Unexpected (Previously Teenage Love Story) ~ Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Joel1

You never really know what life is going to throw at you next, or where you’re going to turn up at the end of it all. Believe me when I say that.2

Things can change so drastically with the choices we make that when it’s all said and done, we forget where it all started, and that’s something I know from firsthand experience.3

I mean, its like, one minute you could be driving up to your Beverly Hills mansion in your Rolls Royce, wearing the latest style by Gucci, and have your arm wrapped around your perfect model girlfriend who could very well be the next Heidi Klum. The next, you could be pushing around a Vons shopping cart full of cans and other assorted junk, wearing whatever clothes the Salvation Army had to offer, and bunking in a homeless shelter with some guy named ‘Larry’ who positively reeks of someone’s Chinese take-out garbage. 4

Oh, no, that’s not my personal experience, but let’s face it, it could have happened to someone out there.5

For all we know, that crazy homeless guy talking battle strategies with the squirrels living in the park could have been some former rich schmuck who lost his entire fortune in a poker game, or maybe he lost it all when a drug deal went bad. 6

Who knows?7

Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make.8

We never know where we’re going to end up, nor do we know what curveballs life is going to pitch at us next, and while I have always understood that concept, I never in a million years would have guessed what fate had laid out for me.9

Don’t understand what I’m getting at?10

Allow me to start where it all began then: the Welcome to Ash Creek sign.11

It was a horrendous looking thing, standing upright and proud at the edge of the wannabe ‘city’ of Ash Creek. Why that monstrosity of a sign looked so damn pompous, I’ll probably never know, but what I did know was that it was by far the ugliest thing I had ever laid eyes on.12

The words ‘Welcome to Ash Creek’ were etched deep into the waterlogged wood and if you stood close enough to the sign you could practically taste the stench of dead sewer rat. Half of the words on the sign you couldn’t even read from a distance because it was covered with a thick, green veil of moss, and as if that weren’t enough, the top left hand corner had a large gash in it from what looked like a bullet, presumably from some drunken backwater hick firing his rifle off at some deer…. or possibly a possum.13

I couldn’t help but make a face at the blasted thing as Ma sped past it and into the city limits of the town that was going to be my home.14

That’s right, my new home. The place where I was to live until I graduated from high school, or until the place drove me mad and forced me to run away. 15

Whichever came first. 16

I was going to be staying in that second-rate, rinky-dink town and we had a ‘Welcome’ sign like THAT.17

Just one look at that sign and it was like it spoke to me, telling me what kind of life I would be living from then on out and it came in loud and clear.18

Joel, don’t even try to use your city slicker ways here. They won’t work and that’s a surefire guarantee. It’s likely that your life is going to be a living hell from here on out, so you may as well give up. Welcome to Hick Town, Hell hole of the universe!19

“Fan-freaking-tastic,” I muttered quietly to myself while tapping my fingers on the flimsy cardboard box of photos in my lap.20

You see, I wasn’t exactly the most ecstatic that Ma was relocating our family for the second time that year, nor could I really say that I was particularly fond of the town she had picked out for us. I mean, of all the places she could have chosen, why did it have to be Ash Creek?21

It was almost like she was intentionally trying to make me lose my marbles, or maybe it was that she was trying to kill me.22

Now there was a thought to entertain.23

Maybe Ma was in league with my greatest enemies and wanted to get rid of me once and for all so they could further their conquest for World domination, which for some reason I was unknowingly in the way of. Could it be that I was some sort of Superman and she was trying to slowly poison me with my own personal brand of kryptonite, better known as Ash Creek, so some bald bad guy could have his way and off me?24

Or was it even possible that…25

Suddenly I felt Ma’s hand lightly pat my knee, silencing the delusional assumptions racing back and forth through my mind. I turned my head to look at her, a small chunk of my vibrantly dyed fire-engine red hair fluttering against my forehead in the warm air blowing from the car’s heating system.26

“No worries, mijo. This town will be good for all of us,” she said with a light smile adorning her thin face.27

I smiled back at her and nodded, not because I necessarily believed her words, but to show her that I would endure. Although, in all fairness, I wasn’t so sure I would be able to live through the experience of staying in that town, or at least not without losing what was left of my shriveling sanity.28

It was going to be hard enough just trying to live in Ash Creek for the next year, that much I could already tell.29

Ma slowed down as we entered the actual town itself, which in turn coaxed me into peeking out the window, which for the first time in years was a gateway to somewhere else than the tall, seemingly endless heights of the New York skyline. 30

Of course the assumptions brought about by the sign gave me a good insight about the town were pretty close to hitting the nail on the head. It wasn’t anything special, not even close. Ash Creek appeared to be nothing more than your average backwater hick town lost in the middle of nowhere. It was one of those towns that looked like it had been completely untouched by the wonders of the modern civilization. In fact, it lacked everything my good old New York held, or any other city for that matter.31

There weren’t any bright and flashy lights flickering against any shady buildings, heck, there weren’t even any “buildings” that stood over four stories. There weren’t any sirens blaring throughout bustling city streets, nor were there any trashy alleyways for the scum to hide out in from said
sirens. 32

Nothing from my childhood in New York City seemed to show up anywhere in the annoyingly small town of Ash Creek.33

Nothing.34

“Mama, when are we going to get there?” My younger sister, Alina, whined from the backseat. She played with the bright red bow holding her wild and curly hair back into a ponytail.35

Ma reached up and moved her rearview mirror around and peaked up. She smiled brightly at the dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty that was my six-year-old sister.36

She was going to be a heartbreaker, I just knew it.37

“Be patient, Lina-Boo-Bear. We’ll be there soon,” Ma assured. She turned her head slightly to look at me, reaching u p with a free hand to brush away the dark tresses of her hair that had managed to slip into her face. “You’ll love the apartment I got us, Joel. It’s really big, with three bedrooms! We don’t have to share a room anymore!”38

I gave her a nod and licked my lips, which had become chapped by then. 39

“Sounds nice.” 40

Truth is, I really didn’t care whether or not we had to share rooms or not. I didn’t mind crashing on the sofa, which always reeked of beef jerky for some reason. I’d much rather have stayed where we were before Ma had us pack up and leave. Sure, maybe Willchester was no Big Apple, but it was definitely more of a home than Ash Creek would ever be.41

We turned onto Lent Street, our Cadillac making a series of estranged noises coming out from under the hood, and drove a mere twenty feet before easing to a complete halt in front of what appeared to be an apartment building.42

My mouth gaped wide open at the sight of the building. 43

It was a sight to behold, with thick red bricks forming the walls, which had thick, green ivy running up the side of the building. The base of the building was made up of smooth cement with what appeared to be children’s drawings decorating just about every last inch. All the windows on the side of the building had white trim that stood out against the bricks. A few of the windows even had flowerboxes hanging just below them, most of the flowers dead due to the coming of autumn. 44

The building was quite possibly one of the best features of the town I had yet to see, and that was only the outside. 45

“Wow! Mama, Joel, mira, mira!” Alina shouted excitedly, pointing her short little finger at the building, repeatedly jabbing the window. “Is that where we’re gonna live?”46

Ma giggled and pulled out a set of house keys from the front pocket of her dress, dangling them for us to see.47

“We have one of the apartments on the third floor. It has three bedrooms, one bathroom, a dining room, a living room, and… best of all… a BIG kitchen!” She beamed.48

I heard Alina let out a childish shriek of enthusiasm and then felt her feet kicking the back of my seat as she attempted to escape from the seatbelt holding her secure in the car.49

“Mama! Mama! Lets go! Please!” Alina whined, finally getting fussy over the fact she was stuck in the car and not exploring our new ‘home’.50

“Yes, mija. Just give me one minute,” Ma said as she unbuckled her own seatbelt and stepped out of the car.51

I followed suit and got out of the car as well, stepping on solid ground for the very first time in what felt like ages. Ma walked over to my side of the car and offered me the house keys while she held a small shoebox against her hip.52

“Will you go and unlock the door while I get your sister and grab a few other things?”53

“Yeah, no problem, Ma.” 54

I balanced my box of photos in one hand and grabbed the keys with the other. They felt smooth in between my fingers, polished, brand new.55

“Gracias, mijo,” Ma smiled as she smoothed out the fabric of her sundress and opened the door to let Alina out. “C’mon Alina.”56

I turned on my heel and walked over to the building’s stoop, which was also, like the cement base, was covered with chalk drawings of various sorts.57

As soon as I opened the door to the building, a group of young looking children, all probably about Alina’s age, came bustling out, pushing and shoving past me.58

“I see why she chose the place,” I smiled as the last child, a little blond girl dressed entirely in pink, came tottering out after her companions.59

The inside of the building was just as vibrant and peculiar looking as the outside, giving the entire place a certain unique air about it. Not only that, it felt like it was a bit trendier than the rest of the town, almost like it had an artistic feel.60

Each door was painted a different color than the last, which made every one of them pop out from the dull off-white paint covering the walls. While some of the doors seemed to be contented with just being a different color, the others seemed to have demanded more of the individuality that came in the forms of children’s drawings and stickers stuck on the outsides.61

I just couldn’t help myself when I came to a stop at every door as I walked through the halls and up the stairs leading up to the apartment. The children’s drawings and choice of stickers were just too much to pass up.62

It was only a few minutes until I had walked up all forty-eight steps and reached the third and final floor in the building, and thanks to the numbers etched onto the keys I was holding firmly in my hand, I was able to deduce that our “home-to-be” was in none other than apartment fourteen.63

I walked down the hallway, passing a toddler playing with her Barbie dolls with her apartment door wide open, her father watching like a hawk from a chair just inside. I smiled and nodded at the both of them, earning an excited wave and a warm smile from the father and daughter duo. I passed a little old grandmother toting a child behind her, who like the father, gave me a gentle grin and nod, which I promptly returned. The last person I passed was a teenage girl, probably a few years younger than myself, sitting against the wall, sketching away. She only peeked up at me through her glasses and liquid brown eyes before going back to her drawing.64

The building was definitely full of different sorts of people, but from what I could tell, they were good people so there was at least one plus.65

Soon enough, I located a dark forest green door with large wooden numbers hanging just above the doorframe reading ‘14’.66

“Here it is,” I quietly announced to myself while putting the key into its proper hole to unlock the passageway into my family’s humble abode.67

The lock sounded with a click and placed a hand onto the doorknob. I was able to open it up with ease, the keys jangling as I did so.68

Upon opening the door, I was met by an almost entirely bare room, which was only occupied by a ratty blue couch, a television set, a small variety of other pieces of furniture, and several unopened boxes that must’ve been brought the day prior by the movers.69

Even with the room housing so many familiar objects, the space itself felt cold and empty, like I didn’t belong there in it. It just didn’t feel like ‘home’ to me. It just felt like it was another place to move into, exactly like all the rest of our previous dwellings. 70

Just another place where we would be uprooted from later on like the rest, too. 71

“Wow! It’s even nice than the photos!”72

I turned around and saw Ma standing in the doorway with Alina placed securely on her hip and a box resting against her other side, under her arm. Both of them gawked in awe, excitement painted on their faces.73

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” I agreed with a smile, humoring Ma, seeing as how she did go through all of the trouble of finding the place.74

Ma set Alina down and in an instant Alina jet off, her curls bouncing wildly along after her. She rushed into one of the bedrooms and a few seconds later popped her head out, grinning from ear to ear.75

“Mama, can I have this room, please? The walls are pink,” She bounced restlessly.76

Ma giggled in amusement.77

“Go ahead, Alina,” She said, walking over to the dining table and setting her box down. She happily sighed as she quickly turned to face me, her hair whipping around as she turned to face me. “Joel, which room do you want? You can go ahead and choose.”78

I gave her a light smile.79

“Thanks, Mama.” 80

She beamed and then proceeded to rummage through the box she’d brought in.81

I headed over to the nearest room, shoes thudding lightly on the hardwood floor, and went ahead and peeked inside, half expecting the previous residents to still be in there. Of course they weren’t, but that feeling of intrusion still weighed heavy in my gut.82

My mattress leaned up heavily against the wall and my dresser stood nearby, my bed frame sitting not too far away. Most of my boxes seemed to have found refuge there as well, so instead of troubling myself with the daunting task of moving everything, I decided to make that specific space my room.83

“I’ll just take this one, Ma,” I announced.84

“Alright. Why don’t you go ahead and get settled in, okay? I’m going to go pick up dinner somewhere in town.”85

“Alright,” I called back. 86

“See you in a bit! Come on, Alina, let’s go get dinner.”87

I heard the clicking of mom’s sandals and the light tapping of Alina’s shoes against the floor, followed by the audible sound of the front door shutting.88

Then silence.89

For a few minutes, I just stood silently in the room, fingers still wrapped tight around my box of photos and holding onto the keys. I chewed on my lip, flicking my snakebite piercings with my tongue, before I finally let out a sigh and moved over towards my dresser across the room.90

I set down my box on the floor beside my dresser and tossed the keys carelessly inside. I moved over to the window and leaned up against the wall. The dirtied glass looked out over the entire town, which by then appeared to be bathing in the fading light of day.91

I had to admit, it all looked pretty beautiful from where I stood, everything painted in vibrant shades of red, pink, yellow, and orange. It was definitely one of those scenes where everything was just supposed to feel good, like life was so worth living, and yet, for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel bitter while staring at the unfamiliar sunset that had washed over town.92

It wasn’t where I belonged, and I knew it.93

“Welcome to Ash Creek, Joel.”