Strawberries and Cigarettes

Chapter One

     I was waiting patiently for my mother after school let out. She was always late, so I wasn't expecting her anytime soon.

     Bored, I survey my surroundings and see the regulars waiting across the street at the bus stop. They all stood in cliques surrounding the small creaky bench.

     I glance at the bench and see a figure with a grey hoodie and skinny jeans on. They were twiddling something in between their thumbs. Light brown hair fell from either side of their face.

     I guess they felt my eyes on them, and they looked up quickly and met my eyes. "They" was a "she" and a she I had never seen before.

     Her skin was white and pasty, purple bags rimmed her eyes giving her an undead appearance, her lips were a light pink and she was one of the only girls at this school who wasn't wearing an excessive amount of makeup, if she was even wearing any.

     She smiled at me; the kind of smile you attempt to muster to hide the fact you've been crying. However, her tears glistened in the sunlight and I knew better.

     I take a hesitant step towards her, she winces and drops her head again. It was her way of silently telling me to "screw off."

     Just as I'm about to cross the street to sit next to her, the bus pulls up. When it pulled off, it took her with it.

     I swear I saw her waving at me out of one of the windows as the bus sped down the street, but it could have just been my imagination.

     I watch as the bus drives over the hill and my mom's car comes over the top just as the bus disappears. She skids to a stop next to me and smiles.

     "Hi, dear! I'm sorry for being late."

     I give her a sympathetic smile, "It's okay; I'm not in a hurry."

     "I was in town dealing with the divorce attorney and your scum bag dad."

     Divorce attorney. Right. It all set in again. Growing up I always wanted a relationship like my parents'. They always looked so happy to be with each other. 

     I don't know if they hid it well, or if I had a mental block for their fighting, but I never noticed how bad things were until my fourteenth birthday:

     My dad had came home late, missing the whole celebration. He smelt of booze and a perfume I didn't recognize as my mother's.

     I remember him groggily making his way into my bedroom where I was reading Animal Farm for my freshman English class. "Ethan," He whispered to me. His breath reeking of alcohol, "I love you, Ethan."

     Before I could open my mouth to reply my mom had rushed into my room screaming at him, "Get out of his face! My son doesn't need to be exposed to people like you! You sick f-"

    "Ethan?" I hear my mom say in a sing-song voice. This brought me back to the present. My heart was beating slow and I felt like crying. "Earth to Ethan~, I'm talking to you!"

     "Mm?" I exhale deeply and feel the sadness leaving with the sigh. "Sorry, I was thinking about this biology test I took today."

     "How do you think you did?"

     "I dunno. 80+, I guess."

     My mom smiled, "That's pretty good."

     I loved my mom. She was supportive of my successes and my failures. I knew she would always have my back.

     "Yeah, it's alright."

     The ride is completely silent for a while, but not awkwardly silent. Anyhow, I enjoyed the quiet. It was peaceful.

     I lived a good twenty minutes from the school and I was always felt like a burden when she had to pick me up. How many seventeen year olds do you know who haven't even been to the DMV yet?

     At this point, my mom and I were waiting for my eighteenth birthday to get my restricted license. I had never driven a real car, but I've played enough arcade games and GTA to know my way around a vehicle.

     "How was town?" I ask my mom finally breaking the silence.

     She sighs, "Your dad is a twisted man." She eases to a stop at  a red light. "He came in with his girlfriend, the one from the strip club, not the one carrying his baby."

      Yikes. I don't know what happened to my dad. He used to be a role model to me. My favorite memory with him was the day he took me to Game Stop for the first time with a $50 gift card. We blew through it on a Zelda game and some Mario action figures.

      We were a Nintendo family. I still have my first game boy and my dad left a Nintendo Switch in the family room when my mom finally put her foot down and kicked him out.

     My mom wasn't perfect, either. No matter how hard she tried to cover everything up, she had many flaws.

     She was a tad OCD and ridiculously controlling. That definitely doesn't justify my dad messing around with other women, nothing could justify cheating in my book.

     My mom makes a hard right into our driveway and as soon as the car stops I hop out.

    "Ethan!" My mom calls, opening her door. "We got new neighbors. You should welcome them." She smiles sweetly at me and gestures at the house across the street. It had been vacant for so long I almost forgot it existed.

     I turn over my shoulder and see the pretty white house. It was two stories tall and had front facing windows only on the first story. There was greenery growing alongside the front of the house that almost created a ladder.

     I followed the vines and branches up the house to the second story window. The window was wide open, the screen had been popped out, and a familiar face smiled down at me. This time it wasn't a sad smile, it was a sly one, like a smirk.

     The kind of smile you shoot someone when you know something they don't.