Chapter One: Home Sweet Home

 

            “Jamie Lynn, time to get up!”

            I nodded to myself, already awake anyway, and opened my eyes to see the warm glow of the golden room around me. Sunlight streamed in through my open window, which also let in a warm summer draft. The smell of wheat, corn, and manure filled my room but didn’t bother me much. From through the window, I could see my grandpa waving off my grandma to work, his hands gloved for the work ahead of him.

            It was the first day of summer break, and I was still getting the morning wake-up call.

            I glanced over at my alarm clock and made faces, grumbling, “Early morning wake-up calls… You’d think they’d be asleep, too, at seven o’clock.”

            That was okay, though. I had woken up at around six thirty and refused to meet the day.

            From sheer force of will, I managed to swing my legs off the side of my bed. A long yawn escaped me as I stretched the sleep out of my limbs.

            There was a terrible taste in my mouth, and I quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a random shirt lying on the floor. Immediately, I headed for the bathroom to complete my every-early-morning hygiene list.

            Like a good girl, I brushed, flossed, and rinsed my teeth with some Listerine that left a funny taste in my mouth.

            At least, I thought to myself, it’s not as bad as what it was before.

            Another yawn escaped me.

            “Jamie Lynn, are you ready or not?” My grandpa called out, sounding more than slightly annoyed.

            “I’m coming,” I replied, checking myself for any scratches or bruises. The day before had been a rough one for me, and I recalled being beat up by the time my work was finished.

            As I looked at myself in the mirror, I was as always struck by how much I looked like my mother. My light ginger hair was wavy, and fell down below my shoulders. I combed through it quickly when I saw how tangled it was from the terrible night sleep I’d had, and also noticed the dark bags below my blue eyes. There was a cut on my lips from something I didn’t remember, and I resisted the urge to lick my lips because of it. My cheeks were kind of puffy and red, like I’d just worked out – which I definitely had not.

            “Lynn,” Grandpa said, making me jumped, startled that his voice was just at the door of my bathroom. I turned to see him standing with his white cowboy hat on and his favourite red plaid shirt. He leaned against the door frame, not looking at all like the old guy he was. His voice was deep but hoarse when he asked, “Are you alright for chores? We have to go on a supply run later.”

            “Yeah,” I told him with a reassuring smile. “No problem, I just wanted to see how banged up I got last night.”

            Grandpa chuckled warmly. “You look fine, Jamie.”

            I blushed: not many people got a compliment out of Gramps. “Thanks Grandpa,” I told him.

            “That’s a lovely shade of red,” he teased, his voice light-hearted.

            I laughed softly, embarrassed, “What’re you talking about, Gramps? I think that plaids got you thinking wrong.”

            “Plaids got nothing to do with it,” he defended with another smile, and then pushed himself off the door frame. I followed him down the old, creaking wooden stairs that still held their warm orange-brown colour.

            I breathed in deeply, enjoying the smell of the place I called home; a farm older than Gramps himself that was built piece by piece by the Heartland family. The walls of the stairwell and the living room were a type of purple that didn’t seem dark at all to my surprise. In fact, the house was never seemingly dark, which was probably because of all the light wooden colours of the furniture, and the colours of the sofas and chairs.

            We walked behind the sofa that was turned toward the television, standing just outside of an intricately designed red, blue, gold and purple carpet. A coffee table was placed on the carpet just a little bit away from the sofa and the lazy-z boys which were on either side of the sofa. The television itself was on top of a black stand, and was small and probably as old as Grandpa too. You would never know how black and white television could be so entertaining until you lived in this house.

            Breathing in again, I thought to myself, This is home, my real home.

            After Mom’s accident and the news of her death had reached my ears, tension started to rise between my father and me. It was only a matter of weeks after the funeral that my father had started to become violent. He couldn’t stand me after Mom’s death, and he took me to my grandparents’ house, dumping me off and leaving without another word. There was no ‘goodbye’, no ‘I love you’, not even a ‘see you in hell’. At the time I was about eight years old, but my hatred for the man had built up steadily for eight more years. Gramps hadn’t allowed me to be sad about the ordeal, but fuelled my hate. To this day, my hate still rises.

            Grandpa was single at that time, and wasn’t ready to be taking on another child – especially one who looked like his deceased daughter – but he raised me without complaint. He’d put me to work during those years (which I thanked him for despite my bitterness) and he taught me how to survive, too.

            It was hard at first to live with him: Gramps was a stubborn, serious man who believed very strongly in his opinions and in the Christian faith. Despite all my moans and groans, he’d made me go to church, saying that it would teach me to be a good person. I hoped now that I was a better person because of it, because then I would’ve wasted some loooong hours on boring services.

            Gramps opened the door for me, and I passed by him and into the warmth of the summer sunlight. Delight filled the core of my soul, and I held my arms out, soaking up the sun.

            In the sun, at home with Grandpa and a bunch of farm animals.

            Yup, this was where I belonged.

Author's Note

the chapters are kinda short in this story, but eh, deal with it ;)