Suffocating

Three Months

Sophie.

"Welcome to Lakewood." Dad said as he drove past the small, run down sign on the edge of town.

I rolled my eyes and turned my music up. I didn't hate the move. I wasn't pissed at dad like Lexie, my younger sister, was. She was giving up her friends, her school, her childhood. I was doing the same but my move to college in August would be the same thing. Only I would be in control.

I liked our old hometown and the people there. It was a big town with three high schools. Not many people knew those who lived further away. In Lakewood, that would be completely different.

The town only had 700 people and wasn't very large. It was like the Rhode Island of the United States. It was small and nobody remembered it even existed.

Dad drove through the main part of town. There was a rundown Burger King that was still open, a grocery store that I'd never heard of before, a movie theater no longer in use, and a few mom-and-pop stores. The streets weren't crowded with people but it wasn't vacant. The streetlight was a blinking light, giving our side a red light while the other side had yellow. Back home, everything was name brand and crowded.

Dad turned off onto a street that had apartment buildings and continued down it until the road turned into a cul de sac. Dad pulled into the cement driveway and put the car in park. He turned around in his seat before unlocking the doors. "No fighting over your rooms. Soph, you're in the basement. Lex, you get the room on the right at the top of the steps."

"What? No fair! Sophie's leaving for college soon and she won't even need that much room." Lexie wined, shooting me daggers.

Mom sighed. "Sophie's older, Lexie."

"That's a shitty excuse. Just because she was born first-"

"Language, Alexis."

Lexie unlocked her door and got out. She slammed it behind her.

"We're not picking favorites." Mom said, sighing, as she got out of the car.

Dad and I got out of the car and walked up to the house. The movers were supposed to drop everything off before we got there.

Dad unlocked the front door and sure enough, dozens of boxes littered the front foyer and living room.

"Everyone, grab a box and head off to your rooms."

Lexie grabbed a duffle bag and left.

I grabbed the box with my blankets in it. "When do we start school?"

"Monday." Mom said

I nodded and went to my new room. The floor was carpeted and there was a set of french doors leading outside.

I set the box on the floor by the bed and my purse beside it.

Only three months stood in between me and my last summer as a kid. Then I'd be off to college and adulthood. I wanted to be in college already, making friends, joining clubs and groups, and spending all my evenings studying with my roommate. I wanted to skip living in Lakewood.