Chapter 2: New House, New Life

The drive was quiet. I had so many questions, starting with what Tom told me, "What your dad did." 

From what I understood his investment failed and he has to repay money that was lost. I looked at him and opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it. 

He was focused on the road when he started talking, “I sent a cleaning crew to my old house, two days ago so everything should be clean when we come. If you are wondering where I got the money and the house, the house is my childhood home and my parents left the house to you so it can not be taken away, as for the money, I had some cash in the safe it is not much, couple of thousands but it will be enough to get us started until I get a job."

 If he was not driving I am sure this would be the moment where he leaves but we are stuck in the truck so... 

To my surprise, he continued talking "I already enrolled you in your new school, you will start Monday. As for your mother, she left, she will probably send me divorce papers in a couple of days, you will be staying with me until you are 18, after that you can decide. I suggest not to contact your mother, save yourself the trouble."

 He told me all of this like it is not a big deal like he did not ruin my life. Thank you so much for your kind words dad. I wanted to argue with him, maybe even fight but I was tired, tired of everything and I had no will in me. I turned my head to watch the road and I started thinking, before this I kinda had a plan in life, parties, college, exclusive life, exclusive parties, maybe even businessmen like my father. Now no college, probably, I really do not want to be like my dad,  heck if my dad does not get a job soon we will be homeless probably, what will I do with my life. I was drowning myself in sorrow when my dad snapped me out of the trans, with the simple - we are here.

It was late around 3 or 4 am I stepped out of the car and looked around. I recognize the house from some old pictures we have, it is well kept and a classic two-story house. White paneling, blue wooden doors, not a large front porch, a white wooden fence with the exit directly to the street. 

The street was calm, I could tell this was a family-friendly neighborhood,  with houses built one next to another, some were old, some fairly new, and in front of each house there was light. I could also tell this is not middle-class, this was middle and below.  It was a lot different than my previous neighborhood, big fences, security guards, fancy cars, private police patrolling, shaking my head, I entered the house. The front porch light was on,and it shined through the windows so I could see where the light was in the house. As I entered I started to look around, on the right was the middle size kitchen with white cabinets, refrigerator, stove, microwave, and a popcorn machine? a small island with two chairs separated the kitchen and a small dining area in the middle of the house. On the left was a grayish sofa for three people and two chairs on each side the same color and medium size TV, some plants in the corner and that is it, staircase for the upper-floor and nothing else. No recreation room, no game room, no hall. My room, if I have one probably is one small cube and that is it. I took a deep breath and started walking up the stairs. There was a long hallway with one door on the right and two doors on the left and that was it. I heard my dad yelling we will take out our stuff in the morning and my room is the first door to the left. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Well, the room was not that bad, a single bed was on the left aligned with the wall,  a small lamp next to it and a study desk under a window.  Next to the door a large closet and on the right a door I guess for the bathroom and that is it. You could tell everything was clean, that was the only good thing. I was so tired that I did not even shower I just stripped my clothes and fell asleep. 

I was woken up in the morning by the voices, one was from my dad the other one I could not recognize, but damn these walls are thin. I got up and went to what I hope is the bathroom. Yap it is, one really small bathroom, bathtub tucked in between the walls, sink, and a toilet. I took a quick shower and headed downstairs to take the stuff out of the truck. When I got downstairs a strange Mexican woman was there and my dad was giving her money, I guess she was part of the cleaning crew. I nodded my head and headed to the truck. 

My dad stopped me, "Aron this is Sonja, our cook, and cleaner, she will be here in the morning and will leave by 4 I paid for one month in advance and after that, we will see." 

I could tell he wanted me to say nice to meet you, or something like that, I just nodded my head again, I have no will in me to meet anyone or to talk so I headed to the truck to get my stuff. My shock came when I came out of the house, the street was full of people, but not the ones passing by, but the kids, most of them younger than me, some older, also parents and grandparents playing with them,  this was so strange and no one paid attention to me, everyone was doing there own thing.

I was taking the bags out of the truck when I heard "Sir, excuse me, sir."

 I turned around and a girl not older than six was there. When she noticed that I looked at her she started, "What is your name, how old are you, from where are you coming from, you are sooooooo tall, I have to go tell Lilly." 

Before I even answered any of these questions I heard someone yell "Sophie" and a dark hair girl running towards us. 

The girl did not even look at me, but she started to talk to Sophie "I told you not to go far from home and wander off,  and I clearly remember house rule not to talk to strangers, what do you have to say, Sophie."

I was standing there looking invisible which is really strange for my size, looking at the two girls, the small girl Sophie just smiled and started again "We have a new neighbor, he is sooo tall Lilly, look at him". The girl, I guess Lilly, looked at me and that is where things got weird. She almost jumped, pushing Sophie behind her like I wanted to eat her, she started to apologize and took off, almost like ran from me. Crazy people live here.....

The rest of the day was in a blur. I unpacked my stuff, ate, shower, played ps4, did some exercises .. eat again, play some more games. My dad left in the morning at some point when I was unloading my stuff. When he came back in the evening it was time to talk. 

He came in and took off his jacket, "I got a job,  at the insurance company so, for now, we will be ok" he started to leave when I stopped him.

 I wanted to yell and argue, but calmly I stated: "Dad what did you do, what truly happened and how did you lose the money,  why is everyone mad at you." 

My dad looked at me he was furious, he started yelling right away "Mad at me, I earned those assholes all of their money, everything they have, I build half of the stupid city and they have something to be mad at me." 

He took a deep breath and started again, " I made a mistake, I trusted the wrong people, and by wrong people, I am referring to the mafia. I did not know who they were and they had a hell of a deal, I double-checked, triple-checked, and could not find anything about them so I went for the deal. Two days later the FBI is in my office taking everything I have, tapping my phones, following me, freezing my bank accounts, one day after that all of my investors are pulling their money and I am left with nothing. Your best friend's dad was the first one to do it, and everyone else followed. He did not even wait for the FBI to finish." 

I sat down looking at the tv but not really looking, I had nothing to say, it was not really his fault, but mafia ... "When will the FBI finish, dad, are we safe?" 

He sat down on one of the chairs "I think we are, I did not tell the police anything, I do know some things, but I would rather go to jail than jeopardize your life and your mothers as for when they will finish, it can be two days or five years." 

We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes when I started again "Why did she leave?"

My dad knew who I was referring to, he took a deep breath again  "No money, she can't be without it so she left. In her words I always have a backup plan, I will send you the papers". 

I did not know what to do or say, I was never close to my parents, now looking I was never close to anyone, I do not know how to comfort people. I sat there with my dad in silence when he softly spoke, "We will make it, everything will be ok, it has to be." 

The next day passed so fast, I met some neighbors, also Sophie and Lilly live across the street and they have a brother, no dad from what Miss Brittany told me. Oh, and miss Brittany, she has a cousin just perfect for me. 

Tomorrow school starts, this will be interesting.