Just Suburbia

Chapter 6

It was finally the weekend. My parents went away every  weekend to God knows where. They called it a job, I called it a secret. This gave me the freedom to pull my phone from the teddy bear my mother gave me. I made a secret pocket so that my parents wouldn't find it and I get sent to the "coo coo's nest." 

In Suburbia you had to be twenty-one to own a phone, it was something like a goodbye present from your parents. It's what made you a "grown adult."  And even though you were "leaving" your parents, and I say leaving in quotations because you weren't really leaving, you would be three streets over or worse neighbors. Like I said before this place is literally just generations. The person you would marry would live you can find in Suburbia and you most definitely went to school with them, your children and your childrens, children would also keep it in the "school."

My parents marriage wasn't miserable, but how can you deal with someone that you spent your whole life with and want to marry them. In my opinion I think my mom just chose someone she could stand and who seemed to be smart. I think in the beginning there was love, but I was the "problem" so did I ruin their happiness? 

I turn on my iPhone and see that I have some missed texts from no other than Mr.Cloud himself. Instead of texting him back, I call him. He doesn't pick up. So I decide to do my own search, on the outside world. I once tried this on my father's phone but it was some blocked website when I tried to look up everything out of this bland town. My fingers couldn't type fast enough. 

East Coast

There it is, no going back now. I've already done the damage. My eyes would no longer be East Coast virgin. I click unto images and the first thing I see is the tall buildings. They had abstract art, black and grey colors. There wasn't any grass just concrete. And there was lights on the building. There were different types of cars, I've never seen before. And there was BIG dogs, not just crusty little ones. It was a whole different world out there, not just brick houses and stuck up assholes. I keep scrolling and I can't help but chance faces. Instead of a random girl sitting on the park bench, it's me. I imagine myself walking around and dancing. There were no parents there dictating what those people could do. In one photo I saw a girl that dressed like me but she was happy with a man who was wearing a black jacket and had piercings and tattoos. 

Something in my chest changed in that moment, my soul  hurt because if I didn't find a way to get out, I would never get to experience the bigger things in life. The bigger dogs, the bigger city streets, and most importantly the bigger love. That moment I made a decision. I refuse to be a ''Suburbian" for the rest of my life. No matter what I was going to make my own way. Even if caused a catastrophe. I refuse to sit here and marry Carl, Beau, or Walter. No offense but they didn't have what Hudson had, I mean they were bland, and I didn't want that. 

Speak of the devil, his name pops up on the phone. I push answer quickly.

"Have you got a good look yet?" 

His question shocks me, how does he know? 

"I'm confused what do you mean Hudson?" 

He muffles a laugh, "Porn did you find the Porn?"

I gasp lightly. "Hudson of course not. Whaaaa-" I can feel my face getting red. We may be bland and oblivious to the world, but we still had sex education, and porn was a big no-no. In everyones eyes it was a punishable. So punishable that you could go to the looney bin forever. Suburbia called it a disease. They said it was cheating, adultery, and that if you were ever caught watching it something bad would happen. We all lived by this. I knew what could be done. When I was a small child our neighbors were suddenly taken. The wife, the son, and the father. I didn't understand they were our friends. When we got a little older mom and dad were talking. My ears overheard their conversation. 

The story went that the father was on his phone looking up girls on a porn site. Somehow the mayor found out and in the middle of the night the whole family was taken away because they were "bots" no normal suburbian family would ever. They say the dad is locked in a mental hospital and the mom and son are in a family home for the "bots," to me it was bullshit. They didn't deserve that but I was a simple child and had no say. 

"I'm kidding. Did you find out anything out about the East Coast?" 

"Actually I did. Thank you Hudson."

"There is so much more, and one day you will see it all. I promise you, even if I hate your guts."

"I hold you to high standards and promises then Mr.Cloud."

"Always."

He hangs up the phone and I continue my research. Scrolling through every photo.

One day. One day...