Chapter Text
Today is the day of our graduation party, I’m turning 18 in a month… Where has my life been these past years? It was all just waiting to get into Med school and blowing through bio classes with ease. I’m surprised I even got past them that well, everyone else seemed like they just couldn’t handle it. I don’t get what the problem is. AP Biology isn’t that hard, but that might just be my opinion.
I’m currently laying on my bed, the sheets are itchy. I’m going to get better sheets when I move out. I still need somewhere to live. I think Harvard has pretty good on-campus dorms, but I won’t take my chances until I see them. If the dorms are okay, I wonder who my roommate will be. Hopefully, they're nice.
The party is at 7 pm and it's 2 pm right now… I need to make a list of things to do before I leave for the dorms… Gosh, there's so much to do and it feels like I’ve got no time for any of it! Maybe I should start packing now so I won’t forget anything, but then I won’t have any of my stuff for a month… Better to be safe than sorry. I’ll start packing now.
I sat up and put up my blonde hair into a ponytail of some kind. I need a haircut, but I honestly like my hair long like this. I stepped off my bed and exited my room, leaving to find boxes suitable for packing with. I walk down the stairs to find my mother, Adrea, sitting on the couch watching TV with my little sister, Nor. My mother saw me.
“Hey love, what’s going on?” She asked as she smiled like she always did.
“I’m just looking for boxes,” I spoke as I reached the end of the stairs. “I know I’m not leaving yet, but I just want to make sure I have everything.
“Well, I know we had some in the garage from when we moved. I don’t know If they’re still intact though. They’ve been in there a while,” She began. “If they aren't good, I permit you to use my car to go buy some from I-haul™. You could use yours, but I know it's far, and gas is getting expensive.”
“Really? Aren’t you scared I’ll crash it Into a tree like I did the first time I drove it?”
“Well, I hope to god you’re a better driver than you were at 15. Otherwise, I don’t think you’ll even breathe air within 50 miles of Harvard.”
“Haha, good point. How many boxes do you think I’ll need?”
“Probably around…. 7 or 8? You don’t have that much stuff, right? I don’t think I’ve even stepped foot in your room in the past 2 years…”
“Well, honestly, that saves you the panic attack of how weird your son is. I'm gonna get your keys. I’ll be back soon, hopefully. You and Nor enjoy your show!” I waved a bit and went to the door to the garage, grabbing my mother's keys off a little side table next to the door.
“Drive safe!” My mother yelled from the other room. I smiled as I opened the door to our garage. My mother's car is a Model S Tesla, we weren’t rich by any means… Well, I take that back. We’re low upper class. Which I guess is rich? I don’t know.
I hopped in the car and started it up. The nice thing about Teslas is you don’t have to wait for the engine to start up. It’s nice when you have somewhere to go, but I barely drive this thing, so it's not like any of this works in my favor. I mean, electric cars are nice, but they're not that practical. Features like self-driving and parking are cool but if you’re old enough to drive, I’d think you’d know how to do all that. It's nice, but it's not that useful.
I opened our garage door and pulled out into our driveway. As I pull into the road I look back at the house, which I really shouldn’t have done but hey, nothing happened… well, not yet, at least. My mom, my little sister, and I moved into this house about 7 years ago after my parents got a divorce. Nor was little so she just grew up without a dad, she doesn’t remember him at all and Even though I was 11 He’s still really vague in my memory. I just remember the reason for the divorce. It was because he threatened Nor and I and my mother just didn’t put up with that. So a week later, they were divorced, and we left him and moved in here.
It’s not the saddest story, but I guess that makes me lucky. After that, my mother never even went out with another man, just so we would be safe… meant a lot to Nor and I, even if we didn’t remember it. But hey, that also meant we got our mom's attention 24/7 365 unless she was at work, which was often. She works as a doctor at the local urgent care and because of…. world compilations, she’s been in a lot more. Not as much as she used to but still gone a long while. So I started watching Nor after school. I’m kinda honored that she calls me Dad instead of brother, but also the relationship between me and my mother…. Yeah, that's… wrong on so many levels…
Speaking of relationships, I've never been in one… Well, I’ve had plenty of girlfriends… I didn’t like any of them. I tried to, I did, but as soon as they tried to kiss me I just left. The thought of kissing someone, especially a girl in high school, made me wanna puke. I just never really liked girls… That might say something. I’m sure I’ll find a great girl in college. I’ll be honest, everyone in high school thinks they're hotshots. Hitting off on one guy or girl just to move on to the next. It's… disgusting. I don’t get how anyone would wanna… be like that.
Hey, I haven’t introduced myself yet! Well… Maybe it's more practice when I meet new people… I already know myself… well, god, I hope so. My name is Arlo Ebons, I’m going to Harvard for a medical degree to be a surgeon alongside my mother. I have a little sister named Nor, who has the cutest dirty blonde hair and the perfect face of a baby child, I… was practically the one who raised her… I’m sad I have to go and leave her behind… I currently have no idea what I’m doing! I’m having a panic attack in a car driving down the street! With dozens of people to watch me be a moron! I’m not even on my own yet…
My life is a wreck… I don’t even know if I’ll leave the house without panicking… What's wrong with me? Nothing that bad could happen… right? I mean it's not like I’ll crash the car… or maybe run over my sister as I’m leaving… or… maybe I’ll forget my phone or my computer, Or even one of my stuffed animals! I couldn’t leave them behind! They’re the only thing left I have that makes me happy… And my sister, of course, Without her I’d… be dead… I would have…. no no no. I don’t have depression. I’m just stressed out. It’ll be fine. I’ve got a whole month to make sure absolutely NOTHING goes wrong. It’ll be perfect. And if it isn’t… I swear… I will drop-kick a child… Well, maybe a rock… But I will do it!