Wolves in the Woods

Chapter 1

^^Picture of Ashley Larson^^

Chapter 1

 As I stepped out of my father’s blue 2014 Jeep Patriot, I felt a cold Minnesota breeze dance through my hair as if it were welcoming me to this new life.  Almost my whole family had moved from the sunny beaches of California to the cool woods of Winona, Minnesota.  My dad left to get away from my mom, and her new boyfriend, who were still in California.  My brother Jay, and his boyfriend Kacey, also to get away from my homophobic mother.  And myself, yep you guessed it, my mom. But she wasn’t the only reason I left.

I grabbed by duffel bag and stared at the cabin we were moving into.  When you think of cabin, you think of camps, and fire pits, and it being kinda moist and old.  That’s what I was expecting, but I once again misjudged my father and the lifestyle he lives, along with his very awesome job.  My father’s a writer, and a very famous and one at that.  His pen name Forest Lafford, when his name is actually David Larson.  He wrote book Rain in the Woods, and it was a huge hit!  So he thought it would be a good idea to live where he gets his information, the woods.

But my father loves to live in style so here I am staring up at the biggest cabin I’ve ever seen.  And it looks brand new too.  It had at least three floors, and windows that lit up the house as if it were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It had a long gravel driveway with tall pine trees littered in front, and a sea of them behind the house.  I thought that since we were going to be living in the woods, that we wouldn’t be near civilization, but to my dismay there was what seemed to be a town scattered throughout the woods.  Along with a small shopping mall, a few diners and the new school I would be going to once September rolled along, just twenty minutes from the house and outside the woods.

I dragged my now heavy bag from fatigue into our new home where my father, Jay, and Kacey were waiting for me. “Ashley, your room is on the third floor, next to the bathroom, which is also yours.  Do you think you can handle an entire floor to yourself?” My dad asked as I sat down in one of the leather sofas that sat across from the lit fireplace.  I just nodded and continued to stare at the dancing flame that heated the living room.  “Jason, you and Kacey have the second floor, there are two bedrooms up there, one for each of you and a bathroom in between them.” My dad continued as Jay raced up the stairs and Kacey slowly made his way up, also as tired as I was.  I was about to ask my dad where he was staying, when he answered my unspoken question, “My room is just down the hall if you need anything.  Amy will be here in a few days with Mazie.” I smiled at him as he walked away.  Amy was my dads girlfriend, well now fiance, and Mazie was my orange cat that I rescued back in Cali.

As I made my way up the stairs I heard Jay and Kacey laughing as they ran from room to room and claimed what they wanted.  In between rooms, Jay snuck up on Kacey and lifted up the tiny boy from behind and spun him around still laughing.  Oh how I longed for a relationship like theirs..  I slowly made my way to the top floor, admiring the artwork as I went up.  Finally I reached the top floor.  It had one small hallway with three doors.  One was my room, the other my new bathroom, and the last one was a tiny library with a cozy reading corner.  I hoped to one day become a writer like my dad, and spent most my days reading or drawing.  He, of course, supported my fully.

I walked up to the first door and slowly turned the handle.  The door swung open to reveal a fully decorated room.  As I walked in I looked around I noticed that the queen sized bed laid in between two windows at the left of the room.  And straight in front of me was a cushioned bay window with decorative pillows and blankets that matched similar ones on the bed.  On the wall connected to the bay window, over by the bed, sat a vanity desk with a cork board above it.  And to the right of the room, was a matching dresser and turnable floor mirror.  Right next to the mirror was a door which I’m assuming is my closet.  I walked across the cool wood floor and opened it up to reveal a walk in closet; something I’ve always wanted.  It looked like a room out of tumblr.

I flung my bags up onto the bed along with my pillow and favorite childhood stuffed bunny named Bonnie and started to unpack.  I hung all of my sweaters in the closet and my shoes on the racks beneath it.  Next I put away my shirts and undergarments in the dresser, along with my pants.  But soon decided that I wanted to hang my jeans and only have leggings and yoga pants in the dresser.  I changed into one of Jay's old Led Zeppelin shirts and put on a pair of black soffe shorts.  I shoved my bags under the bed and crawled into the soft bed and snuggled closer to Bonnie and waited for sweet dreams to come.