My New Life

Author's Note:
This is a fictional story that I thought of while sitting in Language Arts class.

I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t believe I’ve even willing to do this. Sitting on a plane by myself, alone, going to live with my crazy aunt and uncle. Why do I have to go live with them? No matter what they say, I know that I am not an awful child. Am I quite hard to live with? That, I know, is the truth. Am I so bad that my parents are forcing me to leave their home at the tender young age of sixteen and be thrust into a world of which I have no knowledge? That is something I know I do not deserve. What does it matter that I got kicked out of my previous three schools by stealing, cheating, and setting the bathroom sink on fire (that was an accident! I swear! It’s not my fault!) I don’t deserve to be thrown into New York, the biggest city in the world, when I’ve lived in a minuscule town in Wisconsin my whole life. Life is definably not right sometimes. How will I survive?  

Touching down onto the ground of New York, I feel all of the breath wash away from me in an instant. My body freezes to the seat from a mix of shock and nervousness. There’s no way I can do this. To get up and walk off of the plane is to accept my life as it is right now, and I can’t do that. If I just sit here and refuse to get up, will the plane take off with me still on it and take me away from this nightmare?

“Hello, and welcome to New York! Checked bags will be received at Baggage Claim #8. You are all free to get up, grab your bags, and venture out of the plane and into the great state this is! Enjoy your time here!” The flight attendant tells us all.

Great, I think to myself. I’m going to have to get off of the plane, and go find my Uncle Tom and Aunt Tiffany. Will they accept me? How will I deal with all of these changes? Guess I’m going to have to find out, right now.

The first emotion I feel gushing through me is shock. I’m so shocked I can’t even bring my mind to think one understandable thought. Are these strangers really my aunt and uncle?  This just doesn’t seem possible at all.

“Claudia? Is it really you?” My aunt Tiffany calls out to me. “Gasp! It is! Oh, my goodness! You’ve gotten so big!”

Suddenly, all I can feel is the life being squeezed out of me. Aunt Tiffany is hugging me way too tightly for my personal taste. It’s been ten years since I’ve seen her, and I can’t believe that so much can change in a personal in that time. For starters, she looks like she hasn’t bathe in about three years. It’s kind of grossing me out just a bit. Also, even though she’s only thirty-nine, Aunt Tiffany doesn’t look a day younger than fifty. Uncle Tom has the same issue. Gosh, I think to myself. What are they eating?

“Aunt Tiffany! Uncle Tom! You guys look amazing!” I exclaimed.

Sometimes it’s better to left thoughts unsaid than to hurt other people’s feelings.

“We are so excited to show you the apartment! I am absolutely positive that you will love it. It’s pretty tiny, I have to admit, yet we have made it our own. Also Claudia, Uncle Tom and I want to let you know, whatever you did at your previous schools, we forgive you for it, and we believe that you really didn’t set that bathroom sink on fire. We love and trust you.” Aunt Tiffany said.

“Thank you!” I spoke aloud to her.

I knew a gigantic lie when I heard one. Of course I did. Those schools expelled me for stealing and cheating. Do you really think that I didn’t know a lie when I heard one? Aunt Tiffany is just trying to butter me up before she stabs me in the back (or, more accurately, the heart.)

Before I realized it, we were already in their car, driving toward the prison that would become my new home. Is there any way I can escape now? Would I be able to jump out of the car and run far, far away without badly injuring myself? I didn’t think there was. When in situations like these, shouldn’t you always try to think of the positive?  Maybe my Aunt and Uncle’s home could become mine as well. I can get adjusted to a large city and enjoy myself. I’m going to love it here!     

How in the world could I have been so positive? There’s no way I can live here! When it’s hard enough to fall asleep, fearing for your life is an added stress that I really do not need. Oh stop it Claudia, you’re probably thinking, I’m sure it’s not that bad. You can deal with it. Well, person, you are what I like to call WRONG! I fear for my life right now! Something is more than likely going to jump out of one of the millions of disgusting piles of objects I can’t even name and mane me. What happened to the sweet Uncle Tom and Aunt Tiffany I knew? The original ones always made sure that their beautiful home was sparkling clean. Not one speck of dust was there. What happened? Were they abducted by aliens who gave them a brain transfer or something? I’m not waiting to find out. I am getting out of here tonight!

“Do you still like Mexican, Claudia?” Uncle Tom calls out from the kitchen.

“Yes, Uncle Tom, I still do.” I reply back to him.

Once dinner is finally finished, after my aunt and uncle have showered, powered down, and finally went to sleep, I’m making my escape. This plan has taken me a lot of thought! After they are both snoozing, I’m going to repack only my necessities and put them in the most minuscule bag that I have. There’s no way I can walk around NYC with a gigantic wheeler suitcase with me.  After packing is finished, I will quietly tip-toe out of the apartment and get out of the building as fast as I can. What’s next? I think I’m just going to wing it. With almost two-thousand dollars to my name (please don’t ask where I got it) I figure I can last in a hotel for a few and then jump a plane going to anywhere but here.

Mexican food simply doesn’t taste as good when the only other thing in your stomach is worry. For a woman my age, I feel I’m smarter than most of the others are. Yet do I have enough brainpower for myself to survive on the streets of the largest city in the world? I guess I’m just going to have to wait and see.

“Are you alright, Claudia? You seem very….tense.” Aunt Tiffany glances at me after saying this, with her eyes showing worry and a slight mix of fear.

“Yes, Aunt Tiffany, I am fine.  Just tired from all of the traveling I have done today, that’s all.”

Were they onto me? I figured that I was doing a great job of covering my feelings up. After being kicked out of three schools, I knew exactly how to cover up all of my emotions. My actress skills had to doubt and fail me now, at the most important time of my life? Work harder, Claudia, I coach myself. Don’t let your fear show. You are strong enough to do this.

Dinner couldn’t have finished fast enough. Thankfully, there was a fact about my aunt and uncle that hadn’t changed: they were early to bed, early to rise.

“Claudia, your Uncle and I are heading off to bed. Your room is straight down the hall and to the left. Good night!” Aunt Tiffany said to me perkily.

I hate when people are perky. I smile fakely and nod.  

“Good night!”

Footsteps and the sound of two people getting into bed are the only things I hear. I scramble to my feet and pack up everything I will need as quickly as I can. Feeling quite proud of myself, I start walking to the door and give everything in the apartment a simple last look. Thank god I don’t have to stay in this nightmare anymore.

Disaster strikes. After letting myself look over the place a final time, my foot smacks the coffee table. Aunt Tiffany’s dumb glass bowl, overflowing to the brim with useless objects I can’t pronounce, tips over and shatters into a million tiny pieces onto the floor. You can’t even tell where the pieces went because the floor is so littered with junk. I hear hurried, panicked steps.

“Claudia? Claudia! What happened? What did you do?” Aunt Tiffany yells at me.

A bitter seed that was already inside of me snaps and overflows. I can’t hold my tongue. Everything that I am feeling comes rushing out of my mouth like a waterfall.

“What did I do? What did I do? Are you kidding me? You’re just like everyone else! It’s always my fault! Everything always is! I didn’t even do half of the things everyone accuses me of! Well, most of the things I did do, yet did you ever think what drove me to attempt to do it? I don’t have the perfect life. How would it feel to you if your parents looked you in the eye and said they can’t handle you anymore? To me, that felt like they were saying we don’t love you enough to figure out what’s wrong. We are just going to ship you off like you’re a piece of cargo. Then, you get to your aunt and uncle’s house, and they turn out to be two totally different people than the ones you knew before! They feel like aliens to you! Where they call home is definably not what they would have called home ten years ago. You can’t relax without fear you will sit on something that would kill you! It’s a pig’s home, not a person! I don’t know who you guys even are. What happened to you? Where are you? Oh, and I broke the bowl trying to run away. I can’t deal with you guys like this! I simply can’t!”

Uncle Tom and Aunt Tiffany stare at me in stunned silence. Then Aunt Tiffany takes a shaky breath.  She looks at Uncle Tom.

“You’re right, Claudia. You are so right. The house got so out of our control because we felt out of our own control. We couldn’t handle everything in life, so we let go. Please stay with us. Live with us. We promise we will trust you more. We’ll clean up the apartment and become the people we used to be and still are inside. Your parents were wrong for giving up on you. We won’t.”

“I agree with Aunt Tiffany.” Uncle Tom says.

Wow, I thought to myself. This is a lot better of a reaction than I thought I was going to get. It truly seems like they really care, and really want to make a change for the positive in their lives.  I have a very strong feeling that I’m always going to regret it if I do not give them a chance.

“OK. Let’s see how everything works out. I’m sorry that I jumped to a conclusion so quickly, and didn’t try to see what you all were truly feeling. Will you forgive me?” I say to them.

“Yes.” They reply.

ONE MONTH LATER

Life is surprisingly going great! Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Tom’s apartment is all cleaned up, and it looks great. I’m doing quite well at my new school, and made new friends. Uncle Tom, Aunt Tiffany and I have gotten very close and I feel like I can share anything with them.  It turns out that all I needed to get my life back together was people who made me feel like I matter. I finally got that. 

In my creative story, the exposition is when Claudia is going to live with her aunt and uncle in New York. She can’t stand the fact her parents are forcing her to go, and she doesn’t know how she will survive. The rising action is when the main character sees her Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Tom for the first time, and figures out they are absolutely nothing like they used to be. In this piece, the climax is when Claudia decides she can’t take living with her aunt and uncle, and thinks of a plan to escape. The falling action is when my main character accidentally hits the coffee table with her foot and breaks a glass dish, waking up Uncle Tom and Aunt Tiffany. The trio talk about how they feel, Claudia explaining to them why she wanted to run away and Uncle Tom and Aunt Tiffany tell her why their live spiraled out of their control, and what they will do to fix it. In my story, the resolution is when Claudia decides to give her aunt and uncle a second chance and makes their home hers as well. The mode of literature for my piece is a comedy.