//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Welcome To Diverse City // Story: The Open Door // by shocklee //------------------------------// “Wakey, wakey!” “Hh–huh?” “It’s time to wake up, Josh! It’s Friday today. You do know that we’re going to your sister’s house, right?” “Can’t it wait later? It’s still 5:30 am for that. Haven’t we just agreed that we’d leave the house this afternoon?” “You know what they say, ‘Early bird catches the worm’.” “Well, could the bird catch any worm if it woke up too early?” “Then suit yourself; I’ll be going downstairs to prepare breakfast.” I can’t believe he woke me up 5:30 am just for this nonsense! Oh yeah, I forgot. The name’s Joshua, or Josh for short. I’m currently here at the southern part of California. Usually I live at the northern part. I was shipped here by my parents for the sake of college. Right now, I’m living with my roommate and cousin Andrew or as I call him, ‘Drew. After struggling to wake up I checked my drawers to my surprise that only two of my clothes were inside. “That’s weird. I just did my laundries last night” I wondered. “Maybe Andrew borrowed them again for his slumber party with his friends. I told him he should not use my clothes for his party. I mean, why won’t he use his?” So I went out of my room to aske Andrew if he borrowed my clothes again. “Drew, have you seen my — oh my…” I was surprised by the sight of downstairs. All of my clothes are scattered everywhere! Clothes on the sofa, clothes on the kitchen, clothes on the TV, even clothes on the ceiling! How on earth did my clothing even reach the ceiling? “‘Drew, what on earth happened…” I asked. “What’s that? Oh, now I remembered the reason why I shouldn’t have waked you up this early.” He replied. “You shouldn’t have! I mean, how in the world the clothes got stuck to the ceiling!?” “Yeah, we had a slumber party last night and the music kinda got ‘off the hook’ so me and my friends got too wild and played with some glue. Then we somehow took the shirts off and threw them around. Don’t worry; the glue is not that sticky. It’s more like a gel actually.” “Don’t worry? DON’T WORRY!? How should I not worry with the clothes glued around the house and my older sister coming for a visit!?” “How come you didn’t hear the loud bass last night?” “I heard it last night for your information; and don’t try to change the subject!” “Okay, so I’ll take care of it. Geez, no need to be mad at it; it’s just clothes glued to the ceiling and places, no big deal.” “What if I glued your clothes to the ceiling and your older sister will see it? Would that be a big deal?” “I don’t have an older sister, so I don’t know that feel.” “Just start ungluing while I prepare for the arrival of my sister.” I then went out of the house while Andrew is removing my clothing from the inside of the house. As I went out, the sudden winter atmosphere gave me a shrug. Good thing I have my sweater on. If not, then I’d be as frozen as ice already. As I walked away from my house the Christmas spirit still roams around the whole neighbourhood even though Holiday Seasons have finished a month ago. It’s been a long time since my first visit in this community and now I felt like I never want to go back to my hometown again. I like it better here I mean with all the people and friends around you. Not like back there, there was never a day you didn’t hear a sound of car horn beeping. I never get even a single day of silence. Here I get to sleep soundly without being disturbed. Everyone here is different. Some are talented, others are not. Some have an artistic angle while others have a musical one. Everyone’s attitude, behaviour, and talents vary from another and that’s what makes this suburban great. No wonder people here call this town “Diverse City”. It’s not a city actually, but it feels like one. Anyways, I just got home after a walk to buy some foods for my sister until… “Why how’s my little Joshy doing!?” “T — Tt — Taya!?” I was shocked to see my older sister, Taya, behind the door. I thought she told me that she’d come this afternoon? Why it’s still 11 am! “What are you doing here? I mean, shouldn’t you be coming this afternoon?” I asked. “Yeah, I should be” she answered. “But then again, it’s better to arrive early so I won’t miss anything.” “Well, it’s a good thing you’re here right now so you can join us earlier. In fact, we’re just getting started.” Taya chuckled. “So, what are we gonna do for today?” she asked. “Maybe we should take a stroll outside” I replied. “By the way, have you seen my cousin Andrew? I thought he was here an hour ago.” “Oh you mean your hyper, random roommate? He was here a while ago. I don’t know where he went. By the way, Andrew really has grown since the last time I see him but he’s still the crazy Andrew I knew.” “Yeah, you should have seen this house two hours ago. It was like so messy here with all of my —” “Hey, I see the party peeps are here already!” said Andrew as he entered the door with some chips and coke in his arms. “Andrew, where have you been?” I questioned. “Well, I brought for us something to eat” he answered. “But I already bought food.” “Two packs of food are better than one as they say.” “We’ll skip to the food later, okay Andrew?” I said, shifting the topic. “Right now, why not we go roam around somewhere? (And I see you did a pretty good job ‘cleaning’ the house by the way.)” “Well, how about we take a walk around the whole Diverse City?” “Diverse City?” Taya asked. “Where’s that?” I then walked to the door and opened it, giving Taya the full view of the town. “Taya, welcome to Diverse City.”