Erase and Rewind

Chapter 1

It felt like days and not hours since we had loaded the last boxes into the trunk, said our tear soaked goodbyes and left the only place that felt safe anymore, since we had left home. The truth was that it was probably just a few hours, if I had to guess I would’ve said three, maybe four, if I was right then we were nearly there. I hadn’t paid any attention to time since I had driven off, watching my best friend standing in the streets looking after me, the only person who knew the real me and now we had parted ways.

                I felt the car slow down, taking a left turn, asphalt turned into gravel and my view out the right window went from just trees, to houses. The car stopped. What now? Were we all just to jump out of the car and race each other for the door? That didn’t happen, no one made any sign to move- All four of us kept staring in the same direction we had been staring for several hours, no one entirely comfortable.

                In my peripheral vision I saw my dad shift in the front seat, to turn and look at me and my brother. I felt my finger itching, willing me to crank up the volume on my IPod, instead I got out of the car and slammed the door behind me, not wanting to face anyone just yet.

                I walked towards the front door, over from the gravel to the lawn and up the front steps. I tried the handle, it was locked. I felt my lungs give out a sigh of frustration, I took out my right earplug and turned towards my dad who was getting out of the car. “It’s locked,” was all I said.

                He came up to me and laid a hand on my shoulder before unlocking the door, he looked sad, and I yearned so deeply to throw myself in his arms and tell him I was sorry for everything, but instead I laid my head on his shoulder and wrapped my right hand around him and squeezed one time before brushing past him and through the front door.

                I made my way up the stairs with a determined stride that surprised even me, I reached the top and walked towards the back of the little floor and glanced at the ceiling before reaching up on my toes, hooking my hand around a handle in the low ceiling and pulling the lem down.

                My right earplug was still dangling at my throat as I climbed the steep latter that led to my new room. I turned on the lights and looked around. It wasn’t much, nothing compared to what I used to have, but the room served its purpose. I had room for my bed, closet, dresser, bookshelf and – most importantly – my flat screen and my Xbox. We had been down several times earlier in the week to set things up, while we finalized the sale on the house back home, so everything that was too big to fit in small boxes were here already, the only things missing were my DVD’s, books, cosmetics and candles.

                I had the smallest bedroom of us all, but that didn’t bother me, because even though the space would probably drive me mad within a week or two, I had access to the roof and that was the main reason I had picked this room. The roof access could contribute to keep me out of a lot of unnecessary trouble since it was facing through the back yard and a tree was standing within perfect reach of the roof, I was forever grateful to whoever had thought of this escape route years ago.

                Someone knocked by the stair that led into my room and I turned to see Talon on his way up, “can I come up?” He asked, smiling his own innocent smile.

                “Sure,” I answered with a smile. I was so glad to have him here with me, things would be easier with him by my side, knowing that I had someone to turn to if things got too complicated to handle.

                He dumped a box in front of him before taking the last steps, he picked the box up and brought it over to the bed where I was sitting. “A small portion of your many movies,” he mocked me, pretending to wipe his forehead, “thought I’d help you get started. You are going to end up with some major biceps if you are thinking to carry all of those up yourself.”