Flightless Bird
By: EJJCullen
By mid afternoon, Dad and I had purchase an old Chevy truck for me to get back and forth with. I swear the old man bought it only because I couldn't speed with luck it would get me back and forth to school, but not much farther keeping me from joy riding. As soon as we were done dad was in full planning mode. We dropped the truck off at the house and got back into dads car to tour the town and note the best ways to get in and out, locate main highways, and settle our meet up location if shit hit the fan.
We had yet to need a meet up location since dad usually jumped the gun and moved us in the middle of the night at the first feeling he got that something was wrong. The past few moves have really made him more jumpy and paranoid, but were still breathing and Phil is still out there.
Soon we were pulled off the main road near an entrance ramp onto the state highway highlighting routes on a map dad had sprawled across both of us. We came up with three different routes and highlighted them in different colors. Green was the safest route to use if you had the ample amount of time to use it. Yellow was still rather safe, but it took less time. Red was only to be used in emergencies. It was the fastest way out of Forks, but it was also left us the most vulnerable. Once we were satisfied with our escape plans we needed to find a meeting up location.
We needed to find a place that was off the beaten path, secluded so we would be able to see if it had been compromised before actually approaching it and it needed a central location to our escape routes.
Driving up and down the streets of Forks was getting frustrating with the lack of appropriate places to meet up. We finally pulled down a secluded road on the outskirts of town. The road appeared to lead no where and there were no signs of life for miles. We rounded a curve and spotted a small run down barn that was about 30 yards off the road. It was a small, white building that had an open pen for animals and a small closed off area just off the side. It would be ideal for a meet up place because we could stay hidden in the closed off area, be protected from the elements, and easily get to the road when needed.
Agreeing to use the barn as our meet up location we continued down the road a little farther intending to turn around and head home. Seeing a wrought iron gate at the end of secluded driveway was not what we expected.
On either side of the black iron gate were elegantly crafted concrete pillars that separated the iron gate from the matching iron fence that ran the perimeter of the property. At the edge of the pillar to the left was a small post with a black call box on it to communicate with the homeowner. The house on the property was hidden behind vast landscaping, and continuing further down the road, the fence didn't stop for almost another 2 miles. Clearly the people who lived here did so in the lap of luxury. It wasn't until we were headed home and stopped at the end of the street that I noted the name of the street, Cullen Place.
It seemed that 'Cullen' was synonymous with wealth. Their were several stores in town with the Cullen name displayed, and I could only imagine that any children in the household were not only fed with a silver spoon, but probably went to some snobby boarding school one the East coast.
We arrived home just in time to unload groceries into the house and for me to get dinner started while dad disappeared into the living room to find some sporting game on the flat screen. I decided on lasagna since it would take a little longer and would delay any type of conversation about starting school tomorrow. Dad always pushed to make friends, get involved with things, but it was so hard to let someone in while you're flat out lying to their faces. It was easier to keep up the lies if they never really got to know you.
I was washing up the dishes was the lasagna baked when I heard dads footsteps approaching the kitchen. I knew the lecture would begin and unfortunately there was no where to escape to. I kept my back to him as I scrubbed a pot in the sink.
"You know, I bet that Alice girl is counting on meeting up with you in the morning," he started. I hummed and 'uh huh' in response and decided that the pot could use some more scrubbing. "Kiddo its ok to be nice to her, maybe you guys will be friends."
I could here the optimism in his voice. He hated seeing me alone all the time. I was quiet and sometimes he would comment on how I was too quite, too alone, it wasn't healthy. I knew that it couldn't be just the two of us all the time, but it was just too hard letting someone in and not knowing if when I say 'bye' to them if it will be the last time I see them. My shoulders sagged under the pressure of proving to dad that I was really ok.
"Ok," I exhaled. "I'll meet up with her, but dad, don't get your hopes up, I don't have plans of joining the cheer squad or anything like that." I turned to see him smiling, genuinely happy for the first time in a long time. I smiled in spite of myself, and made a vow to really do it this time. Make a connection, establish a friendship, and even get involved.
Dad's good mood continued through dinner and was still present when I said goodnight and escaped up to the sanctuary of my room. It was still a little early, so I decided I might as well get everything in order for tomorrow so that I can sleep as late as possible knowing that I wouldn't fall asleep easily tonight. I plugged in my phone so my battery would be fully charged, and attacked my closet. All of my belongings fit into an oversized duffel bag, so it didn't take me long to decide on a pair of slim, dark distressed jeans, a long sleeve white v-neck shirt with hung loosely at my hips. With a pair of brown boots and few accessories I would ready to go in the morning.
I took extra long brushing my hair and teeth and washing my face before climbing into bed and setting my alarm clock for 6 am. The first day of school jitters began as soon as I turned off the light and the unsettling feeling in my stomach resulted in tossing and turning before finally falling to sleep well after midnight.