Necessary Deeds

1

It was tough for Alie to imagine ever living in any other place other than where she had spent her entire life, the place she'd become accustomed to calling home. But now, this strange foreign place she'd never even heard of was now her so called "home."

Against all her wishes and melodramatic sobs, her family packed up their life and drove all the way from her hometown of Syracuse, New York, to some dinky town in Maine by the name of Derry.

After her father lost his job, her uncle Jay had informed him of a job opening within a construction company located three states away. Within three days, it was decided they would be leaving.

They pulled up to an old-looking house and her father cut the engine of the family station wagon.

"Is this it?" Alie pondered from the backseat, a tone of disgust in her voice. 

"This is it." Her father stated.

Begrudgingly, Alie picked up Lulu from her lap and got out of the car. She walked up to the house, up the front steps, and to the front door. She could see some of the white paint chipping off the outside of the house.

"It should be unlocked, sweetie!" Her father called back from the car.

With her free hand, she wrapped her hand around the knob and opened the door. A puff of sticky hot air met her face. Gross, she thought.

"So, what do you think?" Her mother asked as she entered from behind her carrying a large cardboard box.

"A bit stuffy." Alie grumbled.

"Come on, let's see your room!" Her mother proclaimed cheerfully.

At this, Alie perked up the slightest bit. She followed her mother up the stairs, to the first room on their left.

"See! Look at how spacious it is, Alie! Think of all of the possibilities!"

She turned around to read her daughter's face, but there was nothing to be deciphered. All there was was utter distaste.

"Oh come on, Alie, wipe that frown off your face. You'll feel much better once you make it your own! Tomorrow we'll go into town and buy some paint, I promise. Okay?"

Alie nodded defeatedly, fully aware there was no point in protesting at this point. 

The gang descended up the sidewalk towards the Quickie's corner store to snag some six packs of beer. For some unknown reason, something caught Patrick's attention across the street. He turned his head and found a girl in a jean-skirt walking on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Her long brown hair swayed behind her in the breeze. She stopped in front of a shop window and gazed inside for a minute.

Patrick found it kind of odd that he didn't recognize her considering Derry was such a small town. His brows furrowed slightly as he wondered if he'd ever seen her at school.

"Hockstetter, hurry it up!" Henry hollered interrupting his train of thought. 

Patrick instantly looked back at his friends who had gotten a few paces ahead of him and jogged over to catch up to them.