I opened the door to my room. I had my Bass guitar in my left hand. It was the last thing I needed to pack. I looked out into the living room and I saw my Mom sitting on the couch. The whole tiny apartment, other than the kitchen and bathroom which had tile, was carpeted in cheap, dark brown carpet. The carpet retained the smell of animal urine from the previous tenants, and no matter how we tried, we never could get that awful smell out. I remember looking back on the day that we first moved into that tiny apartment and thinking that we would make it better than it was, but it just got worse.

I continued out into the living room and paid more attention to the old, ugly couches that my mom sat on. They were mostly a light blue with widely spread out green and dark blue plaid patterns. They had stains throughout from years of use, and almost all of the cushions were deformed. Both the longer and the shorter couch smelled of dog urine, but that wasn’t from a previous tenant. That was from the laziness of my Mom and Sisters to take the dogs out. It is part of the reason that i chose to stay at my friends’ houses rather than sit at home. I heard the water jug glug like a thunderous boom breaking the silence of the room. I looked over at the yellowing white plastic that held the water jug up just in time to see the last of the bubbles move to the top. I hoped to never see it again.

I looked my Mom in the eye as the color left my face.
“Goodbye Mom”, I uttered out barely audible.
“Goodbye Joe”, She replied with a choke in her voice.

I walked past her quickly, and not making eye contact at all. I reached for the doorknob, and it wiggled when i grabbed hold of it. It felt cold and a little bit greasy in my hand. I had to pull hard to get the door open because of how warped the frame was. I walked outside and and closed the door without looking back.

I looked around outside for a moment and saw that everything looked grey. From the clouds in the sky that blocked out the sun, to the whole scene of old apartments that had barely been kept together. I spotted onto my old, piece of crap car. It was a gold 2000 Chevy Malibu. It had a rust spot on the right side just underneath the gas tank, and a busted up front bumper. The car had been through so much and somehow managed to keep running. After all of the breakdowns and people backing over it, it was still running. I unlocked the door and opened it. I then pushed up on the automatic lock to open all of the doors. I opened the rear left door and sat my Bass Guitar in the back seat next to my amp and a laundry basket full of my clothes. I closed the door, then I proceeded to sit down in the driver's seat of my car. I let out a large sigh of relief. It was finally over. Although I was smiling, my hand shook as I started my car. A new life awaited me at my Dad’s house.