Carry Me Home.

I quickly snuck out the back door before any of my family members could see and made my way to the huge oak tree in our backyard. I carefully climbed up the old, worn out ladder that was hammered in. I grunted as I made my way up the tall tree to my old tree house. This was much easier when I was a kid.

Finally, I reached the top, and pushed the hatch door open. Wriggling in wasn’t easy but I managed to get in the small opening in the floor. Once I was fully in, I shut the door and sat on top of it so nobody could enter. There, I’d like to see them come in now. They probably wouldn’t find me up here for a while anyway.

I wasn’t going, and they couldn’t make me. It wasn’t fair. I wasn’t about to leave my whole life behind just because my father got promoted to California. Most kids would be ecstatic to be moving to the “Golden State” but not me. I liked where I was here. I was happy here, comfortable. I didn’t want to leave. I had friends here. Close friends that I sure did not want to leave behind.

I sighed and laid down on the dirty floor not caring if I got dirty or not. I laughed as I saw the poster of the Back Street Boys still stuck on the roof were I had taped it so long ago. I sat back up looking at all the stuff I had left up here but had forgotten about. Adakias, my old stuffed lion was on the old toy trunk I forced my father to carry up for me. It was covered in dust and its golden fur had turned brown from years of neglect.

I got up and walked to it, well more like crawled since I was way too tall for this place. I picked up the lion and dropped it just as fast as I held it when I saw spider on its back. Ugh, disgusting. I opened the truck and coughed from all the dust the found its way in my nostrils. I waved my hand in the air trying to get the dust out of my face. When I could finally breathe, I began to pull out items. It was mostly old pictures that I colored and letters that I wrote, a couple of photographs, a few toys and games, some old candy, and even some spare clothes.

I glanced at the photographs. They ranged from when I was 6 to 10. Me on Halloween dressed as witch, me at my 8th birthday, me and a few old friends at the park, me with my parents. I wondered if my younger self would like what see saw now. I knew it was foolish and childlike for me to hide but I really didn’t want to leave. Why should I leave everything behind to start over somewhere else? I had everything I needed in this place, and nothing there.

The last time I was in here was probably when I was 12 or 13. I’d forgotten how much fun I used to have in here. I crawled to the bench and looked under the seat. A badly carved J.F. Yup, my initials were still there. I smiled at the memory, nine year old me stealing my mother’s mail opener and running back here before she could see me, and sliding under the bench to carve it in so I could rightfully own this place. I looked at the makeshift window I made and hesitantly touched my lip. I remembered tripping over the rug and falling head first onto the window sill. So many memories her-

“Get down, Allison! Now, we are going to be late!” I heard my mother shout from the yard breaking me from my thoughts. I peered out the window to see my standing right below my with her hands on her hips and an annoyed expression on her face,

“No way, mom, I’m not going!” I shouted back.

“I don’t have time for this, Allison. Get down now and help me load the car!”

“Uh uh, how’d you find me anyway?”

“You suck at sneaking out of the house, you father and I saw you from the front yard.” I cursed under my breath.

“I’m not going!”

“Allison, stop being so immature and juvenile and get down!” I didn’t answer back; I just slumped against the wall and slid down until my butt hit the floor.

“Jonathan, a little help here please?” I heard her footsteps growing farther away as she called out for my dad. More footsteps followed heavier ones which were no other than my fathers.

“Ally, please get down!”

“NO!”

“I don’t understand why you’re being a huge baby over this move. It’s not the end of the world. If you are worried about your friends, you could easily stay in touch and there’s always the option of making more. Most kids would be excited to be moving to California. There are all sorts of things you could do there, and the new house is five minutes away from the beach. We already enrolled you into a public school close to home too. Please come down.” I didn’t respond. I just glared angrily at the wall in front of me.

“Ally, this is important to me. I have worked hard and have been waiting so long for this promotion. We could really use the money right now. It won’t be so bad, trust me on this. Now would you get down from there so we could go?” I sighed dramatically, giving up and crawled over to the hatch. I opened the door and shimmied out of the hole. I climbed down the ladder and jumped off at the last few steps. I turned around to see my dad watching me.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I may have given up but that doesn’t mean I’m still not mad about this whole thing.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“So you say but don’t actually know.”

“Come on, sweetheart, we have to get to the airport.”

“Bye tree, bye grass, bye porch, bye house, bye room, bye driveway.” I said as I trudged to the car and flopped down onto the backseat. I can’t believe I’m actually leaving

The plane finally landed and we all got off. We got our bags and went to the terminal where we had a car waiting for us.

“Who is picking us up anyway?” I asked as we waited for the driver to come.

“Well, when I came here last time to buy the house, I made friends with the neighbors. And he offered to pick us up. Well, not him exactly, more like his son.” I raised my eyebrows at him but said nothing. Ten minutes later and the kid still hadn’t shown up. I was getting irritated, tired, and moody. I do not like waiting in a hot airport. I checked my watch, 4:15.

“Screw this, I’m going to buy some water, anybody want anything? No, good.” I took off before they could protest. I l into the duty-free shop and went straight to the fridge. The cold air felt so amazing when I opened the fridge that I couldn’t help but lean my head and body in. I closed my eyes, loving the cold air.

“Are you going to take long, you are kind of blocking the Gatorade.” I heard someone say from beside me. I groaned and grabbed three water bottles. I whirled around to face whoever disturbed me. It was a boy, no older than me, give or take maybe a few years older. He was tall, and had sandy blonde hair with brown eyes. He was wearing basketball shorts with an oversized t-shirt and flip flops. I could tell that he spends way too much sun from his dark tan. He was actually pretty hot. I moved out of his way and headed to the cashier to pay for the water.

I glanced back at him once more before heading back to my parents. And what do you know the dude still wasn’t here. Handing them their water, I sat back down on the bench. Screw this, I thought. I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out my iPod. Searching through my artists, I picked Pierce the Veil and raised the volume as high as it would go. I leaned my head against my backpack and closed my eyes.

“If you come over tonight we can travel through time, we can sleep on the ceiling and creep under black lights. I have a million different girls that hide under my bed, and when I let them out they treat me right. Oh what a waste of a perfectly good, clean wrist. You were screaming till the police came. Can we create something beautiful and destroy it? Nobody knows I dream about it, this is my imagination. If every living thing dies alone, what am I doing here? If every living thing dies alone, what am I doing here?” I sang quietly along to the lyrics. I softly banged my head along with the beat. I felt a hand poking my shoulder and I swatted it away.

“Lemme’ lone.” I mumbled. Whoever was kept poking me but I continued to ignore it. That is until my backpack was pulled from under my head and I hit my head on the armrest.

“What the hell?” I shouted, sitting up. I glared at the culprit which turned out to be the boy from the before.

“What the hell is your problem?” I demanded.

“Your father told me to call you. I poked you to get your attention but you ignored me so, I resorted to the next best thing.” I looked around but didn’t see my parents or our bags.

“Where is my father?” I asked

“In the car, along with your mother.”

“Wait, you’re my neighbor?” I asked a little taken back.

“Yup, can we get going? I have somewhere else to be right now.” He said in a bored tone, taking a sip of the Gatorade he bought before. I grabbed my bag and followed him out to the car. I climbed in the backseat next to my mother.

“Why couldn’t you call me?” I asked.

“Well I was helping with the bags while you were just lying around.” I rolled my eyes, and slipped my headphones back in. It wasn’t much later when we arrived to our new house. I had already seen it so I wasn’t that surprised. The boy dropped us off and held us with our bags.

“I have to get going, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.” He smiled before entering his car and speeding off. I turned to my parents and sighed.

“I’m going to head up to my room; you said that everything’s fully furnished already so I’m pretty sure you won’t need any help with anything. I think I’ll take nap. I’m exhausted.” They nodded their heads and said something that I didn’t catch but I didn’t bother to figure out what that was. My father mentioned that my room was the last room on the right. I headed the stairs and went straight to my new bedroom. I barged in, slammed my door, dropped my bag onto the floor, and collapsed on my bed without bothering to look around. I snuggled into the cool sheets and closed my eyes, drifting off fast.

I woke up hours later, jet-lagged and groggy. I rubbed at the sleep in my eyes, stretched, and yawned loudly. In all honesty, I felt like shit. I clumsily got off the bed and walked over to the open window. It was dark out so I figured I must have slept through the whole evening.
I took a deep breath and smelt the beach nearby. I rummaged through my closets and pulled out fresh clothes. I went over to the bathroom and took a long relaxing shower to cool me down. Once I was done, I blow dried my hair and slipped on the summer dress I picked out. Hey, it was hot and I was in no mood to wear jeans.

I slipped on some sandals and went out the backdoor of the house so my parents wouldn’t see me. But knowing me, they probably heard me leave. I walked down the boardwalk to the beach. The beach at night was beautiful. I slipped off my sandals and ran into the water. I screamed as I entered the cold water fit my feet. I didn’t fully go in, just up to my knees. My dress was thankfully short enough that it didn’t get wet. I spun in circles in the water once I started to get used to it. It felt amazing.

I laughed as I almost lost my balance. I walked down the shoreline, squishing wet sand between my toes. When I finally thought my feet were pruned enough, I got out and laid down. I closed my eyes and listened to the ocean. The waves crashing were so peaceful. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be that bad. I could have just laid there in the sand all night and probably would have if I didn’t hear someone coming over. Their shoes were making crunching sounds on the sand as they walked over. I opened my eyes to see no other than my new neighbor.

“What are you, stalking me?” I asked as he sat down beside me.

“Don’t flatter yourself, I was already here when I saw you walk up and thought that since I’m your neighbor and after bumping into you twice already, I should at least introduce myself. I’m Matt, Matt Landon and you are?” He asked extending his hand. I sat up and shook it.

“Jennifer Frost. But everyone calls me Jenny or Jen.”

“Pleasure to meet you Jen.”

“Likewise.” I stared at him for a few second before realizing that I was still shaking his
hand. I quickly let go.

“Well, as much as I’d like to stay and chat, I have been out long enough and should probably get home. I’ll see you around?” I asked, standing up. He nodded at me and smiled. “Bye.” I grabbed my sandals as he waved at me; I returned the favor and walked back the rest of the way barefoot.

Once I got home, I ran upstairs to my room. I sat on my bed, my face flushed. My god, he is gorgeous. No later than I did, he arrived home and up to his room. How do I know this? No, I wasn’t stalking him, but as it turns out -just to my liking- his room was right in front of my own. I watched him through my window. I could see him perfectly from the angle on my bed. He turned on the radio and kicked off his shoes. He then pulled off his shirt which revealed his toned body. Oh my god, on second thought maybe I wouldn’t mind living here at all. I am a teenage girl after all, and a teenage girl could use a great view once in a while.