Entry #1
It's my second day on the road, and I just remembered that Mother had given me
this book. She called it a diary and said that it's great to write in under any circumstance,
but that's way too feminine for my tastes, so I'll just call it a journal. I still don't see
much point in writing such personal things down in a book. What if someone finds and
reads this? That'd be just awful! I will admit though, it is quite satisfying to write with
a pen. And since I can't think of a better way to spend my nights, camping on the side
of the roads, why not at least try?
According to my map, I'm about halfway there to Cradle Town. It's honestly great to
be able to show off my outdoor skills in a brand new setting, nothing felt better than
foraging in a place other than the forest behind my home. Things should continue to run
smoothly, since I had assured my parents over and over that I would take the safest
routes, far away from any mystery dungeon. I also cooked up one of Mom's recipes for
dinner tonight, and it was delicious!... Though it wasn't as good as how she makes it. I
miss her cooking already.
Speaking of my parents , I still can't believe that they thought bringing everyone together
for my special grad party was a good idea. I know that I should be keeping family close,
but geez, inviting the whole family to celebrate? I don't know what they were hoping, but
it certainly won't be how they plan to. Thank god I was able to prevent it from happening.
Having them at my going away party would have been a nightmare.
There is everything I don't like about my extended family. Whenever there's a gathering
of all of us, I feel like I'm the only normal one there. My grandparents have unrealistic
expectations for me, and they always ask why I haven't lived up to them yet, not to
mention that they seem to raise the bar higher each time I see them. Plus I hold a secret
grudge against them, since I feel that they're the ones to blame for the family obligations
that have made Mom and Dad so unhappy. All my uncles, except for one, act like they own
the place when they come over. All they do is crack open beers and drink themselves into
oblivion, which also ends in them breaking stuff. I'm lucky to have that one "cool" uncle
who's really down to Earth and knows what the younger generations are into. I used to cling
to him for the duration of family gatherings whenever I couldn't find my parents. It seemed
like a cruel joke on the world that he would also be the uncle to succumb to a spontaneous
illness. My aunts like to pretend I don't exist. They, along with my mom, are always huddled
together in a corner to socialize among themselves, like they're apart of some sort of super
secret, selective organization. And while I am the third oldest of all of my cousins, I'm such
a distant age from all of them that I can't really connect with any of them. I'm far older than
my little cousins and far younger than the two older than me. To me, the younger ones are
troublemakers who don't know what empathy is. Their dubious play never fail to annoy me.
One time they even trampled my garden for fun, so they're pretty much a permanent no-no
in my books. The fact that they're too young to know any better is not a valid excuse for them
to pound my poor plants into the dirt. The two cousins that are older than me are into some
really weird kinds of stuff that they've tried incessantly to get me into, things like drugs and
odd kinks. They even brought some "magazines" to show me when I was a freshman in high
school. I don't even want to think about it.
I think this is the first time I've ever vented about something, and I had no idea that it would
feel so good. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Maybe this journal thing
isn't such a bad idea after all.
