Always Here (Part 1)

A Thousand Pictures

It’s Not Supposed to Rain in Hawaii Right?

Chap. 1

Friday January 12

Kristen Mackenzie looked out the window of her moms mini-van, nothing but blackness and street lights, she glanced at the cars clock, 11:30, and then at her wrist watch 2:30, great she thought its 2:30 in the morning at home, she just moved from Nevada. They had moved. Again.

Kristen was tired of moving around she had gone to four different schools in three years; her dad just had to have a traveling job. She really liked Nevada but they had to move right before her last year of Jr. year of high school, she was very disappointed because she was looking forward to the prom.

She rubbed her thin stomach, she was very hungry she hadn’t eaten for a day out of protest and now she was starving, starving for a lost cause.

What’s so great about Hawaii? Kristen thought even though she would’ve been excited if it were before Nevada. Her mom’s rented Land-cruiser was just the first car though, there was just enough room for Mrs. Mackenzie and six of her seven siblings the other car had her dad and her older brother Ben, Who was twenty-three and still wouldn’t move out of the house even though he went through college, but Mrs. Mackenzie allowed him to stay because he didn’t cause that much trouble even though he went along with Kristen and her twin brother Bryan’s schemes sometimes. Elizabeth was sitting in the front her feet on the dashboard, Mrs. Mackenzie smacked them down.

"Liz turn up the music please" Kristen almost whispered as a song from Relient K came on, Elizabeth reached over and turned the dial of the radio and the song slowly got louder, Rachel her nineteen year old sister who was sleeping at the moment and was seated on the right side of the car, silently hit her head against the window and suddenly woke up, she cursed under her breath so her mom wouldn’t hear and tried to fall back asleep she was moody at times but was a good sister when she was happy and the house was clean, Alicia, Kristen’s seventeen year old sister started to snore in the back seat and then slumped over onto Bryan’s shoulder he had also fallen asleep and drooped his head so it rested on hers, she was Kristen’s favorite sister, and Kristen was the only one Alicia had ever trusted and then Bryan, Kristen’s twin brother who was just now starting to hit his head against the head rest on the seat every once in awhile making a strange expression he was the only one in the family that had a sense of classic humor, Kristen shifted in her seat her back was against the window of the left side of the car she curled up against her little brothers shoulder, he was fast asleep too, Kristen hoped that the car ride would be way longer cause she had just gotten comfortable, she started thinking about her family for some reason and remembered the conversation they all had at dinner one night in their old house in Nevada, they all were trying decide who was the black sheep in the family but just couldn’t because they were all strange, but eventually they said that there was no black sheep but there was the most interesting person in the house that always surprised everyone, Kristen.

Everyone started listing the reasons she was the strangest of the Mackenzie’s she had remembered that night clearly.

"She does have a cool cleverness," Ally had piped in after a small bite of her usual five million green beans for dinner.

"And she’s the only one who has that sarcastic sense of humor" Rachel added.

"That’s because you guys never use yours" Kristen had defended her mouth half way full of their chicken broccoli casserole.

"And she is the only girl in our house that talks with her mouth full" Elizabeth warned raising her eyebrow at Kristen, she was always telling Kristen to stop talking with her mouthful but Kristen never listened, she chewed her food, loudly gulped it down and then smiled at Elizabeth.

"And she’s the only one in this family who’s a computer geek" Alicia said swinging around her fork that she stabbed another green bean with.

"Yeah and even I’m not as messy as you are Kris" Bryan laughed.

"Hey I just got another thing!" Ben exclaimed, everyone looked at him expectantly, "She’s the only one who’s EMO in this family"

"I AM NOT!" Kristen defended playfully throwing a wadded up napkin at him, he ducked under the table laughing, Everyone in her family had bothered her about being emo just because the way she dressed, practically her whole closet had dark or earthy tones without a pastel in sight and she always had her hair down with her almost side swept bangs sometimes hiding her right eye when she doesn’t pin it back.

But she had the brightest personality in the world even Ben had said that and Kristen always smiled unless she was down in the dumps and even that was rare, Kristen almost started to laugh but then covered her mouth so she wouldn’t wake anyone up. That dinner was one of her family’s happiest times. But them again, that was a long time ago

"Wow! Whose house is that?" Joseph, Kristen’s twelve year old little brother asked drowsily pointing a droopy finger at a three-story house on the corner of the street.

"It’s ours" Mrs. Mackenzie said pulling into the driveway.

"Whoa" Bryan yawned "I thought in Hawaii you live in a crammed little grass shack with hula dancers wearing grass skirts and coconut bra’s"

"You’ve been watching too much T.V. perv." Rachel said grumpily, slowly getting out of the car.

"I think I actually agree with you Rachel" Kristen said.

"You should do that more often" Rachel replied stretching her arms

Bryan rolled his eyes "Ha- ha very funny now Kristen hurry up and open the door and get out so I can" He said since he was in the back and the only way he could get out was if she got out and pushed down the seat.

"Fine, fine" Kristen mumbled tiredly opening the car door, jumping out and flipping the seat down.

Bryan climbed out and looked up at the house in the darkness.

Kristen made a mental note to take a picture of the house in the daytime then it suddenly started raining.

"Isn’t this Hawaii?!" Kristen yelled out putting her hair up, she was an expert at catching colds.

"Come on hunny get your suitcases before the rain gets worse" Mrs. Mackenzie said rolling up the windows.

Mr. Mackenzie pulled up the driveway.

Kristen pulled down her only beanie a little, she had about ten of them but one summer her mom sold them on E-bay without telling her and she only had one left, she then tugged at the crimson red string wrapped around her wrist that always bothered her when it got wet. And then grabbed her rolling suitcase rolled it a little forward and stopped so Mr. Mackenzie could park.

She squinted her eyes to see the front seat, she sighted Ben and waved.

Ben waved back, happily, that’s what was weird about Ben he was happy to be at home he was happy to go anywhere, he always said that life’s a journey not Disneyworld, he never made sense as you now know.

She and her brother had always been happy with themselves, never getting mad at each other; they had a special relationship because they didn’t talk about anything serious and never thought they had to.

Whenever Kristen was mad or depressed Ben would just sit right next to her and tell her a random fact about something, without even asking her why she was feeling the way she was, and it would always cheer her up and then they would just start telling each other strange facts or odd thing’s they had learned or heard, because they both loved strange facts that could start a conversation, or fill the empty space in that uncomfortable silence that happened when you just met someone.

Mr. Mackenzie parked the car, and turned off the engine, Ben jumped out opened the backseat door and pulled out his most prized possession, his guitar. Ben had let her play it sometimes, she was very good with guitar but she always seemed to have a thing for the bass

Suddenly she remembered the night before they left.

Kristen was sitting on her bed and staring at her suitcase when her mom came into her closet-like room.

"Still not up to moving yet Kris?" Mrs. Mackenzie asked sitting next to her on her bed.

"Not really" Kristen had mumbled.

"Oh don’t worry the house in Hawaii will be better"

Kristen didn’t believe her because she always said that every time they moved and only once had her mom been right, when they moved to Nevada. Kristen raced over to Ben’s side. He had, had a different flight then she did, and she hadn’t seen him for a day, which seemed like a long time for her, even though she was sixteen.

"Hi Ben" She said wrapping her arms around his darkish right arm, he had taken from his mom mostly; she was part Native American and part Japanese.

"Hey Kris" He said closing the door to the car "do you like holding onto my arm when it rains just to make me catch a cold?"

"Oh, sorry" Kristen let go and tugged the jacket he was wearing as she walked, so he would follow her "I just wanted you to see the inside the same time as me"

"OK, OK" he replied and he let her lead him to the front door, Kristen opened it.

She was amazed the house was so beautiful, she felt like she was downing the happy vibe with her brown shirt, black jacket, dark blue jeans, studded belt and black converse shoes, because the house was the whitest house she’d ever seen, she new that because the way it was light blue against the moon, wind and rain.

"Huh, look’s like my skin will match it perfectly" Kristen whispered in a mumble under her breath, her skin was white, her mom had always said she was the fairest of them all, the whitest of them all. Kristen frowned.

But when she looked to the left she practically leaped into the air.
Right in the middle of the open space was a couch, a very comfortable looking couch, Kristen dropped her suitcase and flew onto the couch that seemed to fit her every curves.

"You like it? Mom told me that she practically begged the owner to leave it here, and then the owner said that he would hate to leave it here, he said that he couldn’t leave a beautiful couch like this with kids, he’s probably a rich stuck-up single old guy, so anyway she said one of her daughters, YOU, would have loved this thing and so he left it"

"You mean mom did this?" Kristen asked surprised looking up, her mom never did anything like that from what she new, all she new was that to Mrs. Mackenzie she and Bryan were a big pain in the butt.

"Yep paid nine hundred dollars for it" he replied

"What!?" She asked again, even more surprised

"Yep, oh and she made me promise not to tell you so don’t mention it ok?" He said winking his right eye.

"Ok I won’t even if it kills me" She replied

"Good I hope you wont die though," He said handing her suitcase to her "Now go get a room before Rachel, Ally and Liz find the best one" He said nodding to the stairs.

"Ok, see ya later Ben" She replied Ben smiled.

Kristen pulled her suitcase towards her mom who had just come in rolling up the damp newspaper that she used to protect her head from the rain

"Hey Kristen" She said glancing over her shoulder at Kristen

"Hi Mom, I was wondering, how many rooms are there?" Kristen asked hopefully, in her last house, even though she liked it, she had to share a room with Bryan.

"Hmm… let’s see three on the second, five on the third or two on the third and…" Mrs. Mackenzie’s voice trailed off into thought as she tried to get right the number of rooms on each floor.

"Got it! It’s one on the first, four on the second and four on the third" Mrs. Mackenzie said smiling at her own accomplishment.

"Wait…" Kristen thought for a second more "That means that we all get our own rooms! With two left over!" She screamed, "Yes! I’m not sharing a room with Bryan!"

"I guess so" Mrs. Mackenzie replied

"Well I better go get my pick," She said. And she raced up the dark wooden steps but by the time she was half-way up the stairway she suddenly realized how heavy her suitcase was she slowed her pace, lugging it behind her.

The Closet Is A Very Confusing Place.

Chap. 2

"Hey Kris" Bryan said as he came out of the second room on the left, there were three on the right and two on the left and one on the far end of the hall.

"Hi Bryan" Kristen said panting; she never went up a long stairway with a seventy pound anything before. And she was seriously hungry.

"What did I say, you packed too much stuff," Bryan said in an ‘I told you so’ way.

"Yeah well now I’ll be more comfortable" Kristen replied.

"Yeah, hey you should get this bedroom" Bryan suggested,
Patting the door right next to his

"Ok" Kristen said suspiciously "Why?"

"Can’t I do something nice for my sister without a reason?" He asked sounding astonished that Kristen would blame him of something.

"You can… But from what I know is, that you wont" Kristen answered

"Ha, ha" Bryan replied sarcastically, Kristen walked towards the door right next to his and looked over her shoulder; Bryan had gone into his room already. She turned the knob…

Nothing happened. She suddenly had a very big feeling of presentiment, of something very bad.

She stepped into the room, it was a big square room with a big window at the right where it was raining like crazy, the room looked like it had a pale yellow color I’ll have to fix that she thought, she never wanted a room with any low toned color, she had paint, she would repaint it.

Kristen looked to the left and saw a closet it had two doors, the kind that folded when you opened them. She opened them suspiciously.

Nothing happened.

The closet was a sort-of walk in closet but wasn’t that big if you considered it a walk in closet, Kristen leaned to the side and slightly back a little to put her suitcase on the wooden floor, and walked in.

At about halfway in someone grabbed her by the arm and covered her mouth before she screamed. Kristen squirmed to get free, but the someone, who she guessed was a guy, was too strong.

Until, Kristen stomped her foot on his right foot he let go, and jumped up and down in place holding onto his sore foot, she then kneed him where you’re supposed to knee a guy.

And he screamed out in pain.

Bryan Mackenzie wasn’t the smartest of the family so you can understand why he took the chance and surprised Kristen like the way he did, but the thing about Bryan was that when he saw a chance at being on good terms with his twin sister, he took it, no matter how painful it was.

It’s not like he wanted to be on bad terms with her, she just got a little agitated with him before they left, ok very agitated.

"KrisTEN!" he screamed in the darkness.

"Bryan?!" Kristen asked surprised "Oh, I’m sorry I thought you were some kind of attacker or something, are you ok?" She knelt down to see his foot that he left alone as he concentrated on his new pain, and he stepped forward, not knowing where she was and tripped over her, his foot curled around her stomach and brought her with him to the floor, Kristen was now half on top of Bryan, but Bryan didn’t care he lay there in the darkness with Kristen on top of him like he was dead.

They laid in silence for awhile.

"You had to knee me?" He sighed letting out a breath that he held in for a few seconds to gain his composure.

"Well, if you didn’t scare me like that we would both be unpacking right now nothing hurting" Kristen replied

"Well, even if this did happen you wouldn’t be hurting anyway" Bryan said bending his leg upward so he could rub his sore foot.

"Sorry about the foot and…the…other thing" Kristen said apologetically.

"That’s ok" Bryan sighed.

"So how’d you get into my closet anyway?" Kristen asked.

"Oh, your closet it connected to mine all you have to do is open the door right in between them" Bryan answered.

"Oh, no wonder you wanted me to have this room" Kristen said "So I’m still sorta sharing a room with you after all"

"Yep, I tell you though if I did what I did to you to any of your sisters, boy, I don’t even want to think about it" Bryan said

"Yeah something worse probably would happen" Kristen agreed.

"So what? We good?" Bryan asked raising his clenched fist.

"We’re good" she answered, punching it with hers.

Kristen was now content, it was very rare that she would feel that way but she did now.
A couple of days before she left something had happened to her and Bryan got all on her case about it.

"I can’t believe you let it happen Kris, that guy’s a jerk" was the only thing she remembered him saying.

She had to admit it though, what had happened to her wasn’t the best thing to happen two days before she left to Hawaii.

She then got depressed and even stopped eating for three days out of protest; she now really didn’t want to go, not like she had a choice.

****

The next day at the Mackenzie’s new resident…

"What is that sound?!" Kristen said waking up to a faint sound coming from the closet.

She lugged out of bed and opened the closet doors, the door across from her that led into Bryan’s closet was open a crack, she walked in her closet and swung open the door and Bryan was laying on the floor right next to his suitcase with boxer short’s on his head, snoring loudly with a little drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Bryan!!!" she yelled as loudly as she could

"What, what, what?" Bryan asked looking around the darkened closet

"Nice hat" she said trying not to laugh

"Thanks" He replied sarcastically, Kristen couldn’t hold it in any more she burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"Yeah this is soooo funny." Bryan said rolling his eyes.

"It is!" Kristen said still laughing.

****

Later that day…

"Huh…?" Kristen asked in discontentment.

"What’s wrong with you!?" Rachel asked for the fifth time.

"Nothing much, what are you doing?" Kristen replied snapping out of her wanderings.

"Never mind." Rachel said waiving it off and leaving the room.

"Now what do I do?" Kristen asked herself, "I know!" She said and jumped up and ran to her room, "I can organize my clothes." Since her closet was a total mess.

Kristen started raiding her suitcase and throwing everything into piles.

She then started hanging her clothes on color-coded hangers and putting them in her closet.

Meanwhile…

"Huh, why do people have to change their clothes every single stupid day?" Bryan complained to himself, as you can see he’s not the most hygienic person in the world.
He took of his shirt and jeans and stared at his suitcase.

Kristen put her hands on her hips proudly and looked at her closet, she smiled at herself

"Ok now its painting time, so where’s that darn paint I knew I put it in here somewhere" Kristen said to herself looking through her closet on the floor.

"There it is!" She said to no-one in particular. She reached for the can but then she tripped over a can of paint that she didn’t see and lunged forward into the door for Bryan’s closet that wasn’t closed very well and fell flat on her face in his closet where the door leading to his room was wide open.

"Oh crap, Kristen!" Bryan said grabbing the covers off of his bed and wrapping himself in them. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, s-sorry B-B-Bryan" Kristen said starting to laugh "I really didn’t know you would be…be walking around in your underwear at 2 in the afternoon"

"I can never be left alone in this family can I?" Bryan said sighing as if giving up any hope of having privacy until he moved out.

"Well from this experience, in which I saw your underwear twice in half a day I really don’t think so" Kristen answered regaining her composure and smiling

****

KNOCK! KNOCK!!!!!!!!!

"Someone’s at the door!" Kristen yelled from the newly moved in couch that had arrived about two hours ago, she waited a minute.

KNOCK!! KNOCK!!!

"Well don’t everybody get up and get it at once! I"LL get it!" Kristen yelled again.

"You go ahead and do that!" Bryan yelled back, Kristen groaned, she had just started a good book. Why do things always come up when I finally get comfortable? She asked herself as she slowly got off of the most comfortable couch in the world.

She opened the door to a smallish kid with brown hair and Brown eyes looked up from the step’s he was staring at to the tall, for her age, Kristen.

"Umm… hi I’m Ryan Curzon, your new next-door neighbor" The little boy said smiling.

"Well, hi Ryan I’m Kristen Mackenzie" She smiled back.

"Jeremy hurry up!" he called. And then a taller looking image of Ryan, but with a blonde tint to his a light brown hair and a little bit more muscle, came running down the sidewalk almost falling, with a plate in his left hand, he stopped outside the house to regain his balance and then he walked up the front walkway in the middle of the porch, a slight smile.

"Hi, I’m Jeremy Curzon" He said putting out his hand and putting on a beaming grin, Kristen’s eyes got a little wider. He had the most beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen she took his hand, trying not to stare and shook it, "Kristen Mackenzie" she replied, smiling and making sure she didn’t grin she hadn’t brushed her teeth that morning.

"Oh, here these are for you…" Jeremy said handing Kristen the plate he was holding, it had cookie’s under plastic wrap "…Guy’s" He finished.

"Oh, thanks I’m sure my family would love this" Kristen said in gratitude.

"Jeremy made them himself" Ryan added cheerfully nudging Jeremy with his elbow, Kristen looked surprised at Ryan.

"Really?" Kristen asked amazed, the only thing that all the other guy’s she ever met made was trouble.

"Yeah my mom’s old recipe" Jeremy replied embarrassed. "So how many people do you have in your family?" he asked trying to get off the subject.

"Oh, umm…nine I think, yeah nine" Kristen concluded.

"Wow!" Jeremy said, "That’s quite a bit"

"Yeah I know" Kristen replied used to amazed neighbor’s she would move next to. "So how old are you and your brother?"

"Oh, Ryan’s eleven"

"Going on twelve" Ryan cut off.

"Going on twelve, and I’m almost seventeen" He answered.

"Oh, I’m sixteen too" Kristen replied, "Late birthday though"

"Oh so you’re going to be a sophomore this year?" He asked.

"Yeah, except for music and math" Kristen replied "I’m a junior for those"

"Oh, cool, so you like music?"

"Yeah, it’s fun"

"You’ll grow a liking to one of my friends then."

"Oh really? Do you like music?" Kristen asked smiling; her arm started hurting from the cookies.

"Well, it’s not my favorite subject, I like…science better" Jeremy replied.

"Oh" Kristen replied

"So why did you move here in the middle of the semester?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh, my family moves around a lot…my dad’s job requires a lot of traveling" Kristen answered.

"Hmm. I’ve lived here my whole life, sorta boring" Jeremy said.

"Believe me I’d rather stay in one place than move to four different places in three years, wait just a sec…" Kristen replied "Bryan!" She called knowing that he would gladly take the cookie’s off her hand’s.

"Coming!" Bryan called back, you could hear his music getting turned down and his door opening and closing and then him rushing down the stairs, which only meant one thing, he smelt cookies.

"Oo, cookie’s" Bryan said licking his lip’s looking at the plate in Kristen’s hand "Oh, you are one smart guy" He said turning to Jeremy.

"Huh, yeah I guess I made the right decision" Jeremy replied.

"Oh, you sure did, so what is my twin sis associated with you in anyway?" Bryan asked, as he took a bite of a cookie he grabbed from the plate

"Twin?" Jeremy asked surprised.

"I know. What’s a music freak slash tech nerd doing with this person right?" Bryan said his mouth half full, as he leaned on Kristen’s shoulder.

"I know you are but what am I?" Kristen asked looking at Bryan, smiling.

Bryan gulped down his cookie "Ha-ha"

Jeremy smiled slightly as he watched Kristen and Bryan go back and forth thinking it funny that he met two astute people in less than ten minutes.

Much less the fact that Kristen was one of the most gorgeous girls he had ever met, he smiled to himself again thinking it so lucky to have HER as a next door neighbor.

"Umm…Kristen" he interrupted after he glanced at his watch.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"We have to go, you know chores," Jeremy said putting his hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

"Oh, ok and sorry if I bored you, sometimes Bryan doesn’t know when to stop" Kristen replied, Bryan made a face like he was saying ‘what are you talking about? Me?’

"Huh, so I guess I’ll see you later" Jeremy replied.

"Yeah" Kristen said smiling.

"Ok, come on Ryan, Bye you guy’s" Jeremy said as he walked down the walkway in the middle of the yard.

"Bye Jeremy" Kristen and Bryan said together.