Life Goes On

Chapter 3

     Chapter 3; The House.
 
     Amber's favorite room was an in home movie theatre. When I say movie theatre, I mean about ten rows going up with six seats across. You could invite all your friends to the movie and it wouldn't even fill up. There was a door off to the side that read "Snack Bar" on it, so I decided to check it out. There was chips and sodas, as well as a French fry vat in the back. "Gosh, Amber, this place is crazy! What kind of movies do you have?" I asked.
The short brunette looked up at me with her chocolate brown eyes. "Any type. My parents have their own theatre downstairs, and the boys have one upstairs. The other floors are just there. Of course, all the rooms have something in them. Like an arcade on floor ten, and floor eleven is like a dicso floor with loud music. It's an open roof. Floor seven has a swimming pool with snack bars to the side where people actually work. Floor five is my parents floor. Floor four through two are usually rented out. They have really nice rooms. Right now, we're renting eighteen out of the twenty rooms down there. The people pay us like three hundred a night, and can stay up to two weeks. There's also a resturant on six. But I'll show you around. Let's go look at the movies."
Amber led me out of the snack bar and up a metal ladder to the projection room. We flipped through a book that showed the movies playing. There were movies like Ted, to movies like Finding Nemo. "This is awesome. Can we check out the resturant? I'm starving." I wondered.
"Yeah, no problem. It's a TGIF." she smiled, leading me out of the theatre and to the elevator. When we got up there, I saw how large the place was. It probably had around forty tables, and the back was completely open, no window or anything. Just a balcony to keep you from falling. There was a bar, where a few of the guests were drinking.
The hostess came up to us. "Hey, Amber. Is this a new friend?" she asked.
"Nah, she lives here now. We adopted them." Amber patted my back. I wasn't gonna get used to being the "adopted" kid.
"Ah, of course! How's a free dinner sound tonight, girls?" she asked us. We both nodded and followed her to a seat near the open side. You could see New York City and it was amazing. I was so used to living in California.
A waitor came over and asked us what we wanted. Amber ordered steak with fries, and I ordered chicken tenders and fries.
While we waited, we talked. "So this house is pretty sick. Was it like, a hotel or something before you moved in?"
"I think so." Amber answered. "I've lived here since I was five. We did a lot of renovations."
I nodded. "My house was small. It was kinda dumpy, my mom let the place go after she developed cancer. She was a smoker, she got mouth cancer. It was a whole year that she smoked. Two packs in twelve hours. Sean and I tried to get her to stop, but she denied that she was developing cancer and continued to smoke. So that's how I got here."
Amber reached across the table and touched my arm sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Alyssa. Oh, on a totally different note--how did you like your room?" she pulled her arm away.
My room! I remembered my phone and put it on the table to check my messages. "It's absolutely amazing. I can't believe it." I commented.
"Can you tell me more about yourself? Like, your childhood? I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." Amber asked.
My childhood. "Yes. I used to have such a happy family, you know, when I was like nine. Before that, everything was perfect. Daddy took us to our soccer games, and Mommy took us to buy toys. Daddy would go work as a police man and my mom would take care of the house. We went to school, made friends, and played with them. When I turned nine, my dad became very interested in the war. He put in for military camp, then went on my tenth birthday. After that, he came home for about six months. Then, when I turned twelve, he went to military school. That took two years, and we barely ever saw him. When we did see him, he wouldn't be himself. He'd become stern. He wasn't fun anymore. All he wanted to do was watch the game--not our games, the NFL games. When I turned thirteen, he went to Afghanistan for the war. About a year passed. He visited for my fourteenth birthday, and the last thing I said to him was, 'Promise you'll come home for me?' And he replied, 'I promise.' His base was bombed that year and everyone inside died. Then you know about my mother. She died like two months ago. Here I am now." By the time I was done, I was crying and our food was in front of us. "Thank you." I said to the waitress.
"Gosh..." Amber whispered. "I'm so sorry. My childhood was this. All I did was run around and play hide and seek in here. I went to school, but all I did was learn. I made friends for what I had. Now it's changing. I want friends who like me for me. Don't you want that?"
I nodded and started to eat my food. She was right. Things should change.