Abstract：I hated this. I didn't want to go. My parents sent me away because they found out I was dealing a bi A Tale of Ambition

I hated this. I didn't want to go. My parents sent me away because they found out I was dealing a bit of weed at school,A Tale of Ambition which got me kicked out. I was sitting in the back of the car huffing and puffing. I didn't want to leave. I would have to leave all my friends and clients behind! I was majorly p*ss*d off! 

F*ck me, I needed a smoke. I had sat in this car for over 2 hours now when was it going to end? 

“Driver!” I spoke abruptly.

“Yes, Madam Myst?” The driver said looking in the rearview mirror. 

“How much longer?” I said crossing my arms over my chest.

“30 minutes madam.” The driver again looked in the rearview mirror at me. 

I sighed loudly, looking down at my knees. 30 f*ck*ng minutes? Where did they live?

London?? 

20 minutes passed by which felt like an eternity. I saw the sign which said, “Welcome to Greenwood!” I rolled my eyes in disgust. As we entered I felt some kind of magnetic pull. It was odd, I didn't know how to explain it. It just felt different…

We drove through Greenwood which looked suburban, it looked nice… but to me, it looked like somewhere people would go to retire. 

We pulled up outside of Auntie Karen's house. Everyone would stand outside with big smiles on their faces. They looked like the picture-perfect family. I didn't fully understand why my dad sent me here…. He said 

“Your Auntie Karen will put you in your place!” 

I didn't think she would. I mean Lacy was the popular girl who was a complete and total b*tch and Nick was just a quiet kid, not like they were bad kids but I don't think they ever had the need or reason to rebel. I did… my parents were cold and distant to me. They were scared of me. Terrified even. They saw what I could do and cast me away emotionally before they did it physically.

The door opened, and I pulled myself out of the car. The driver greeted me as I stepped out. Everyone still had those big smiles on their faces. Auntie Karen seemed genuinely happy to see me. But Lacy had that fake bitchy smile on her face, and Nick had a small side smile on his. I'm pretty sure Harry was going a bit incompetent because he was smiling but he was just staring into space. I never liked him. I could never see why Auntie Karen married him. 

Lacy was a bit smaller than me in height and always wore dresses or skirts or just something girly, to be honest. She had deep blue eyes and short, dirty blonde, pin straight, hair. She always wore a mountain of makeup to try and hide how much coke she had done the night before at a party. She could fool Auntie Karen but couldn't fool me. Nick was your typical nerdy quiet kid, he was shy kept to himself and didn't say much. He was as tall as me and had curly brown hair that was shaved at the back and sides, keeping the curls just on top. Unlike Lacy, he had dark brown eyes. Auntie Karen had blonde long curly hair, blue eyes and amazing skin for her age. Harry had auburn hair that was almost always a mess, he had brown eyes and pale ageing skin. 

Auntie Karen came running over to me and gave me a big hug, which I did not return. She pulled back from the hug but she kept her hands on my shoulder. She stood for a minute staring at me, I'm assuming to take me all in.

“My God aren't you tall now!” She said with a beaming smile on her face. 

“Yeah, well you would expect it considering I'm now nineteen, the last time you saw me was when I was six!” Auntie Karen's smile faded as I said my snarky comment. She turned around to look at her family. 

“Why don't you two help Zepha with her bags!” The smile appeared on her face again. I rolled my eyes. 

“No, I'm fine.” I contested.

I walked over to the boot waiting for the driver to open it. As he did, I got all my bags out. 

“We are all so happy to have you here.” Auntie Karen said again with a beaming smile as we walked up the path to the front door. I rolled my eyes. 

Nick locked eyes with me.

“Hi, Zepha.” He said shyly.

I ignored him and walked into the house Auntie Karen followed. As I entered through the front door, I was smacked in the face by the smell of waffles and cinnamon. As you walked in the living room was to your left, the kitchen was behind it then the dining room was on your right. The stairway was directly in front of you. A bit of a strange layout but whatever tickles their fancy, I guess. 

“As you know, we've had to put you in the cellar because we don't have another room for you. We tried to make it as roomy as we could. Lacy helped a lot with it.” Karen said in a reassuring tone. I sighed, f*ck*ng Lacy designed my room? I bet it was f*ck*ng pink too!

 I walked down to the cellar with my bags. As soon as I saw the room, I wanted to throw up. I would rather live in a bin than in this room. It was f*ck*ng pink. I already hated it. I left my bags next to the very pink bed sheets, and then I left. I wanted to just go home. I walked out the front door. I started to walk over to the field that was across the street. I didn't know where I was going but I hoped it was somewhere far away from here.

I felt a calling from the forest, which was next to the field. I felt like I needed to go in there for some weird reason. I couldn't help it but my legs started to move towards it. As I walked into it, the forest was just trees upon trees upon trees nothing special about it, it was just.... a forest.

I continued to walk through the forest until I came to a part that didn't smell right.... it didn't smell normal or earthy like most forests. It looked as if it came from a different realm. The energy was different, it was weird. It smelt odd but comfortingly familiar. I sat down on a rock that was in the middle of a small clearing that didn't smell quite right. I decided to roll a joint with the little weed I had in my pocket.

I rolled it, put it in my mouth and lit it. I took a long inhale from the joint and felt immediate relief and zenness. All I could hear was the wildlife just doing their thing.

There was something in my head telling me to just do it. I rolled my eyes and sighed,

"F*ck it!" I said to myself.

I lifted my hand and stared at it with complete concentration. A little purple glow started to emerge from my hand. It turned into a small ember then slowly into a small flame in the palm of my hand.

I didn't know what I was... I just knew I wasn't human.

I didn't know what I could create... just that it wasn't normal.

I had always known from a child that I was adopted, and my parents never tried to hide that from me. They wanted children, but they never got to have any of their own. My mother was pregnant and this time she got far away, but she miscarried. Everyone was excited about "my" arrival. My parents didn't want to deal with the pain anymore. So they adopted me I was so young when they got me, I was about 9 months old. They covered up my adoption with money because money talks. However, when this was discovered, this power, this magic, they became cold and distant. They were scared of me. They didn't want to take me to a doctor because they knew I would have been taken away by the government. It was all kept hush, hush.

I sighed staring at my hand, my peacefulness was broken by a twig snapping behind me. I panicked... Did someone catch me? Who or what was it? I jumped up before turning around...

I was scared it was someone who had seen what I had just done and that they would run away and tell someone. Wouldn't that be a great start? I was worried it was some creepy old man, that wanted to kidnap me or something.

I finally turned around prepared for the worst possible thing to happen, only to turn around and find there was a baby rabbit, just staring at me in fear. I stepped towards it as soon as I did it ran away. I sighed.

"I've gotta get out of here," I said to myself.

I started to walk back to Auntie Karen. As I walked through the door Lacy was standing there with her b*tch face on.

"And where have you been?" As she crossed her arms, I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Oh come off it Lacy, you can act like your better than me, but you're not. We both know what you get up to at those parties. And we both know why you pile a bunch of make-up on your face... It's so one can see how f*ck*ng pale you are, and those nasty bags underneath your eyes." I narrowed my eyes at her. " you're a little coke wh*r* and we both know it." I saw the fury build up in her face, she knew she couldn't say anything because I was right.

"Well, at least I ain't the one selling it!" She huffed.

"I think we both know it's better to sell it than be addicted to it, I know which one I'd be doing," I said as I walked off with a smirk on my face.

Pissing Lacy off was one of the various things that amused me. I went down to my room which looked like a unicorn had thrown up all over it. I started to unpack my clothes from my suitcases and put them away seeing as this looked like my permanent home. I doubt my dad would take me back, not now. But I would have to do something about this bloody room! It was horrendous!

I heard a knock at the cellar door.

"Who is it?" I said while zipping up my suitcase which had some very important things in it.

"Just me," Nick said through the door.

"Come in." I stood in front of my last suitcase.

"Hey, I thought I would help you unpack." He said with a smile on his face.

"NO!" I blurted out. Nick was taken aback by my response. "Urm, I just don't want you to see my underwear and stuff... bit weird hahaha." I tried to laugh it off.

"... Oh, yeah that makes sense." He awkwardly laughed to himself while scratching the back of his neck. That was a good save from me. I couldn't let him see the weed in my suitcase he would certainly snitch to Auntie Karen. "Well, I know you start college tomorrow... and well I know you don't know anyone." I turned around to pick up my phone.

"Spit it out, Nick," I said staring at my phone. Nick sighed.

"I'm going to see my friend Justin today, I thought maybe you would wanna come... Like, make some friends so you wouldn't be alone at college." He said nervously.

"Sure, I guess it couldn't hurt. You can tell me all the ins and outs of college. Like who's who and stuff." I gave him a gentle smile, I wasn't exactly fond of Nick, and I don't know why. I guess we never shared any interests, but if I'm going to stay here for a while I might as well make friends with him. I mean at least I wouldn't be a loner at college, which was a start. Nick smiled a genuine smile as well.

"Okay, I'll let you know when I'm leaving for Justin's." I smiled at him as he turned around to leave up the stairs to the cellar door.

As soon as I heard the door shut I opened my suitcase to reveal the love of my life. Weed. I took the small baggy that I had and gave it a big whiff. Oh god, how I loved it. I could only bring a small bag of it, as my dad found the rest of it and threw it away. This was my emergency stash. That's why it was so small, I only had one place where I could hide stuff without my parents knowing. It was the biggest place in the world it was behind my dresser. I carved out a hole in the back of it, so I could hide my emergency stash.

I sat down on the bed, got my backpack and started to search through it. I pulled out my speaker and connected my phone. I started to play The Prodigy. Their music always made me feel happy when I felt somewhat down. I closed my eyes enjoying the music

How was I gonna make new friends, hell how would I find another dealer, it's not exactly like I could go ask about the college. I was gonna be chilling with the quiet kids. What a great start. I sighed. Dad wasn't kidding when he said a fresh start.

I heard my door burst open it was Lacy looking infuriated. I looked up at her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide and bloodshot. She had white power on her nose. She'd just done a line.

"Can you turn it the f*ck down?!?" She said still breathing heavily.

"Aww, baby girl... does my music annoy you or is it the fact you've just done a line," I said smugly while motioning for her to wipe her nose. Her face turned red with anger.

"Turn this sh*t down!" She said breathing even heavier. I took my phone and turned it up ever louder. I got up from the bed and walked up to her and was about 4 inches away from her face,

"Or f*ck*ng what?" She said nothing but stared at me enraged. "Go on hit me! Hit me! Go on right there. Please do it!" I said smugly while motioning to my right cheek. She stared at me like I was insane. She studied my face not sure whether I was being serious or not. "I'm waiting..." I said with a smirk on my face. She sighed in frustration, she walked away, slamming the door behind her. I laughed to myself. Lacy was so amusing. I walked back to my bed, I closed my eyes so I could enjoy the music once again.

30 minutes passed by until I heard a light knock on my door.

"It's Nick." He spoke through the door again. This guy understood boundaries.

"Come in." I sat up on my bed.

"I'm about to go to Justin's. You coming?" He said shyly.

"Sure, let me get my shoes on." I put my black mid-calf platforms on. As I did, Nick turned around to go up the stairs that let out the cellar. I quickly grabbed my leather jacket which was covered in band patches and badges. I walked up the stairs and followed Nick out the door. As Nick turned around to lock it he stared at my jacket.

"Nice jacket." He said as he put his key in the door.

"Thanks." I smiled gently at him.

"Eddie would like that." He mumbled under his breath. Eddie? Who was Eddie? Bit of a strange thing to say. But, Instead of questioning him, I acted as if I didn't hear him.

We walked up to Justin's making small talk. Like I said, me and Nick didn't share many interests. It was more Nick asking questions about me and my parents, to be honest. The walk to Justin's only took about ten minutes, it was practically around the corner.

Nick walked up to the front door and knocked on it. A boy the same age as Nick opened the door and greeted us. He had blonde curly hair that kind of looked like a helmet to protect his head. Green eyes and fair skin. He was wearing a varsity jacket. I was assuming he was on the rugby team or something to be wearing one of them.

"Hey, Nick!" Justin said as he opened the door.

"Hey... this is my cousin that I told you about." Justin gave me a small smile and waved at me.

"Come in the both of you." He smiled and moved to the side so we could come in.

I locked eyes with Justin and gave him a gentle smile, I had to remind myself to be nice.

We walked straight up to his room, Nick leading, me in the middle and Justin behind us. As we walked into Justin's room, Nick immediately picked up a controller and plonked himself on the floor. I kinda of just stood at the end of Justin's bed. I felt out of place. I didn't know what to do. Justin plonked himself on the floor about a foot away from Nick. They were both sat in front of a TV with a game waiting to start.

Justin pressed start and then started to play. I eventually sat down on Justin's bed, I put my hands in between my legs and watched them play.

After a good 15 minutes of silence between the three of us, I decided to break the silence.

"So Justin, do you play rugby?" I said still fixated on the TV.

"Yeah, I play football and rugby. I do it so my dad gets off my back, but it comes with some perks." He said not taking his eyes off the TV.

"What perks?" I was curious.

"Well the girls want to get my attention, I get respect from basically everyone at college and I get to skip classes under the pretence of 'I've gotta practise,' but yeah, I guess that's it." I didn't even need his face to see that he was smirking.

"Sounds... interesting," I answered disapprovingly, I mean the guy was bragging about sleeping with lots of girls.

"What can I say I'm 17, I like girls, what guy isn't going to enjoy girls throwing themselves at them?" He chuckled himself. "It's not like I don't respect them or anything, but like come on. You can't blame me!" He chuckled again. By Nick staying completely silent, I was assuming he was uncomfortable with this topic.

"Anyways." I said slapping my hands together, "Subject change, tell me the ins and outs of college!"

"Hmm, well, there's this guy we chill with, he's called Eddie. Bit eccentric. I think you two would get on to be honest." Nick's eyes shot to Justin as soon as spoke. He had that stare as if to say 'Shut the f*ck up.'

"There were some spontaneous murders last year," Nick said quickly trying to change the subject.

"Murders?" A quiet friendly town like this couldn't possibly have a serial killer.

"Mmhmm." Justin hummed through his lips.

"A bunch of people died around the same time, no known cause like they would just sieze and die. The police tried to link it to a brain aneurysm but no evidence in the autopsy. All the victims were around our age, young, in their prime, the literal picture of health. They had no drugs in their systems either. The police couldn't rule it out as a coincidence, there were too many who had died at the same time from the same cause. So the case is still open but it's cold." Nick said with bearly any emotion in his voice.

"Christ! I didn't think such a thing would happen in this town. This is sh*t you would expect in the city!" I was shocked to be completely honest.

"Mmhmm." Nick and Justin hummed in unison.

"Right back to the ins and outs of college!"

"There's not much about college to be completely honest with you. I mean there is this one arsehole who picks on Eddie. He called Jason. Total c*ck! He's the captain of the football and rugby team. He's arrogant and entitled because his daddy has money." Nick said with hatred in his voice. I mean I don't blame him, he does sound like an arsehole and at our big age he's still picking on people? Really? Bro needs to get a grip.

"He sounds like one." I said leaning my elbows on my knees. Nick and Justin both whipped their heads around in unison and stared at me, they then looked at each other as if they were reading each other's minds. "....What?" It kind of creeped me out to be wholly honest.

"Jason will most definitely try and hit on you!" Justin said chucking to himself. I was taken back I lifted my elbows from my knees and crossed my arms over my chest. What was that supposed to mean? I frowned at the both of them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said defensively. Justin turned to look at me.

"You're new, mysterious and pretty. He will want to be the first person to even come near you in a relationship aspect. It's kind of like a game to him. He's very arrogant and thinks he can have any girl he wants." I laughed.

"And he thinks I will be interested in him?" I said still laughing. Justin and Nick looked at each other

"... Well yeah." I howled with laughter, Nick and Justin stared at me as if I was insane.

" I hardly like people, let alone some arrogant daddies boy." Nick and Justin laughed. Nick passed me the blue controller that he was using.

"You want a go?" He said staring into my eyes. I looked down not quite sure.

"Are you sure?" Nick shrugged in response to my question.

"I need a break." Nick shrugged again.

"He's just tired of getting his arse whooped by me." Justin said smugly while laughing to himself. I took the controller off Nick and decided to play. The game was FIFA, I never really liked football and I didn't quite get the fascination of playing FIFA, but I gave it a go, either way.

We played at least five games, I had a big smile on my face. For playing FIFA for the first time, I was pretty good at it. Justin was exclaiming all sorts of things, I don't think he believed this was my first time playing. All he said was "You're lying, you've played this before." He kept on exclaiming things about me, but I didn't mind, it was just the game doing it to him, and he didn't mean it. I quite enjoyed watching him get frustrated, it amused me. On our fifth game, Nicks's phone rang.

"Hello? Okay, let Zepha finish this game and we will be on our way!.... No, we haven't eaten, mum... Yes I know we missed dinner.... Okay!... Right!..." Nick hung up the phone rolling his eyes. "We gotta go after this, my mums being a total f*ck*ng b*tch right now."

"What did she say?" I asked, Nick sounded frustrated on the phone.

"You need to come home now. Fine, let her finish the game, but you have to come home afterwards. Have you two eaten? Well, you've missed dinner. We wanted everyone at dinner tonight! Why did you two leave? That's very selfish of you Nick. I suppose we will have to have a family dinner tomorrow night! Get home NOW!" I was flabbergasted. I had no clue Karen was like that. She always seemed like a gentle parent in front of others.

"F*ck me, she does sound p*ss*d," I said still shocked.

"She's always like that..." Nick shrugged. "She is with us anyways, she won't ever speak to you like that though."

"Why?" I said furrowing my eyebrows. Why would I be any different? I'm worse than Nick is and if she spoke to him like that, then why am I different?

"She's scared if she pisses you off, that you would tell your dad and that he will stop sending us money." He sighed. My eyes widened, and my mouth was wide open, I dropped the controller and sped my head around to Nick as fast as I possibly could.

"What?" I stared at him. What did he mean my dad sent them money?

"You've seen my dad, he's a bum, to say the least." Justin laughed to himself. "Your dad loves my mum so much, she's his little sister. He would never let her go without. So he sends us money so we can live comfortably and not have to struggle." My mouth was still wide open. "Why do you think your dad never visits? It's because he hates my dad for not providing well enough for us and for getting my mum knocked up when she was young. Your dad forced my dad to marry my mum. Your dad would have seriously hurt him otherwise." Nick sighed and looked down. I always knew there was a reason I hated Harry. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but that was it. That was the reason. He's a f*ck*ng bum.

Considering I had paused the last game me and Nick decided to leave. We said our goodbyes to Justin at the door and walked home. It was pretty dark outside. I loved it when it was dark. It was peaceful. It was quiet, and most of all there weren't people out and about either.

We got home and Karen was sitting waiting for us. She passed us a plate each filled with food, it was curry. Me and Nick sat down at the dining table and ate in silence. I could feel the tension between Nick and Karen. I ate quickly, got up and left, to go to my room.

"Night Karen." I gave her a warm smile, which she returned. I walked to my room and jumped on my bed. It was a big day tomorrow. It was my first day at this new college. I closed my eyes to go to sleep. I had to be well rested for tomorrow.