Power Games

I finish up in my room, only packing my bag as I get a text message telling me that my car has been taken back by my family, and then Brendan messages me to tell me that there is an early 2000s car waiting for me in the Grantham Central Parking lot with the keys in an envelope in the glove box to use to move wherever I am going to.

I finish packing all that I can carry in one go, that includes clothes, phone chargers, and all those things and I sleep for the night taking everything in, pissed off that this is happening but also really looking forward to being out of my family’s control with the robotic life that they all seemed to enjoy.

The next morning, I carry the two bags of clothes and a backpack of important documents and memories out to the car park and load them into the shitbox that Brendan organised for me, and head out to Yellow Peak to start the new life. The lack of anything on the way out to Yellow Peak is disturbing realising that everything is going to be totally different and tougher than I thought. I keep driving and a few hours later get to Yellow Peak and pull up outside my new place.

I can’t help but cringe at the fact that the car would have been a better place to sleep but nevertheless I have to deal with the place and I wait for the real estate agent to turn up so that I can get the keys and go into the house. Eventually, the agent turns up and we go inside and sign the deal to the hollow shell of a house that needs to have power and water turned back on by the providers which apparently will take about a week once the paperwork goes through. My mind is telling me to back out of the deal now but I realise that if I don’t then I don’t have anywhere to live and that I’m not going to be able to go back to my old life if I don’t at least make an effort to prove I can be responsible.

Signing the deal, the estate agent gives me the keys that I own and leaves rather quickly, and heads back to the city as quickly as she can, not wanting to be out in these parts for too long which is understandable with the town that Yellow Peak looks like. I wander through the empty house trying to decide what to do without any electricity or water at the moment.

I head down to the main street of the town and pull up, eyes instantly look and glare at me knowing who I am and what my exploits have been which have been many and been through the news cycles. I wander through the town exploring the two streets of the town still getting glares and barely any friendly service like everybody else but I’m not surprised given my profile and how cynical the locals are of new people in town especially those wearing Calvin Klein clothing.

Walking down the main street, I find a second-hand furniture store and head in to see what they have just to fill the house with some basic furniture. Heading in there and I start looking around for some cheap things trying to find just to get the sense of things. Service is non-existent as I can see the staff and some people in the back whispering to each other as I wander around and look for some service. I go to the counter as I spot a new mattress for sale and a second-hand couch which would be good enough for now.

Heading to the counter is a middle-aged woman who clearly knows who I am with an attitude that reeks of hatred towards me. I stand there with a smile turning on the fake charm “Hi there, I’ve just moved into town without furniture and was just wanting to know what your best deal would be for the Mattress and the couch over there” I ask politely before copping a less than polite reply “It’s what the price says now I know who you are and don’t expect to just pull off that charm on anyone here because it won’t work and nobody will want you here”.

I shake my head shocked “Look, I’m not here for any other purpose than to live and then to work at the Yellow Peak mine which I have a job at alright? Now, your sign on the wall says make us a deal and I am just doing that because I’m pretty much broke in a new town so put aside the fact that you don’t like me and we can make a deal on these two things and then maybe some more later on?” I say probably getting a bit too brash for the situation which gets her back up even more.

She rolls her eyes and lets out a major sigh “Fine, I can do the two for $400 at the best, that’s $100 off, that make you happy?” I think about it for a minute and realise that it’s the best that I can do “Yeah that will do, I can pay it now in cash if it helps you. At that comment her ears perk up “well maybe we could do something a bit more for that $400 and throw in that table too just as a welcome to town”. I raise my eyebrows at her generosity and agree because who am I to say no right now in my situation.

Once I splashed the cash, her enthusiasm changes towards me although she does tell me that the driver there are no deliveries on a Friday because the truck driver heads for a long weekend hunting up in the mountains but she will try and organise something for me. I leave the store and wonder what is going to happen, are people still going to hate me here because of who I am, or are they going to get word that I might splash the cash around town a little bit.

The enthusiasm from the lady in the Furniture shop is almost wiped out by walking down the main street of town and no matter how much I try and turn on the charm, nobody appreciates my presence in the town and I overhear comments about the fact that this is just an election ploy for my family to try and get inside information. I try to ignore the comments whilst I’m buying some basic food to eat and take back to the house when I just can’t take the finger-pointing and whispering anymore.

I pull up outside the house, just putting things in the cupboards which are falling apart and make a note of everything that needs work and quickly realise that if I want to fix things up then I am going to need to find the skills and materials to do it all by myself with the lack of money I have. I keep walking around the house, just assessing things when the furniture turns up and two people dump it on my front lawn and drive off.

Slumping down on the floor, I realise that everything is not going to be a cakewalk and I realise that I’ve totally fucked everything up in my life from being a successful college athlete and life of the party and super intelligent but now I’ve got to rebuild a life in a town where everyone hates me and thinks that I’m just here as a puppet of my father’s campaign.

I quickly get up and just realise that I’m going to have to try and prove that I am my own person and that I can build a rapport with people in the town and just build a life. I go out and carry the furniture inside and have an awkward effort getting the mattress in with people driving past gawking at me doing it.

The rest of the afternoon and night, I spend just making plans about how I am going to do things as I watch the neighbours getting home from their jobs, trying to keep a low-profile bringing things in back from the car as my next-door neighbour gets home and heads out with visitors coming and going. I end up spending the night playing on my phone before heading to sleep for the night on the mattress in a sleeping bag that I found when I was cleaning up in my room from when I went on a camping trip with my grandparents.

Despite the layers of clothes that I'm forced to put on and the warmth of the sleeping bag, staying warm during the night is something that I struggle with and makes the night a long tough process to get through but it's just the first of many.