Something From Nothing.
Original - Heath Whitish - Something from Nothing - G
Heath is not rich. She's never been rich, really, even when she still lived with her dad in the house in Jersey (two-story, white paint, picket fence; everything except the 2.5 kids) they weren't exactly rich. When she and her mother moved away (walked out? Heath doesn't like that expression for this situation, they didn't have any other choice) they left what they had of the money behind.
Her mother hadn't been working since she got pregnant. She's told Heath over and over how sorry she is for the week-and-a-half they spent on the street. Heath can't remember, really. She was only seven years old.
She remembers she was excited because she didn't have to go to school, and also because they took the big tent and camped out in Newark's central park, so it was kind of like a week-and-a-half-long holiday. She also remembers how her mother made Heath shower in the bathrooms at the swimming pool. She didn't like that, as much.
Finally, Heath's grandfather pulled up by the park, pulled down the tent, and pulled Heath and her mom into the car.
Heath's mom protested. "Dad, you don't have to - I'm not charity case - I don't want -" until he turned around and said, "You can go back if you want to that much, but the kid stays with me."
(Heath doesn't remember that part. She was sleeping in the back seat of the car. Years later, though, her mom laughed with her at the absurdity of it all.)
So they stayed at Granda Neil's house for a year. Heath got her own room (the guest room right under the attic). Sometimes, Granda Neil and his friend Joey walked Heath to her new school, rather than giving her a lift. The year Heath spent at Granda Neil's was the happiest she can remember, almost.
When her mother finally found a job and earned enough money, they moved out again, across the country to Chicago. Heath was kind of upset, she supposes, but was also kind of enraptured by the windy city. Enough of her school friends had family in Chicago for her to know that it was one of those places.
It didn't turn out to be one of those places. Luckily, she didn't figure that out until she'd spent a few years there in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that her mom had to work 9-5 to rent, and by that time - well. She already had friends. Marc, who was a couple of grades ahead of her in school but lived in the building across the road, and Lucy, who was in her class at school and had this crazy-big gap-toothed smile. By then, she already called Chicago home.
She was fourteen when she got her first job. She gave half her wages (nine dollars an hour, great for a fourteen-year-old working three nights a week at a supermarket) to her mom for rent, even though she didn't have to. Sometimes, her mom worked overnight. Heath kind of wanted to contribute all her money. Her mother wouldn't let her.
Heath's seventeen now, works after school most days at the record store with Marc, and they still haven't moved out of the shitty apartment, still haven't rehabilitated. Now, maybe, it's the norm instead of the exception. Maybe they're stuck in a rut.
(One day, though, Heath's going to get famous and rich and buy her mom a massive house with, like, three stories as well as an attic and a basement, a massive front yard and a pool in the back. Then maybe it'll be fine.)
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Oh god. That was terrible. I was trying really hard, too. It doesn't even relate that well to the prompt. D:
Heath is not rich. She's never been rich, really, even when she still lived with her dad in the house in Jersey (two-story, white paint, picket fence; everything except the 2.5 kids) they weren't exactly rich. When she and her mother moved away (walked out? Heath doesn't like that expression for this situation, they didn't have any other choice) they left what they had of the money behind.
Her mother hadn't been working since she got pregnant. She's told Heath over and over how sorry she is for the week-and-a-half they spent on the street. Heath can't remember, really. She was only seven years old.
She remembers she was excited because she didn't have to go to school, and also because they took the big tent and camped out in Newark's central park, so it was kind of like a week-and-a-half-long holiday. She also remembers how her mother made Heath shower in the bathrooms at the swimming pool. She didn't like that, as much.
Finally, Heath's grandfather pulled up by the park, pulled down the tent, and pulled Heath and her mom into the car.
Heath's mom protested. "Dad, you don't have to - I'm not charity case - I don't want -" until he turned around and said, "You can go back if you want to that much, but the kid stays with me."
(Heath doesn't remember that part. She was sleeping in the back seat of the car. Years later, though, her mom laughed with her at the absurdity of it all.)
So they stayed at Granda Neil's house for a year. Heath got her own room (the guest room right under the attic). Sometimes, Granda Neil and his friend Joey walked Heath to her new school, rather than giving her a lift. The year Heath spent at Granda Neil's was the happiest she can remember, almost.
When her mother finally found a job and earned enough money, they moved out again, across the country to Chicago. Heath was kind of upset, she supposes, but was also kind of enraptured by the windy city. Enough of her school friends had family in Chicago for her to know that it was one of those places.
It didn't turn out to be one of those places. Luckily, she didn't figure that out until she'd spent a few years there in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that her mom had to work 9-5 to rent, and by that time - well. She already had friends. Marc, who was a couple of grades ahead of her in school but lived in the building across the road, and Lucy, who was in her class at school and had this crazy-big gap-toothed smile. By then, she already called Chicago home.
She was fourteen when she got her first job. She gave half her wages (nine dollars an hour, great for a fourteen-year-old working three nights a week at a supermarket) to her mom for rent, even though she didn't have to. Sometimes, her mom worked overnight. Heath kind of wanted to contribute all her money. Her mother wouldn't let her.
Heath's seventeen now, works after school most days at the record store with Marc, and they still haven't moved out of the shitty apartment, still haven't rehabilitated. Now, maybe, it's the norm instead of the exception. Maybe they're stuck in a rut.
(One day, though, Heath's going to get famous and rich and buy her mom a massive house with, like, three stories as well as an attic and a basement, a massive front yard and a pool in the back. Then maybe it'll be fine.)
=
Oh god. That was terrible. I was trying really hard, too. It doesn't even relate that well to the prompt. D: