Route 26 - Chapter One | Part One

A/N: Hello! I'm back with a new story. Whoop! Here's the first part of chapter one:

Chapter One (Part One)

As the sun peeked through my tattered curtains, I found myself tangled in my sheets, staring at my ceiling. Changes happen all the time, Dalton always told me. And it’s funny how they do. You get so focused on everything you do and next thing you know daylight turns to night time or you sit at your windowsill for hours, watching the cars drive by in your old apartment on a busy street. People are dropping dead on one side of the Earth and you’re just so focused on the cars you don’t think twice. But where does your mind wonder, Preston? Where do your thoughts travel to?

Dalton was a strong man, twenty-three, and definitely not one to screw around with. He was actually a pretty good guy as long as he wasn’t drunk. He always had an alcohol scent lingering in his breath. Lately, he’s been “partying” a lot, but I know he’s been at the bars down the road. He’ll always stumble in our apartment and I would catch him laughing as he tried to sneak in, but his laugh would just be too loud. His eyes would be dark with the whites of his eyes tinted pink and red. Then, his laughter would stop as his eyes met mine. I would ask him the same question I do every night, “Where have you been?” and he would push past me, hitting me into a wall, and slamming his bedroom door behind him. He never answered.

I flung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up, stretching my arms out. Naturally, my eyes closed and I yawned with exhaustion, trying to see clearly.

“Preston, breakfast is ready!” Dalton yelled. I grumbled, mimicking the man as I got up and picked up a random shirt, pulling it over my head. I stumbled to my door and opened it, slowly walking downstairs to our table. This apartment was the worst place to live in, but it was the only thing we really could afford. I sat down next to my little sister who stared up at me and smiled wide.

“What are you so happy about, Reed?” I asked, running my hands through my hair as I yawned once more.

“Dalton says he is going to take me to the candy shop today!” Reed squealed. I chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really?” I grinned slightly, glancing at Dalton.

Dalton placed two plates on the table. One in front of Reed, and the other in front of me. “I figured she needed a little sugar today. She’s been well-behaved.” Dalton’s voice was quite raspy and I sighed, nodding.

“She has, I agree, just not too much. Your tummy will hurt if you eat too much candy, Reed. Dalton can confirm.” I chuckled and watched her eyes light up at the food. She was a small little girl with curly locks of red hair and she had freckles sprinkled across her face right under her eyes and over the bridge of her nose. She was quite adorable, to be fair. Our mother adopted her when she was two and she’s grown to be a very pretty ten year old.

Reed looked up at me and then at Dalton who had already taken his seat. “Preston should come, Dalt!”

I shook my head, “No, no. You can get me some candy, but I’m not going. I have some stuff to do here at home.” Dalton raised his eyebrows at me and I narrowed my eyes. He burst into laughter.

“Work…? You…? This world ought to be ending.” Dalton pretend to wipe a tear from underneath his eyes. I rolled my eyes, grumbling again.

“Shut up. Like you do anything around this house except leave bottles of beer and shit all over the place.” I snapped and Dalton just continued to laugh.

“I’m teaching you responsibility, Preston. Now eat your food before it gets cold.”

Dalton was fairly right. Although they were his bottles, we need to know how to clean up and I guess that’s one way. It’s hard to make this place not look like a dumpster. I hate watching Reed grow up here, though. It’s not fair to her but she doesn’t understand money. If Dalton would quit drinking, we could be out of this place in a few months. We need money, and he’s too lazy to get a job, leaving me to have to search for one. I’m only seventeen and still go to school. I manage this apartment and watch over Reed while Dalton does little things like taking her to the candy shop to make up time he’s lost with her. He’s always gone doing who knows what and he’s never home helping. He may be right with cleaning to a certain extent, but he still needs to help. Two brothers and their little sister’s journey is what our life story title should be.

The truth is, we got ourselves into this mess. We were taken away from our parents after they were put in jail for robbing some convenience store and Reed and I were placed in an adoption home. We still attended school, but mister Dalton came to our “rescue”. He took us from there and now we live here. Dalton was nineteen, in debt, had no job, yet took us into this horrid apartment. It’s something other than having to grow up in a new home with completely new “parents” and perhaps new kids. The choice wasn’t ours, yet we stick together.

I looked over at Dalton who held his head in his hands with his elbows against the table. I glanced at Reed who had just finished eating. “Quit staring at me,” Dalton mumbled. Reed shivered at the fact he always knew when he was being looked at. I sighed, picking up Reed’s plate and stacked in on mine, bringing them over to the sink. I began to wash them as Dalton got up to get ready. Reed walked over to be and lifted herself onto the counter so she sat next to me.

“Is he okay?” she whispered, a saddened expression plastering her face. I looked over at her and shook my head.

“To be quite honest, Reed, I’m not sure.” I sighed once more and looked away. I hated lying to her, but it was the only way for her to understand that people have bad moments and they have good moments. It was just a bad moment for Dalton. But he had bad moments all the time.