Fanon:District Heights/Chapter 1


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I never really wanted to live here.

Usually people who hear this tell you that you’ll like your new home over time, but I don’t think that’s the case. My parents decided that since our house- our home wasn’t good enough for their work (And because of issues in our last home) they decided to live somewhere urban and new. Honestly I loved our old home better, but these are one of the many perks of living and having a mother who’s an author and a father who’s a photographer (They told me that when they met they made lots of documentaries before I was born.) As signs upon signs upon signs rolled by, and a lot of traffic jams that made it seem like forever, I decided to break the silence. “So…” I trailed off on the word, making it echo into silence. No reply from either mom or dad. Probably keeping his eyes on the road or editing a draft on her laptop of her latest book that she promises her readers that it’ll be worth a good read. “Will we be staying at a hotel, or…”   Once again, no reply. After a while of not saying anything, my mom finally spoke up as if the conversation wasn’t lost about five minutes ago. “Because your aunt Minny was so generous, she was able to help us buy one here in the city.” She turned around away from her laptop looking at me with a kind smile she sports all the time. My aunt was the type to just throw money at my family like it was nothing and care more about her family than herself. After all, she is more of a giver than a receiver; according to my family and how many presents she gives the whole family during Christmas. After that, it went silent again. And right then and there, I saw it. It was a giant rectangular billboard with the words “Welcome to District Heights. Est. 1969.” with a picture of a star surrounded by skyscrapers and towers in the night’s sky. The design was pretty good, to say the least. Wonder how it’s still intact even after all these years. Staring at the window, clouds formed in the sky, looking like it was going to without a doubt rain. The streets were crowded with tall buildings and apartments lined up one after the next with some people walking by foot, some people taking the underground subways, or just like us, driving the narrow busy streets of this place. It was something that isn’t surprising about cities like this. And just like cities, there is a high amount of crime in some parts of town, which is something I’m not a fan of, which makes me wonder more why people even live here in the first place, business or not. Just then after we stopped for the pedestrians to cross the road my dad pointed to a building that was close to the sea. You couldn’t fairly miss it if you saw it. “See that? That’s where we’ll be living from now on.” My dad said before continuing on driving until we grew closer and closer to the place until we were finally there. As we got out of the car, I observed our “home.” It was close by the sea where somewhat a “restaurant” (Café? Diner?) Was across from it with a pathway connecting from the small island it stood to the mainland we were on. “Well,” My mom smiled getting out her suitcase from the trunk along with dad with his. “Home sweet home.”