Daly City

Ben McKee’s life was going perfect now that Larry was gone. It was one less problem for him and his mother. They were tight on money because his mother had lost her job, due to the horrid economy. She was miserable, complete opposite of Ben. He was enjoying the area. He had recently completed his sophomore year and the summer went by fast. He was soon going to start his junior year at Bluford High School. His mother had loved to see him happy, but she didn’t think they could make a good enough life where they were. She felt Detroit had a bad influence on Ben. In addition to that, she needed money to carry out a living. She knew they couldn’t live like this any longer. She felt she had to do something before things got worse, so she did. It was a Friday that she had thought all day long. She was thinking of a possible solution, but couldn’t come up with a single scenario. There was only one choice and she took it. She decided to start a new life. She was going to move away from Union Street, with Ben of course. She decided to move to Daly City, California. After all, her sister lived there and she had informed her of how great things were out there. Her sister also had open arms and was willing to take in Ben and herself. She was going to do it, but then there comes the tough part. She had to let Ben in and she knew he wouldn’t be too happy.

It was a luminous Saturday morning. Ben had woken up to the smell of French toast. He leaped out of bed and ran downstairs. He had seen his mother washing dishes. There was a plate, stacked high of the French toast he had woken up to the aroma of. He poured syrup all over and grabbed a fork. His mother had finished the dishes and sat at the table with him. Ben watched as his mother looked at him. She had opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but couldn’t find the right words to say it. Ben knew something was up.

“What is it mom?” Ben questioned.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but we’re moving in with Aunt Yvette.” His mother Replied.

Ben dropped his fork. He started to turn red as a chili pepper dipped in Tabasco sauce. She had explained to him why she came to this decision.

“Why now? I am about to start my junior year here! I can’t leave now. I won’t. I refuse!” He demanded.

“Ben McKee, don’t you dare! You do as I say; I am your mother for God’s sake.” She ordered.

“Go upstairs and pack your bags, we are leaving tonight. We will be taking the plane. I already ordered our tickets this morning.” She said.

“What?” He asked.

“GO upstairs” She had started in a loud tone of voice, but her voice had died down.

Ben did as told and packed his bags. He put clothes in some suitcases and personal belongings in others. He was ready by noon, but they weren’t scheduled to leave until dusk. Ben took advantage of his last few hours and decided to say his good-byes to friends. While he was out the house, his mother decided to get ready too. She had showered, gotten ready, and packed. She decided to rest with her spare time. She fell out into a deep slumber.

She woke up and it was five o’clock. The plane’s departure time was seven o’clock. She called Ben and had him come home. She called a taxi and it arrived to the house within a half hour. Ben and his mother loaded their luggage into the trunk of the taxi. The taxi drove off. Ben looked out the window and started to tear up. He’d miss the place.

It seemed like such a short time before they arrived at the airport. Ben was so caught up in watching Detroit pass by; he hadn’t noticed that they were there. Ben looked at the neon sign with the cost glow. The sign looked blurry so he couldn’t see the cost. His mother paid the taxi-driver and they exited the taxi. The driver popped the trunk and they took their luggage out. They entered the airport.

They had put their luggage on the conveyor belt and did what they needed to do. They strutted over to their flight. It was seven o’clock by now and they were making last calls for people attending their flight. They gave their tickets to the young man at the door to enter the plane. He gave them a ticket back. They walked through the long pathway to the plane. They boarded the plane and put their luggage in the compartments on top. They took their seats.

The flight attendant made the announcement of their destination and arrival time. They strapped their seat belts and lifted off. Ben was nervous. He had never flown in a plane before. He was sad too, and he looked at his mother. She had fallen asleep, so he decided to do the same. It wasn’t long before he fell out too. They woke up late morning the next day. The flight attendant announced that they’d be landing in about fifteen minutes. The fifteen minutes went by fast and they were landing. The landing was a safe one. Ben and his mother got their bags and exited the plane. His mother called Yvette and she went to go pick Ben and his mother up. They waited until they seen a blue Camry pull up. Yvette came out the car and gave kisses to Ben and of course, hugged his mother. She helped load the bags and they got into the old car. They drove and Yvette engaged conversation with her sister. They had to catch up for lost visits. Ben eavesdropped for a short period of time, but fell out after a short time. Ben slept more often than he usually did that day. It was probably from all the stress he was going through. He only slept a little while before waking up again. He looked out the window. Something strange told him they were there. Something told me he was in that place he would now be forced to call Home. Daly City.

They stopped driving and Ben looked at the house they stopped in front of. Ben got out of the car and so did Yvette and his mother.

“Go on Ben, explore the hood. Make some friends. I’ll take your bags upstairs and get your things situated. I’ll have a surprise room for you when you get home.” Yvette insisted.

“Thanks Aunt Yvette.” Ben answered.

“Boy, be careful.” His mom stated.

Ben ignored her and walked away. He walked down the street. He took a turn and noticed the kids playing outside games, it seemed fun to him. He walked down the occupied street and walked down an alley. He had seen a trash can tipped over and a little kid digging through it. He looked at the kid and pulled him out of the trash can.

“Who are you? What’s your deal kid? You lose something? Need help?”

Ben didn’t get a response. He heard noises. It sounded like the munching or chomping of potato chips to him. He picked up the trash can and looked at all of the garbage on the floor, from cans to human feces. He wondered why there would be feces in the trash can, but he didn’t even want to ask. The kid was hiding a party bag of potato chips under his shirt. Ben’s prediction was right.

“Dave.”

Dave had answered Ben’s question from earlier. The question asking who he was. Ben had many questions to ask, but he didn’t want to get into Dave’s business.

“Why are you eating things out of the garbage, Dave?” Ben questioned.

Dave sobbed and ran away. He left a trail of potato chip crumbs. Ben was curious, so he followed the trail after about five minutes of being frozen in his place. It lead to the end of the alley way and then to another street. He took a left onto the street. This street was empty. There weren’t many houses. The few houses that were located on this street were spread far apart. Ben saw the crumbs and then the bag still full with chips. There were flies soaring about. They were probably hungry. Hungry like the boy that dug through the trash for them. He looked up and saw a small house.

He then suddenly heard screaming and was terrified, but still curious. He entered the backyard of the house through a fence. He hopped the fence and snuck onto the porch in the backyard. He peeked through the window. It was nothing he had ever imagined. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was the most horrific thing he’d ever seen.

He had seen a stove with blazing orange stove tops. The stove was on, each knob was turned the same way. He observed the label on the knob and it read “Hi”. There was the boy, the one he had met, the first boy he met in Daly City. There was steam erupting from the stove and Dave’s eyes were closed tight. There was a lady hovering over him, yelling maniacally.

Ben ran away, his first thought was to go to the nearest person and get help, so he was going to do so. He ran out of the backyard and stopped. He started to tear up and he fell on the floor crying. His first intension was to maybe start a new life, but not this way. Ben was scarred. He couldn’t carry on this way. He tried not to think about himself. He started to focus on Dave again. He ran down the street. It seemed to get longer and longer. He felt as if it were. It actually did. His vision then got blurry and he fell to the ground. Ben fell out on the street floor.

Ben woke up in his bed. He looked around and seen his room. His Detroit room.

“Wow, it was just a dream, actually, a nightmare.” Ben said to himself.

Ben didn’t remember the entire dream, only the part about meeting Dave and seeing what he seen. Ben thought about it. So many questions filled his head. Does a Dave really exist? Why this dream? Why did it feel so real?

He thought about it for a while. He then went to his mother’s room to get a toothbrush. He looked on her dresser and had seen two tickets. They looked printed and they had a strange name on the top. The name seemed familiar to him. He tried to remember where the name was from, but where? He had noticed they were airplane tickets. He had felt as if he relived that moment. He thought about running down the stairs to ask what the airplane tickets, but he thought maybe it was meant to be a surprise. He left his mother’s room, toothbrush in his hand. He look up and down the hallway in his house, he looked at what a grand house he lived in. The aroma of French toast filled the air.