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My alarm went off at six ‘o clock and I found myself crawling on the floor to reach my bed table to turn it off. I stayed sitting on the floor and leaned against the bed, rubbing my face while trying to figure everything out. I knew what I saw last night. It was too vivid to be a dream, and I had woken up on the floor right where I had let myself fall. I got up and slowly walked to my window, unsure and somewhat frightened of what I would see.
Of course the piles of bones weren’t there. Though I hoped that maybe it was because I did, in fact, have a nightmare, I knew that the more likely reason was that the man in black had cleared them away. After all, piles of bones left out in the open always look suspicious, even in a graveyard.
I decided to not think about it while I was getting ready for the day. Though it had been a few years since we had made a move, I still remembered the drill. First day, move in. Second day, unpack and organize. Third day, school. My parents were very keen on making sure that we didn’t lose too much schooling or allow our daily schedules to get interrupted too much, so by the time I had finished getting ready the rest of my family was already in the kitchen eating breakfast.
“Looks like someone nearly forgot to get up this morning!” My dad said with a wink as I sat down with my bowl of cereal.
I forced a smile and small laugh. I knew he was kidding around, trying to tease me for “forgetting” the moving-in process that was practically ritual at this point. Any other day I would have genuinely joked around with him, but I was too distracted and upset by what I had witnessed the night before to put my heart into it.
Obviously I wasn’t hiding it too well. Terra nudged me as she stood up to take her dishes to the sink and asked, “What’s your deal? You look like you didn’t get any sleep at all.”
I shrugged. “I fell off the bed last night. Didn’t bother to get up and now I’m sore from sleeping on the ground. I’ll be fine once I start moving around and stuff.”
“You slept on the floor? Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Anyway, all my stuff is ready to go, so I’ll take off now to see if the community college has classes worth signing up for. See you all tonight!” With that Terra waved to all of us and was out the door.
Terra was an odd one. Whereas Ammon couldn’t wait to move out of the house as soon as he graduated high school, Terra was over a full year out of high school and had no interest in leaving the household. She signed up for classes at the nearest community college once she graduated, not because she wanted to but more because she felt she had a responsibility to do so. She had originally looked for as many online classes as she could, but my parents knew that if it were up to her she wouldn’t leave the house at all, so they strongly suggested that she actually go to school and interact with people. She dealt with change so poorly that she almost didn't move with us from San Francisco when mom and dad announced the move - the only deciding factor in whether or not she stay or go with us to Colorado was finding out how expensive an apartment in the Golden City was, even when splitting the cost with roommates.
As mentioned, Ammon was a completely different story. He was applying for colleges at the beginning of his junior year, and had been accepted to a couple by the time he graduated. He had decided by then that college wasn’t for him, though, and instead packed up his camera, packed a backpack and told our parents that he would keep in touch. I’m not sure where he went or where he is now, but we get a photo in the mail from him about twice a month with a note on the back saying where he’s been and what project he’s currently working on, and he makes an effort to spend a few days with us at major holidays, so my parents don’t worry too much. I think they were kind of expecting him to wander around for most of his life, to be completely honest. He was the kind of kid that wanted to hang out every afternoon with his friends after school, but never to play video games or basketball or something like that. No, he was always wandering around the city, trying to go on an “adventure” and usually ended up finding somewhere new and getting in trouble. The worst punishment my parents could inflict on him when he broke the house rules or curfew was taking away his bus pass.
Arvin didn’t say anything at all at breakfast. He finished his food, put away his dishes, and left. He doesn’t talk much, but has this really intense look on his face all the time, as though he’s trying to solve some of mankind’s biggest problems, like global warming or something crazy like that. I pointed this out to him once, and asked what was on his mind all the time. He replied, “I don’t think of the same thing all the time. There's something new to think about every day, and I just like to think about it until I have it all figured out.” When I tried asking him what he thought about and what he was trying to figure out, he shrugged and said, “Anything and everything, I guess.” I didn’t get anything else out of him, but he gets the best grades in school out of all of us, so I guess it works for him. Whatever “it” is.
Mom and dad never left the kitchen before me or my siblings did, so soon it was just the three of us. It was pretty quiet as I was eating and mom and dad were cleaning up their dishes, but they weren’t talking, either, which made me a little uncomfortable.
“Did you guys hear anything last night? Maybe out in the cemetery?” I asked suddenly.
They glanced at each other, though it was too quick for me to decide what look they had on their faces. Concern, maybe, or surprise. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. “What do you mean? Like a stray dog or something?” my mother asked.
“No, more like… well, never mind. If you didn’t hear it, it was probably just a bad dream. Thanks for breakfast, mom. What’s the name of my school?”
“Alpine High. I have directions for you if you want to ride your bike, but there’s a bus stop a couple blocks away if you’d rather not.”
I glanced at the directions Mom had printed off for me. The website estimated the total distance to be two and a half miles. “Thanks, but it’s warm enough that I’ll ride my bike. “
I loved riding my bike. I knew that at sixteen years old I should be anxious to get a car, but my parents told me that no teenager needs a car of their own. I had my license so I could borrow one of the family cars if needed, but if I wanted a car of my own it was up to me. I was okay with borrowing, and most of the money I earned was going in to a savings account for college. Besides, I was in to the whole living green thing and felt that if my destination was under a mile away I could walk, and if it was less than ten miles away I could bike. I got all my stuff together quickly and took off, hoping that my late start wouldn’t affect how many classes I would have to miss that day.
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