Please review! My main question: Does it seem like a bit too much information for the first page?
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“You can’t keep staying out until all hours of the morning, Edgar! What example are you setting for the children?”
I shut my eyes tighter, pulling my faded jean quilt up to my nose. Glancing over at the digital clock on my nightstand I sighed. Two-thirty in the morning. They had been at this for hours. The fighting had seemed to be happening non-stop since we moved to Louisville, Colorado. Of course Mom and Dad tried to keep their fighting hidden in front of us ‘children’, as my mom had put it.
But five of us were in high school, more adult that kid. The only one of us I’d really consider a child would be twelve year old Jacob, but even he acted more mature than some of my other brothers. They all loved to pick on me, especially Zack, since I was the only sister they had and what not. So, we were all plenty mature enough to realize the discord between our parents.
This was the second time this week Dad had come home later than midnight, something I would never have thought possible of him. But he’d been under a lot of pressure lately, having been laid off in Seattle before being offered a sub-par accounting job with the city of Louisville. Actually, all of us were under a lot of pressure.
I hated having to leave school in the middle of second semester to move to this podunk town. We moved into this house a week ago and were all scheduled to start school this coming Monday. Just three days away.
More like two now, I thought ruefully, casting another glance at my clock. If my parents kept this up I wouldn’t get any sleep before school started.
I looked around my small room, trying to think of anything but that dreaded first day of school—making new friends, playing catch-up in classes. Thinking about it made me shudder. I had to keep my mind off of that topic. My plan was to cross that hurdle when I came to it.
I scanned my bedroom to try and distract myself. My room seemed to shrink at night as blue moonlight poured in through my window overlooking the front lawn. Not that I was complaining about the size. My parents had given me one of the four bedrooms in this house all to myself, which is more than my brothers could say. Pete and Zack were sharing a room. Same with the Twerbs and Jacob. That was one of the few perks I had being a girl in a house full of boys.
Boxes were piled high against the wall and my garage-sale desk had found its spot underneath the window overlooking the front yard. It was cluttered with papers. Lyrics. Not that I’d ever admit to anybody that I wrote lyrics. Those were way too private for me to tell anyone about.
My eyes lingered on the ugly brown boxes. Despite having been here a week I still hadn’t unpacked anything other than the essentials. Unpacking made the move feel too permanent.
But it was permanent. I knew that.
It’s not that I didn’t like Colorado; it’s just that Seattle is my home. It’s where I grew up, where I have all my memories, though not all of them are good.
I shuddered as the memory of that dark night last October crept into my mind. Suddenly my dark room was making me anxious. I shut my eyes to hide from the memory, but it was there waiting for me.
Think of Pete, I told myself. My heart was pounding hard against my chest. Think of Pete.
I thought of Pete’s face, its sharp angles that were somehow soft and warming. His brown hair and comforting green eyes. Pete was not only my brother, he was my best friend. It was Pete who always squished spiders for me and only his voice could help drive away the night terrors whenever they returned.
