driveway. However I wasn't listening to her. I didn't want to listen to her high, over-exciting voice. I loathed her for taking me away from my home in Philadelphia to her tiny apartment in the small town of Hancock County, Maine, population: 6,456 now 57 residents. She took me away from my life, my memories, my friends, my family, and it was all because of the accident that ruined everything.
It was a cold, snowy, winter night, my family had just picked up mugs of hot chocolate and we were heading home. It was my mom and dad in the front seat. I had a window seat from beating my little sister Katie at a game of Rock, Paper, Scissor. My older brother Jason was sitting in the other window seat messing with his I-phone and Katie sat in the middle playing the punch buggy game with a whip cream mustache on her face. The road we had turned onto was dark and empty. All of a sudden a teenage boy appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the road. My dad jerked the steering wheel to get out of the way, my head crashed into the window. The car started swiveling out of control until the car crashed into a nearby barn. It seemed like one minute the air bags were blowing up in our faces, the next I was standing 10 feet away watching the car go up into flames. How had I gotten out so fast?
"Mom?" I called out trying to seek out the rest of my family. Maybe they had gotten out too, "Jason?" I walked through the crisp, white snow looking for the others and then I found them. All four of them were together and they were walking north to a mysterious staircase.
"Wait up!" I called, running after them hoping I would catch up. But instead it all seemed to be getting farther and farther away from me. I saw them at the top of the staircase, waving. They took one step forward and vanished along with the staircase. They were gone and I was sure they weren't coming back. I wished they would just appear next to me and everything would be ok. I collapsed onto the snow-covered grass and started to cry with the cold wind blowing past.
Next thing I knew, I heard a muffled voice. I could hear the beeping of a heart monitor as my eyes opened slightly. Was this all a dream? From what I could see I knew I was in the hospital. I wasn't awake for long when my eyes shut without warning and I passed out. I found out my whole family died and I was the only one to survive. I had a NDE (Near Death Experience) and I was way past being upset about it. I was horrified! My only living relative was my Aunt Petunia and I wasn't too keen on the idea of her being my caretaker for what was going to seem like forever. I despised going back home from the hospital. Walking through the front doors and seeing everything where we left it before the accident gave me a sickening feeling in my throat.
I tried making an attempt at suicide. I just wanted to be with the rest of my family even though it would mean that I was dead. There was a rocky cliff near my house with a lake filled with crap down below. A neighbor caught me throwing some of my clothes off the cliff and called the cops. They caught me before I threw myself down and lets just say I spent a week in the juvenile detention center, aka Juvi. It was a horrific place I can't even explain. I finished my freshman year of high school and that summer my aunt insisted on moving back up north.
"Why are we moving?" I asked her pacing around in my living room.
"I have been away from my flower shop so long and Lily is tired of watching over the apartment. I need to go home," Petunia replied, slightly touching everything in sight.
"So you mean to tell me that you don't want to leave your friends and your apartment but you're making ME leave MY friends, MY home, and where MY family is buried!" I cried out. Taking me away from all that I have left, how could she! All Aunt Petunia did was stand there with a blank look in her gray eyes.
So there we were in Petunia's Ford Edge with a U-Haul truck behind us containing the coffins of my family. I had packed 2 duffels. One held all of my personal belongings, the other contained memories. I had packed Katie's favorite stuffed dog, Jason's laptop, my parent's wedding rings which I had received after recovering from the accident, family photos, and a scrapbook with every souvenir from the day my parents met up to the accident. I wasn't thrilled but maybe this is a time to start my life over again.
"Noel! Out of the car!" Aunt Petunia yelled for the second time but I refused to get out.
"Go away," I replied with no expression on my face. Aunt Petunia left the window of the car and I saw her go inside the apartment. No she didn't leave from her own free will. She has always been the "in your face" type person. Ever since the accident I have been able to tell someone to do something and they do it. It's like I can control them or something like that. I took a deep breath then stepped out of the car. I opened the door and started coughing non-stop from the smell of dead plants and Aunt Petunia's multiple cats. I took a quick look around then quickly ran out and sat on the steps leading to the back door. I pulled out a picture of the family and just stared at it, "I wish you were here Jason," I whispered. Jason was the closest one to me and the only one who really got me. Jason had just turned 18 at the time of the accident. He was making plans for the last of his senior year, getting acceptance letters to college.
"Noel! You're here!" I heard a yell coming from a few doors down. I knew that voice anywhere. It was my best friend Nevaeh. My mom insisted on coming up to Maine for a week each year and the fact I dread seeing Aunt Petunia, I met Nevaeh and we instantly became friends. I looked over and saw Nevaeh running across people's lawns, her blonde hair blowing back in the wind. I stood up and Nevaeh threw herself at me. "When did you get here!" she yelled excitedly.
"Actually just a few minutes ago," I replied trying my hardest to pull myself away from her grasp until she let go herself.
"My mom just made a batch of brownies right from the oven. Wanna come?" Nevaeh asked.
I raised my eyebrows at her. She knew I couldn't resist having one of Nevaeh's mom's brownies with a scoop of mint ice cream on top. Her mom owns a bakery and she is one of the best bakers I know of. I nodded, Nevaeh grabbed my hand, and we ran across the wet, dewed lawns. I stepped through the creaky back door and took a deep breath in, inhaling the exhilarating smell of brownies. I sat down at the island and I saw Mrs. Webber come in.
"Oh! Hello Noel!" she said coming over and giving me a quick hug.
"I'm glad to see you too Mrs. Webber," I replied as Nevaeh set down two bowls. I left later that evening and thought maybe just maybe, living here might not be that bad.