Veritas

Start from the Top

Danny walked down the steps around the back of the house to the basement carrying more boxes that had to be put away for storage, the door creaked as he pushed against it fiddling with the old doorknob. After a bit of struggling, he finally got it open, walking into the cold dark basement with only a single lightbulb to illuminate it. Danny quickly turned it on, setting the box next to the backup generator which looked just as old as the rest of the house. Wiping the sweat off, he took a long sigh and started thinking of his friends from Cali and more specifically Veronica and how she cried when he left. He stood there as she hugged him wishing he had been just a little bit more honest with her. The light bulb slightly flickered as the door behind him slowly opened with an eerie creak. The wind brought with it a chill, he was going to have trouble getting used to the chilly weather Danny thought. Zipping up his hoodie he turned back towards the door seeing a shadow against the stone wall next to the steps. Smiling he slowly sneaked along the wall crouching down and waited patiently. After a minute or so, he heard a shuffling noise as Diego peaked in the doorway, "Huh, Danny where'd you go". Diego called out walking into the basement. "I'M RIGHT HERE!" Danny called out wrapping his hands around his brother and sweeping him off the ground and back up the stairs, "OH MY GOD DANNY YOU SCARED ME!" He hollered trying to fight the hold I had on him. "Hahaha, you're mine now punk", I said, carrying him in the front door and tossing him onto the couch in the living room. Quickly jumping on him with soft punches to the gut, "So you tried to ambush me did you?" quickly turning to tickle as he struggled and laughed "No, no, I am so sorry. I was not going to!" he called out, still trying to wiggle his way away. Throwing him on my shoulder, I flipped him back on the couch and sat down next to him. "Dad should be coming home tonight, gonna order some pizza," I said, still holding him down with one hand "Can we get Pizza?" he asked, looking up at me still struggling with my hand. "Sure thing bud, I'll order delivery for later", I said.

An hour and a half later we heard Dad's truck pulling into the driveway, I was on my Xbox playing some COD with my brother on my bed playing his switch. We both dropped our controllers to go help Dad get his stuff down. As we walked out we heard Dad's voice, "Hey guys, I'm home", I smiled. "How was work Dad, did you get settled in ok?" I asked, grabbing some bags from the back, "Yeah, it was great, lots of paperwork though," he said as Diego ran up to hug him. "Dad, Danny said we are having pizza tonight!" He looked at me "Delivery?" walking back into the house with the bags I yelled out "Of course!" He followed me in, "Good, I don't wanna drive anymore, so much traffic trying to get back into the city". Diego was still holding onto Dad as he walked in "Yeah we got one pepperoni and one veggie, the pepperoni is mine though" he said smiling smugly. "You wish" I responded from the laundry dropping Dad's bag of dirty clothes off before making my way back into the kitchen.

Later that evening Dad and I were eating in the living room. Diego ran upstairs to keep playing Fortnite with his cousin back in California, occasionally yelling loud enough to be heard from downstairs. "Mom called," he added after grabbing a second slice, "I don't care," I responded. "Danny, you can't keep blaming her, she's doing all this for us." He said putting his pizza slice down. "How do we know that?" Danny responded, suddenly losing his appetite. "Danny, I know your Mom made some mistakes, we both did." He said looking up at me. "But we got past it together, she is doing her best for all of us." He said, a sad gloom washing over his face. "I know, I'm sorry Dad it's just going to take some time for me" I responded while attempting to take another bite of pizza, while simultaneously checking my socials on my phone. "How far is the drive to the depot?" I asked, trying to step away from the topic. "About two and a half hours, but it's hard enough just getting out of the city with all this traffic." He went back to eating his pizza adding in between bites, "How was school, you guys are going right?" I smiled, "Yeah it was good, Diego was worried but he made friends pretty quickly" Dad picked up his now empty plate "That's my boy, what about you?" he asked from the kitchen. "Ya know, just getting settled..." I responded, knowing full well I hadn't made a single friend yet. A message popped up on my phone "FT?", I smiled. "I'm gonna go fix my stuff Dad", I said, picking up my plate and dropping it off in the sink along the way. In between bites of the last slice of veggies from the box my dad called out, "Don't forget shopping, tomorrow," dad called out, finally swallowing the chunk of pizza in his mouth. "I know Dad, good night". I heard him call out "Goodnight", right before my door closed.

One of the things I was most grateful about the move was the fact that I finally got my room. It felt almost too big for me, the whole week Dad was away Diego had slept with me in the bed Dad bought us as soon as we got into town. The room felt almost too big, after spending years sleeping on a couch. I turned on my Bluetooth and started bumping some Lofi to fill the room with some noise. About a minute later my phone started vibrating with a photo and the initials VP on the top. The photo was taken a week before we left, on the roof of the old apartment complex my family lived in.

Veronica had been both my best friend and therapist for as long as I could remember. Of course, it worked both ways and I had helped her out when things got difficult for her as well. I answered after the third ring "Hey what's up" I responded, placing the phone on speaker and throwing it on the bed. "Just wanted to see how the move went and how far into the forest they stuck you in" she responded after seeing my face sneak into view as I sat at the end of the bed and picked up my phone. "Oh you know, deep enough that I could get murdered and no one would hear my screams", her eyebrows raised she responded, "Oh, like wrong turn forest, or more like Blair witch forest?" she asked, her brows furrowed. I chuckled, "definitely wrong turn 100%." Turning the phone camera around I showed her the outside forest line around the property. It wasn't a complete forest as a short walk to the bridge would take you back to the main road and the city, but it was far enough that you did not dare step out at night. "Have you managed to make any friends yet?" she asked, fully knowing the answer. "Nothing but a bunch of weirdos out here, they weren't lying about the whole 'Keeping it weird' thing," I responded, glancing out the window as a slight breeze forced its way through the gaps around the window. She laughed, "Mhmm of course they're the weirdos", with a sarcastic tone. "Well if you fail at making friends, you can always come back," she said, a sad look glazed over her eyes before it was quickly replaced with a smile. "Guess what?" she said, "What's up?" I responded. Grabbing my notebook off my desk and flipping to a random page, I started filling in the lines. "Well, you know how Homecoming is coming up right?" She sounded almost nervous, "Yeah, two weeks right?" my pen got a little heavier as I listened. "Yeah...someone asked me." I stopped, refusing to look at the phone but I could see her face out of the corner of my eyes. She also avoided looking at her screen, but I could tell she was anxious. I slowly started writing again, "Oh really, who?" After an awkward chuckle, she responded, "Well it's not that serious, but recently he's been nice and..." I looked up from my notebook and the realization hit "Marco." I said out loud, a matter of fact. "How..how did you know," she asked, finally looking away from her hands. I went back to my writing, leaving a trail of silence. "Is that...ok?"

The pencil glided over the paper like a bird swept away by the wind, only the scratching of the pen echoed. As I looked back at the phone I just responded, "Yeah, you guys deserve it" and hung up. My last sight was my name on the lips of my first crush. As I sat there looking at my notebook:

"Etchings on a hollowed road, surrounded by enigmatic souls.

Lost amongst the tampered tolls, a price to pay to the charismatic trolls.

To live to Die, we roll the die and where we end is where you cry.

Tear-stained faces, carved with traces of all the things that made us lie.

Forgive me for my withered cry, forgive me for my tethered time.

I'm lost amongst the lone man's hymn, a prayer long past forgiven chimes.

I'm but a man who lost his soul, and can't seem to find my way back home.

Forgive me, Jezebel, I know I've not done well.

The cost is an ultimatum but I still will wish you well.

One day this road will finally end, I will pray to all lost souls till then.

Forgive me, Jezebel...only time will tell."

My phone dinged from across my bed, from where it rested after having pushed it aside. I could barely make out the text "Why did you hang up?" and to be honest I didn't want to think about it right now. The idea that as soon as I left my closest friend would hit on the only girl I've ever really had feelings for. The rest of the evening was spent playing games and cussing out my buddy Mateo over my headset.

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