More to Montgomery

CHAPTER ONE

I tried to keep my attention to the sound of the rain hitting the glass window but the sound of Lana's piercing church music was overriding the sound. She bobbed her head back and forth with an excessive grin on her face, annoyingly tapping her fingers against the rim of the steering wheel. In any normal circumstance this would be funny to me. She looked ridiculous. Only this wasn't any normal circumstance, and frankly I hated my sister. 

Her once messy pink hair was now groomed into her natural brunette strands. She didn't have a nose ring or twenty piercings up along her ears anymore but simple pearl earrings. The cardigan and knee-length dress surely fit the act of the church lady she now advertised to the world, but I still know who she was... who she really is. No matter how far she moved away or how much she changed, her past was still there.

As we approached a stop light I noticed an enormous building to my right, a huge cross sitting at the top. A giant statue of Jesus was near the sidewalk pinned to a cross. The image was fairly realistic making it just as disturbing as the story had been told, I questioned if the people walking past this thing daily found it as uncomfortable as I did. Back in New York I wasn't religious and I never pursued the Christian faith but I wasn't dumb either. I knew the basics, Bruce Almighty had its benefits.

"That's my church Maya," Her smile grew wide as she examined it looking past the fog on the window the rain had created.

"Great," I said.

"Listen... I know it seems odd for you to hear about me going to church, but that's the good thing about moving to Louisiana. You can have a new start here," She put her hand on my shoulder as a gesture of good faith. I reverted my eyes to her peach painted fingertips, swatted her hand off of me, and turned back to the foggy window. 

"Is that what you did when you left me back in New York?" I asked in a harsh manner but she just twisted her body back forward looking at the car in front of her ignoring my question.

"So..." She left a brief silence gesturing that the conversation would go in a different direction. "Do you still do ballet?" I let the question roam for a while before responding.

"I got my scholarship revoked a couple months back... so no, not of recently,"

"How? What'd you do?" Her voice went all high pitched as if she had a thought of concern left to mind. I clenched my teeth shut resisting the grimace that desperately wanted to break way on my face.

"I... didn't do anything. Mom, however, came into my school drunk off her ass and told my teachers to go fuck themselves then poured alcohol all over my ballet instructor. Just like the old saying you can take the kid out of the slums but you can't take the slums out of the kid. Mom made sure of that," I looked back out the window my mood drifting between a phase of pissed and depressed.

"I'm sorry to hear that Maya," I rolled my eyes.

We turned down a narrow street passing a long line of tall large trees as if we were driving through a forest. The only validation that made me believe we would end up somewhere is the newly paved road and signs that advertised the neighborhood that would soon be reached.

"They just built this road in, I argued to the county about a thousand times to build one that was wasn't completely formatted out of dirt and water. They gave in once the economy sparked up a little. No more big city lights and apartment buildings like New York. Down here we got big trees and old houses," I don't think Lana comprehended the fact that I was opposed to speaking with her. Nothing she said made me feel any better that I'd be living in a swamp town.

We finally parked in front of a house after the dozens of trees passed. Lana quickly got out of the car grabbing her purse and making her way to the back trying to pull the trunk open. She repeatedly pulled at it and it still wouldn't budge, I sat in the car looking over my shoulder at her as she struggled in the rain. I gave it a while before I got out and helped her, she wouldn't know how to work this car even if she tried hard enough. It had many faults but it could drive on a road and that's all I needed. I pushed the trunk inward as hard as I could then flung it out, she looked at me for a little while before she grabbed one of my bags as I took hold of the other bag. As she hauled ass into the house I took my sweet time examining my new living arrangement disregarding the rain falling against my hair. Out of the many places I've lived throughout my life, a house was one I've never had. This had small steps that led up to the front door and the porch was a dusty mess, nothing but an old rocking chair sat out in the front. The house was a faded forest green blending in with the trees surrounding it. I figured Louisiana homes wouldn't be as bunched up as the ones up in New York but Lana's house was purely on the outskirts of the rest of this town.