Holisdale: Round One -- The Blecker Family
Next we have the Bleckers, a relatively small family with one elder and three teenagers.
16 pictures.
Upon moving into their grandmother's house, the Blecker children immediately went to scope out the house. Some of them were pleased and some of them were not. Tara Blecker was certainly happy with their new home. "It's so quaint," she thought out loud, smiling as she walked through the parlor room of the small home. Tara didn't really mind the size at all; she was just happy that she and her siblings even had a home.
After the death of their parents, it had been totally possible that the three teens would've ended up in a foster home--possibly in different families altogether. Tara loved her brother and sister too much to part with them; they were the only family she had left. However, when she heard they'd be living with their grandmother, she was ecstatic. The same couldn't be said for her older sister though...
To say the least, Amanda Blecker was not happy with her current situation. Not only had she lost both her parents in one car crash, but she was now forced out of the only home she'd ever known to live in a considerably smaller house in Holisdale--a.k.a. the middle of nowhere. She knew nobody, she had no connections here and the last time she remembered being at her grandmother's house was when she was two and a half.
Now fourteen and a half years later, Amanda was not excited to return. Her grandmother's house seemed to small for the few prized possessions she'd been allowed to take from her old home and her grandmother's furniture and things seemed so outdated. The woman didn't even have a computer for crying out loud! Amanda knew her grandmother was not only old-fashioned but poor, but she didn't think that was a plausible excuse. Amanda was used to having everything she wanted and needed and she could already see that living here wouldn't be a pleasant experience for her.
Luckily, Evan didn't share the same view as his younger sister. He wasn't as excited about the move as Tara was either, but he was pretty content. He was glad that all three of them had a proper home with someone they were related to, even if they weren't so familiar with their grandmother anymore. Evan figured this would be a great learning experience for both of his younger sisters; he knew how spoiled Amanda was and how naive Tara could be. He hoped that the aftermath of their parents' death would help them mature, even though it was a rather tragic event.
Evan would learn to deal with it on his own time as well. He was glad that they'd moved away from the house. He'd been concerned that the memory of their former life would be a toxin if they stayed there and it felt so good to be able to start fresh and anew in a small town. Besides, their grandmother was a sweet woman. It didn't seem like much bad would reach them here.
To say that Amy Blecker was anxious about the arrival of her grandchildren was an understatement. Of course Amy didn't show it though. She knew she'd have to put on a pleasant face for her grandchildren, if only not to remind them of their parents' death. Amy herself was still heartbroken over the loss of her son and daughter in law, but she pushed away her pain in order to be there for her grandchildren. She had no idea what to expect from them. It'd been years since she'd last seen them and she had no idea how they'd grown up or how their personalities had formed. She'd done what she could to set up her house for them, but Amy only had so much time, money and space. She hoped the children's new home would be good enough for them though.
She'd done everything she could to prepare for them. Now it was time to put the preparations to the test.
The moment Amanda saw the room she had to share with Tara, she scowled in disapproval. "I cannot believe we have to share a room, Tara! The last time we shared a room, you were three and I was four!" Amanda cried in disbelief, feeling like she was that age again.
"It's not that bad, Mandy..." Tara said quietly. She found it exciting and cool. She'd be feet away from Amanda at all times and they could gossip in the night and have little mini-sleepovers. She didn't mind the closeness at all; she often felt too lonely in her large room back at their old house.
"And of course Evan gets to have a room all to himself," Amanda grumbled as if she hadn't heard Tara at all. 'Ugh, everyone treats him like he's a prince just 'cause he's the only boy. I'm so sick of it!"
Tara remained quiet, unsure of how to handle her older sister's attitude. Her mom had always been the one to calm the fiery Amanda down, but their mom wasn't there anymore. Tara was totally at a loss.
The next day, after the kids had settled in a little more, things weren't looking too much better. Evan had come into the girls' room before they were to get ready for school and had mocked them about how they had to share a room and how maybe it would make them better people by the time they would be off to college. Amanda, who had not enjoyed her first night at her grandmother's house, had just about had the last straw from her brother or anyone.
She confronted Evan immediately, speaking in a rather bitter tone. "I am so sick of you and your high and mighty attitude, Evan!" she exclaimed, shoving Evan a little bit. "Mom and Dad aren't here to pamper you and your fantastic ego anymore, so get off your damn high horse!"
Evan started to retort, but by the time he'd gotten over his shock and opened his mouth, Amanda had already left the room to go to the bathroom and get ready for school. It was clear from that moment that these two were not going to get along.
Evan wasn't the only person in the house who Amanda had a problem with. She was rather sour with her grandmother at times. Whenever Amanda said something rude or sarcastic, Amy would just sigh and shake her head and mutter something to herself which sounded a little bit like, "Just like her father," but Amanda couldn't be sure. Amanda also found her grandmother's house rules to be restricting, illogical and unfair. When she argued and protested against them, her grandmother would simply shrug and say that her father bid by her rules and so Amanda would have to live with them too for as long as she lived under Amy's roof.
Amanda hoped that that wouldn't be for too long. She found an afterschool job (mostly because her grandmother insisted that all three of them should to cover their own personal expenses) and she was trying her hardest to accumulate as many scholarships as she could before college.Then she'd be her own independent woman.
Things began to pick up for Amanda when towards the end of the week, one of her friends from work asked to come over to her house and she agreed because she liked him. Ricky was one of the first friends Amanda had made since moving to Holisdale and usually making friends was much more difficult for her. However, Ricky seemed to like her a lot and the two of them were flirting with each other pretty soon. Amanda thought Ricky was a fun guy, but she wasn't really looking for much else.
Or she wasn't until on a whim she had the desire to kiss Ricky--and so she did. He responded well and Amanda was more than pleased when he started kissing back. It was her first kiss and she felt rather bold for making the first move, but she'd gotten so caught up in the moment. She hoped Ricky didn't mind because she'd cut him off in the middle of a sentence.
Having never gone through this kind of thing before, Amanda asked Ricky if he'd like to go steady with her after he broke the kiss and by the look that crossed his face, she could already tell the answer was a no. She was more than a little disheartened, but Ricky quickly explained.
"I don't know if I'm really ready for that kind of thing, but I'll, like, take you out sometime or something..."
Amanda smiled. She could live with that.
"Going out" with Ricky gave Amanda something to look forward to, something she desperately needed in her current situation. Even her grandmother's house seemed cluttered to her and reminded her too much of her deceased parents. What hurt Amanda the most was the way that nobody in the house seemed to want to bring up the topic of the late Mr. and Mrs. Blecker. It was almost as if they thought just forgetting them would make everything better.
On one rare day when Amanda was hanging out with her grandmother and watching some rather crude music videos on her old TV, Amanda finally struck up the nerve to actually connect with her grandmother.
"Grandma," she started in a small voice that Amy had never heard from her, "what was my dad like growing up? And my mom, after she married him? How'd they meet?" Amanda had only heard the story so many times and never from her grandmother's point of view.
Amy simply gave Amanda a look, but upon seeing how serious her granddaughter was, Amy smiled softly and started her story. "Your father was a naughty boy, always finding trouble for himself. You remind me of him a lot..."
After that, Amanda didn't find bonding with her grandmother so horrible anymore.
Things were picking up for other people in the Blecker household as well. Tara found that one of Evan's friends from school was interested in her. Tara didn't know if she returned the feelings for Randy just then, but she knew that his affection for her was flattering and she wasn't going to totally ignore it. She just hoped that Evan wouldn't try to come between them if anything did happen; Tara was worried that Evan would assume overprotective brother mode or something and think that Randy was too old for her. To Tara, a three year difference was not that big. Besides, it was nice having a guy chase after her for once.
Speaking of Evan, things between him and Amanda were not getting better. In fact, they were getting worse. Much worse.
Luckily Amy knew nothing of the hate that bubbled between the two siblings and Tara was too afraid to speak up about what she knew. Tara and Amanda got along swimmingly. Tara wasn't really close to Evan, but she didn't hate him like Amanda did either. For some reason, Amanda and Evan could not stand each other. Tara didn't really understand why.
It'd been like that their whole lives though. Their parents had noticed it and came between the two when they were younger and just argued or had disagreements. But now they were grown up and had no one to come between them, they were really going at it. It was more than sibling rivalry now. They were enemies.
Despite how dysfunctional they were, there were moments when all four Bleckers came together and formed something akin to an actual family. Granted, those moments weren't exactly the most normal of moments, but they were still family moments that all four of them enjoyed. Amy enjoyed those moments the most; they made her feel like she was doing a good job with the kids and that they were actually enjoying their stay at her house.
Those were the peaceful, happy moments in the house.
But those moments happened a lot less than the argumentative, violent moments. Especially with Evan and Amanda being in such close contact of one another. They finally broke down and had a fists-out brawl--and right in front of Amy too! She had no idea such a relationship was forming right under her nose; she was usually too busy working and making sure the house ran smoothly to really pay attention to how the kids interacted with one another. She'd assumed that their recent tragedy would pull them together, but apparently it only pushed them further apart.
Amy had no idea what to do with Evan and Amanda. She'd been bonding with Amanda more recently and had played many games of chess with Evan; both seemed like perfectly good kids, Amanda more so after Amy finally got to her softie side. But then, what was going on between the two?!
Whatever was going on, it didn't look like Evan would be coming out triumphant many times. Amanda may have had a big mouth and an even bigger attitude, but she had the toughness and fighter's spirit to back it up. Despite not condoning violence, Amy could tell that Amanda would do alright later on in her life. She was definitely like her dad.
Still, Amanda dealt with her issues on an emotional level as well. She didn't want to be enemies with her brother and she didn't want her family to be so broken up, but that was the way they were. After the fight ended, Evan stormed off to his room and refused to come out to talk to anyone nor would he let anyone in. Amanda didn't storm off, but she wouldn't talk either and simply called Ricky up (almost in tears at this point) and told him that she needed to see her. Once Ricky came over and saw how broken up Amanda was, he comforted her and the two bonded on a more emotional level. By the end of the day, Ricky said he thought he was finally ready to stop casually dating Amanda and that he wanted to be her real, serious boyfriend.
Maybe it would be a happy ending for Amanda after all.
That's all for the Bleckers; next up is the Knox family!
*NOTE*: Honestly, I have no idea how/why/when Amanda and Evan started hating each other. All I know is one day when I turned my attention on them, they were shoving each other and slapping each other and just fighting all over the place! They are actually enemies in game. I've never had this happen to me!