Chapter Five - Adjust

Winter and his mum finally get moving, and there's something a little comforting about their new place.

                Just take deep breath’s Winter, slowly, and deeply. When I try to comfort myself, the only person I can imagine saying that to me in Francesca, the only problem with that was the fact that she was nowhere near me at the time. Imagining she was there didn’t really help, as I sat in the middle of Eloise’s kitchen, shaking, and as my father, the man who I loathe, was almost grinning evilly at me through the window.

            I had no idea as to what was going to happen. I expected garden furniture to come hurdling in through the window. But nothing did. I expected him to flip, start screaming and tearing Eloise’s house apart. But his expression seemed to fade, and he didn’t seem so angry.

            I didn’t do anything, and was staring at me, with a normal expression on his face. This was very uncomfortable. I got up and walked into the hallway where he couldn’t see me. Okay. I’m done. Had enough of Eloise’s house, I want to go to wherever this apartment is. He must have thought I was unlocking the door or something because I could see his silhouette through the foggy glass down the side of the door. I didn’t do anything.

            I heard him sigh heavily and knocked, almost politely on the front door. I didn’t want to answer it though. Just because he had come calm doesn’t mean I forgive him. He stayed silent and so did I, but I didn’t move anywhere.

            “Winter, open the door please.” He definitely did sound sincere though. But I don’t want to forgive him! I can’t.

            “No!” I yelled back at him loudly.

            “We can talk about this! Please!”

            “No!” I repeated. I really hope he doesn’t try to be all nice to talk to me, which would just piss me off even greater.

            “Please Winter; I want to talk about this.”

            “There is nothing to talk about. Piss off!” I assume now he’s used to my swearing. Good. Because the way he’s going, he’s going to be hearing a lot more.

            “I love you son.” I didn’t answer. I know he’s my dad. But I feel uncomfortable telling him I love him. Nothing to do with the homophobic crap he tried to pound into my head when I was younger, (which was always looked down on by mum, who has taught me not to judge), it was just that I couldn’t say it because, well, I wouldn’t mean it.

            He slapped his hand on the door, in a kind of I’m-not-going-to-get-through-to-him kind of way. I don’t really care though. I’d prefer him to leave.

            I watched his silhouette leave the door and walk away. For the first time in what I can remember of my life, I felt a bit sorry for him, for mum, for Eloise and Luke. I don’t know. This is all so confusing. I remembered the photo that is in the back of mum’s car, with Eloise, when they were happy, and dad had no idea that he was going to be hated by his son and wife after eighteen years.

            I heard the sound of tyres on gravel. Mum and Eloise were back! Thank god! I ran to the door, unlocked it quickly flung it open. My eyes were stinging with the light that overwhelmed me so much that I couldn’t see for a few seconds. Then, when they can back into focus, I realized that Eloise and Mum weren’t back at all. It was dad’s van reversing out of the driveway, and he had seen me open the door.

            His car halted to a stop, and the door opened. I had already taken a few steps out, so by the time I realized that he was running towards me, I was too far from the house to get back in. I reached for the door handle, and as I grabbed it, he gripped his hand around my wrist so tight, and pulled me. The door slammed shut, and I heard a click. It had locked itself, you a*s hole.

            I tried to pull my wrist out of his grasp, but he seemed to be grabbing tighter.

            “Let go of me!” I yelled.

            “Just come with me!” Even though he was being awfully strange, he still looked sad and desperate.

            “No f*****g way! LET GO!” He still didn’t budge. I was getting so annoyed at him right now; this was starting to get really infuriating.

            “Winter. Come with me now!” He started to get really angry.

            “No.” My teeth were gritted, I wasn’t struggling and I was looking him directly in the eye, I had to admit it was actually quite scary, but still, I needed to stand my ground. He was trying to pull me still, but I was still pulling too, trying to get back to Eloise’s house. If I could get to the door, I would be able to grab on and try and pull away, without snapping off my entire arm first.

            We kept pulling, when mums car cam skidding up the driving, hitting the edge of dad’s van, shattering one of the tail lights and knocking over some shrubs and a few garden ornaments.

            Dad turned to see the commotion, mum jumped out of the car yelling at him, and as he turned to me, I took the advantage, clenched my fist and punched him right in the nose. He yelped and let go of my wrist which was throbbing. His hands were clapped to his nose as he wobbled backwards. Mum on the other hand ran straight past him, almost knocking him over and hugged me.

            Only now did I even notice that it was Eloise who was driving like a complete and utter lunatic, knocking over her own garden, which she didn’t really seem to care about as she got out of the car angrily and marched towards dad.

            “BLAKE!” She yelled. For the small amounts of time that I’ve seen her, I’ve never seen her angry. And to be honest, it was a little scary. He looked at her, still covering his nose. In the middle of his fingers I could see red, I made his nose bleed.

            Eloise grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

            “You think you can just come onto my property ae?” He pointed a nasty finger at his face, “You think you can just try to break it to get Winter, and take him away while his mother wasn’t here? Well, before you complain about your nose, I think you got what you deserved. Winter was defending himself, and you ought to leave now, and if I catch you on my property again or anywhere near China and Winter.” She would have finished her sentence, but she seemed so angry with him, she couldn’t. She ripped her hand away from his neck. He looked at me and mum, mum was glaring at him, and so was I. He turned, got into his van and backed down the driveway and drove away in the opposite direction.

            “Are you okay?” Eloise said sympathetically.

            “Yes, I’m fine.” I said, hitting mums hand away from me before she pulled me into another rib-crushing hug.

            “He didn’t cause very much damage did he?” When Eloise said this, Luke pulled up at the bottom of the driveway with a lot of familiar furniture on the back of the truck.

            “Seriously,” I began. “I think you two did more damage to the house than he did.” The garden looked terrible, plants everywhere, tyre marks in the grass, broken ornaments and shattered orange glass on the path.

            “What the hell happened here?” Luke yelled from the window looking at the front of the house.

 

            After a bit of a clean-up and a cup of tea, Eloise had told Luke where the apartment was, and he and the other trucks drove away in the opposite direction that we came. I was waiting in the car, waiting to get going. I had had enough of this whole thing that I just wanted my bed. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon, but it felt so much later.

            I didn’t say goodbye to Eloise, but she wasn’t pissed off or anything. She must’ve known that after dad coming I’d just want to be alone. I have to admit, her standing up to dad like that, was one of the most exciting thing I’ve seen today. He really seemed intimidated by her. I wonder why? Maybe she was a bit of a b***h at first when he met her and never really got to like her? I’m not sure, but whatever the reason was, she really showed him what’s up.

            Mum was doing the typical thing and taking ages to say goodbye, ending up winding off onto a conversation tangent, leaving me bored out of my mind sitting in the passenger’s seat in the car. But eventually, they hugged each other goodbye, Eloise handed Mum the apartment key, and she got in.

            “Are you okay?” She asked me.

            “Yes. I just don’t feel like talking at the moment.” I replied. She didn’t say anything. As we reversed out of the driveway, leaving dirt marks on the cobbled stones, Eloise waved me goodbye from the front door, which I returned with a weak smile, and we set off up the road.

            It felt really good to be able to get away from Eloise’s house. I’ve been there for a few hours and already he’s attempted to break in and take me away.

            From what I overheard, it takes about forty-five minutes to get there, which isn’t a very long drive away for me, because I find sitting in car’s for too long horrible and they make me feel sick.

            We drove down a couple of long suburban streets before we broke out onto the main roads that stretched across a lot of farmer’s land. It was always interesting to look at all of the animals and the greenery. Yes, they were pretty much identical to all of the other’s that you see, and animals from a distance really didn’t have very many significance to anything, but it was still nice when s**t like dad happened.

            I was trying to fall asleep, but I find it hard in the afternoon. Only when it’s dark can I fall asleep easier, I was just thinking about everything that we left behind at dad’s house. I know that all of our furniture and beds and what not were with us, I sort of wondered what though, I wonder whether or not they took things like the refrigerator, or the tables and chairs, but he didn’t deserve them, him and his s****y girlfriend.

            And then I remembered something that made me jump bolt upright in my chair, my seat belt almost throttling me.

            “What’s wrong?” Mum asked confused.

            “Do they have my phone charger?” I asked really quickly.

            “It’s in my bag.” She said gesturing to her bag that was sitting in the back seat.

            “How come you didn’t give it to me at Eloise’s?”

            “I just kind of wanted to get going.” I reached in the back and rummaged my hand through her bag, which had a lot of junk in it, but I felt a hard sort of rubbery cord and pulled it out, I saw the black wire, and then the end popped out. Thank god. I’ve finally got it back. I’d still have to wait until we got to the apartment, but I still had it with me.

            I felt a little at ease. It’s funny to think that I was shitting my pants because I wanted a cord. Sometimes I feel stupid when I panic over technology, but I guess it’s the age that I grew up in. Image what the next one will be like? To them all of this touch-screen business will be completely normal.

            Remember when we thought that the future consisted of entire massive city’s, with flying cars and teleportation pads? For some reason, I doubt that will happen for a long, long time. And I’m quite glad, I prefer sitting in a car as it move on the ground. You won’t find me happily gliding in mid-air anytime soon.

            As expected, the country had gotten completely boring, and I decided to try and rest. Even if I was just napping, I guess it could take my mind off of a few things.

 

            “Winter, wake up honey, we’re here.” Mum was shaking my shoulder; I had fallen asleep in my seat, wow. I didn’t expect that to happen so fast. I leaned forward, rubbing my eyes to look at the apartment building. It was, uh, not as flash as I had expected, but it wasn’t too bad. The entire building was made of stone on the outside and there were a lot of stone carved window’s the entire way up. The street that we were parked in was actually quite nifty; there were some random shops that looked like they sold things like antiques, and second hand clothing and just strange little things like that.

            The buildings were all very tall though, but quite old looking. I could see the sky, but not much else. We were about in the middle of the street because down both ends I couldn’t see much other than more buildings.

            As I hoped out of the car, Luke and his friends were getting out of their vans with all of the furniture, and started loading it onto the footpath.

            “Let’s go and check in.” Mum said excitedly. She almost skipped to the front door of the apartment building, and waltzed in. I followed her quietly, pushing my way through the heavy-ish door and into what appeared to be a waiting room.

            “Hello.” An old lady smiled. I liked her already, she looked like one of those nana’s that would have been really saucy in the sixty’s, and even in the present date she dresses really well, and wears funky make up and appears to get regular hair appointments in hair dressers.

            “We’re here to check in., into room seventeen.” Mum said politely.

            “Are you the friend of Eloise’s?” Mum nodded. “Excellent! We’ve got her email and everything is fine for you to stay here.” Mum thanked her and went to help Luke with the furniture. Only when I sat down did I realize that this place was actually quite horrible. There was nothing on the mint green walls other than a clock. And the only things in it were a couch, a rug, a table with magazines on it, and a plant that I couldn’t make out to be real or not.

            I sat awkwardly as Luke and his friend stocked the waiting room with things like small tables and chairs and drawers. Then, when the things like couches and beds were being moved in, I was told to go and open the other door leading to the apartments. The old lady came over holding a yellow card that looked like a credit card.

            “I’ll give this to your son.” She said smiling. “Use it to swipe whenever you want to come through this door.” They double doors handles were made of metal, and the actual door was glass. You could see down the depressive hallway that was gross and yellowy and the only light provided was an old light that made it seem so horrible.

            She swiped the card across a black box next to the door, a little red light turned green, beeped and the door’s clicked, and she pushed it open, handing me the little card which I pocketed.

            As I walked down the hallway, mum and Luke behind me struggling with the three person sofa, I read the numbers that were on the doors.

            “What number are we again?” I called back to mum, passing five.

            “Seventeen.” What was the bet we would have to go up some stairs? And yep, as we turned right, the last door on the left read ‘eleven’. And then there was a stair case that led up, turned left and most likely was another flight to the next floor.

            I would have helped carry furniture, but I couldn’t be bothered. So I slowly led the way up the two flights of stairs as they struggled and tried to heave up the sofa. Even the fact that there was so much more furniture, I just decided that the most I would help with was carrying up a chair or something.

            Eventually we past fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and then finally, seventeen.

            “Can you get the keys out of my pocket, Winter?” Mum tried saying to me under a strained voice. I walked over to her, plucked them out of their pocket, shoved them in the door handle and opened it.

            The apartment smelled a little like someone had left a hair straightener on for too long. It was tiny. The first thing you step into is a kitchen. Then forward, was a window and an area that you could possibly put a sofa or something. Left to that was a door to a room, and down the right was a short hallway that had a bathroom and two rooms.

            “I call this room.” I said, standing in front of the door. Mum and Luke almost threw the entire couch underneath the window. It was really small, but I actually kinda liked it. I looked out the window and I could see Luke’s friends piling up our furniture on the path and one by one, loading it into the waiting room.

            “Okay, well, you’ve got to help move some furniture then if you want that room.” Mum said walking out and back down the hallway, followed by Luke.

            It may be small, and a little smelly, but to be honest. I can actually see myself living in here, and I think, I really like it. Despite the heat and the high altitude in the street, this was by far a nicer place than dad’s house.

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long! And this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but the next few ones will be a lot more eventful! I hope you all like this one :)
~Reece

Reviews

[YouoweYoupay]

Very enjoyable, even though I have not read the previous chapters, this one efficiently made known the main lines of the story, where it might be going, and where the reader expects it to go. Your words convey very authentic emotions that we can relate to. I love the way you used questions to interact with the audience: "Remember when we thought that the future consisted of entire massive city’s, with flying cars and teleportation pads?" Excellent storytelling all the way, I would like to know more! Keep going 94/100

[Coyote Poetry]

At least she is feeling better in the house. I like the people in the story. The story had the feel of real life. Thank you for the excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Amila Jay]

An Excellent Chapter, a good read, enjoyed it :))

[Gregory]

Im in love with this. :)

[dillonjensen]

One point you spelled tires, "tyres," not sure if that was intentional? Also, there was a line that said,"Then, when they can back into focus," referring to the eyes I think you meant to put "came." All in all though, good read, you've got some serious talent!

[fireblossom]

You have a gift for story telling. It was easy to get into this story and interesting to find out where it went.

[jennifer little]

good job

[Asb]

at last it came..... i was really waiting for the 5th chapter :)