Saturday, April 21, 2012

Chapter One




Foreign


It's not like I asked to move to Germany... I would've done just fine living with Bobbi and her family; they were practically family, anyway. The only time I’ve ever met Aunt Monika and Grandma Adeline was the Christmas after I turned six. These people are strangers to me. Why am I letting my parents send me away? Then again, when was the last time they listened to me, anyway? I guess getting expelled from school gives any parent a reason to stop listening.

     Bobbi--my best friend since kindergarten--and the rest of the Levine family drove me to LAX to give me a more personal goodbye. They were an unusually kind family of four, consisting of two parents and two children of each gender. Charles Levine is the man of the household and went to work with my dad, and Mariah Levine is the classic example of a stay-at-home mom. Then there was Jared Levine, Bobbi’s twin brother, the crush of my life, my first kiss, my first almost everything! It was just as hard leaving him as it was leaving Bobbi. I would miss his chocolate brown hair, perfect white smile, beautiful olive toned skin, perfect lips, and especially the icy blue crystals considered as eyes. He was gorgeous… And as his twin, Bobbi turned out just as godly. The only difference was the eyes; she had hazel.
     I sighed as I looked at the clouds through my slightly iced-over window. The sky was black, illuminated by the moon and stars. It was a beautiful sight, but all I was thinking of was Jared and Bobbi. A steward walked by me and asked if I’d like a pillow to sleep on but I kindly declined his offer. There would be plenty of time to sleep during my first month of depression, so I needed as much sight of the sky I could get before I landed. However, technology’s call finally reached me and I plugged in my iPod and opened my laptop. It was six in the morning back in Orange County on a school night, everyone was sleeping.
     “This is so ridiculous…,” I whispered to myself. “I wanna go home.”

The plane landed in Berlin, just a thirty minute drive from Grandma’s house. Aunt Monika’s curly auburn hair and pale complexion was hard to miss. Faking joy was harder than I thought it would be, but somehow I managed to fool them. Aunt Monika opened her arms and gave me one of the strongest hugs I’ve ever had, followed by a kiss on each cheek. Grandma did the same, and held my shoulders with her frail hands.
     “My, vhat a pretty girl you’ve become, eh, Monika?” she said through struggled English.
     Aunt Monika nodded her head in agreement, a beautiful grin on her face. “She’ll have all ze boys chasing after her, indeed.”
     For a middle-aged woman, Monika was very beautiful. Hopefully I’ll inherit those genes from Dad’s side of the family, too. I get a lot of things from him: my eyes, my hair, my pale skin. But Mom was able to shine through with her blonde hair, height, and petite body frame. The thought of them was difficult, and as we walked to the car, I fought back thoughts of rage and hatred. It was obvious that Grandma and Aunt Monika were trying to keep the mood light. I knew they couldn’t be so happy to see me after all these years under this situation…
     The drive was very short, and awkward. Aunt Monika told me that I would be attending school next week with the boy who lived next door and that my bedroom was ready to move in to. Apparently they’ve never had a use for the extra room until it became mine. Aunt Monika believes it was meant for me all along. It’s almost a terrible thing to say, but that would be looking too much into it. She didn’t mean it like she knew I'd be a problem child and end up here.
     When we reached the house, I didn’t even try and look at it. The most I noticed was its obnoxious yellow color. Most yellow houses are pale and remind you of Easter, but this was almost like a dandelion, or some horribly failed attempt at sunshine. There wasn’t carpet on the floor, but old hardwood that I only acknowledged because of the hollow sound it made while I walked. It was then that I realized I didn’t know which room was mine, and was forced to look around.
     The walls were white and covered in picture frames of family and friends, parties and get-togethers. There were sky blue lace curtains on the windows and a collection of apple decoration in the kitchen. In the living room was a white and blue checkered couch and loveseat facing a stone fireplace and a television from the 70s, as well as more pictures and a grandfather clock towards the hallway. The entire house smelt like sunflowers and dust, and that’s when I noticed there wasn’t an air conditioning or heating system. I glanced up and sighed with relief at the ceiling fan, but angrily looked forward to winter.
     Grandma and Aunt Monika walked into the house with a look of nostalgia and finally met my eyes.
“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Aunt Monika said with a sense of affection that was almost overwhelming.
     “I like it a lot,” I answered, trying my best to sound convincing. It definitely was charming in some ways, but what it lacked outweighed everything else on my scale.
     Grandma smiled and made her way to the kitchen. “Vould you like somezhing to eat,mein lieber?”
     “Yes, please, Grandma. Danke.”
     She smiled at my attempt and disappeared into the kitchen, Aunt Monika taking her place by my side. She wrapped her arm around me and shook me a little. “Ready to see your new room?”
     “Yeah,” I said, smiling up at her.
     Monika returned my smile and lead me through the picture and knickknack filled hallway, past a bathroom, two bedrooms and up a small staircase. The door must have been slightly jammed, because she seemed to struggle opening it. I recognized seven German swears before the door finally--and abruptly--gave way, Aunt Monika trying to pull off her little accident like she had planned this for anticipation. She turned back and commented on how old the house was, then finally led me into my bedroom.
     Despite how much I didn’t want to be here, I couldn’t deny that the room was gorgeous. It was bigger than I had expected it to be, and the view was even better. From my window I could see a small lake surrounded by a luscious, green field with big trees every now and then. The floor didn’t creak like it did in the rest of the house, and the small chandelier made me feel like a princess (as silly as it sounds, it’s true). My bed was bigger than the one I had at home, sitting on a vintage-looking wooden white frame with a light green quilt.
     “Do you like it?” Aunt Monika asked excitedly.
     “I love it!” I said, surprisingly more genuine than I thought I’d answer. “It’s amazing and so pretty. Thank you so much, Aunt Monika.”
     “You’re velcome, dear. I’ll let you set up your zhings now.”
     The door closed and signaled that I was alone and free to do as I wished. On top of one of the bookcases were three electrical outlet converters, an item which I had completely forgot about. I plugged them in where I thought they’d be the most convenient and attached my iHome to one. As The Shins filled my room, I began unpacking all of my clothes and hung them up in the wardrobe. Everything else that couldn’t fit went into the dresser that was up against the wall across from my bed. Books, pictures, photo albums, significant stuffed animals, and all other miscellaneous crap was organized between the two bookcases that were supplied to me.
     I finished sooner than I thought I would, and ended up laying on my bed, just staring at the ceiling. After getting the chance to really look at my room, I realized that this was an attic. Hopefully everything unpleasant had been removed before I came here…
     When the sun disappeared, I decided to close the main window across from my bed. The only thing Grandma and Aunt Monika had forgotten were curtains. Thankfully, clouds had covered the sky and we lived in a more secluded area of Berlin, so the most light pollution came from streetlamps. As I took a shower I hoped for thunder and lightning, and all the pouring rain that could come with it. I’d probably need it the most tonight than any other.

There must be a God somewhere, but an overdramatic one. True I had hoped for the entire rainstorm experience, but not so much that I feared the neighbor’s tree would be close to breaking through my window. I was completely underneath my quilt, just waiting for everything to be over, until I heard something downstairs. Cold and freaked out as I was, I managed to get out of bed and look around the house. Once again, something clattered and I noticed it was coming from below me.
     “There’s a basement?” I asked myself, confused.
     It was then that curiosity took me, and I was checking all the doors in the living room and kitchen. None of them took me below the house. More clattering, a giant thump! I listened for the sounds and stayed on the floor. More clattering. I opened the small closet door, and the noise was at its loudest. I checked for any kind of opening, moving the shoes and random boxes out of my way. There was a small hole in the floor, so I stuck my finger inside of it and pulled it up. The door couldn’t have been more than a foot and a half wide on each side.
     Another thump! and I was so scared that I put the door back down. I still wasn’t sure if this was something I shouldn’t know about, and I didn’t want to get in trouble my first night here. Still… I couldn’t just leave without finding out what all this noise is. I opened the door again and went inside, trying to feel something solid underneath me. There wasn’t anything, so it was either drop and figure out how to get back up, or just leave now. I chose the first option.
     Thankfully, the floor wasn’t that much farther, but I still fell down. It was pitch black in here, so I jumped up back on the railing of the door and looked for a flashlight on the closet floor. I couldn’t find one, but I found a candle and some really old-looking matches. I held the matchbox in my mouth and put the skinny candle in my nightgown underneath my breasts, then eased myself back into the basement.
     After many failed attempts, I managed to light the candle, which didn’t help me much at all. But after some searching I found one of those oil lanterns and lit it.
     Inside the room was bookcase after bookcase of alchemy books and papers and journals. So Dad wasn’t kidding when he said Grandma was into weird stuff… I looked at some of the books and journals, extremely fascinated with a glimpse into my grandmother’s head. Was she embarrassed? Is that why all this was underneath the house and so hard to find?
While walking by the desk, something stabbed my foot, along with the quietestrip through my right stocking. I could feel the warm blood escaping me as I backed away to try and find out what had pricked me. Suddenly, a blue light filled the room and the floor was illuminated by a circle with freaky symbols. As the entire room was consumed by the light, I closed my eyes and waited for it to fade away. When it did, I opened one eye and looked around. The room was pitch black again, so I stumbled around for my candle or the lantern. Something fell on the hard floor and when I found it I realized it as my iPod.
     “Must’ve left it in my nightgown when I went downstairs,” I said, turning it on to use it’s light to make my way back upstairs.
     When I couldn’t find the door, I put on Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap to try and calm me down. My foot tripped on a piece of lifted floor, but I caught myself on what felt like a handrail. Th
is wasn’t here before, was it? I thought. Maybe I just skipped over it. I composed myself and walked up the stairs, opening the door as quietly as I could. My hands clamped over my mouth, suppressing a scream. I closed my eyes as hard as I could and opened them again to a foreign household.

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