Part 2

My first impression was that the apartment smelled like tea, tea and flowers. The apartment was very tidy, but there were plants everywhere, making the place seem cluttered.

Then, a woman walked out from the kitchen, or at least it looked like the kitchen from the glance I got before the swinging door swung shut.

She was tall, definitely taller than me, which doesn't really say much because I'm exactly 5 feet and I haven't grown an inch since 7th grade. She had red hair that was pulled into a bun, which she tried to cover with a bandana. She was thin too, very thin. It was one of her best features and she wore a tight black shirt to show it off.

She reached out and grabbed my hand very firmly, which I hadn't expected because, frankly, she looked fragile. "My name is Joanne, but you can call me Faith, everyone does."

Not only was she beautiful, but when she spoke it sounded like she was singing. Not really singing, but her voice just flowed, making me forget that I was alone in a room with a stranger. "You must be Sarah, obviously. Here, let me show you your room. I've been putting it together since Mrs. Hopchkiss called me yesterday. Sorry to be in such a hurry. When I get a minute I would love to sit down with you and learn every single detail about your life. I just wasn't expecting you yet and my book club is here."

As she was talking, she led me down a hallway that was painted the same lavender color that had been in almost all of the rooms at my grandmother's house.

My room was at the end of the hallway. It was painted a pale blue color. The whole room looked like it had been designed by a little girl, but I could manage.

I dropped my bag on my bed and reached into my coat pocket for my cell phone. I had turned it off when we left Connecticut. I turned it on and dropped it on my bed, waiting for the calls to start streaming in.

I plopped down next to it on the bed and layed back, rolling over to look out the floor-to-ceiling window to the left of my bed. I got up, ignoring the screaming coming from my cell phone, and cracked the window open. The room was stuffy and it didn't help that Grissettown was hot and humid, even in the middle of March. I grabbed Roosevelt from my bag and sat next to the window, hugging Roosevelt close.

I had the perfect view from my window. It looked down on a main road that's directly next to a beach. There were little beach shops and arcades all along the road and hundreds of people coming in and out of them. I'd never lived this close to water before, or this close to people, and definitely not so many of them.

I sat there and just watched people for about two hours. Faith had come in and asked if I wanted to join her for dinner several times, but each time I politely turned her down. After a while, I noticed a man. He'd been sitting on the bench right across the street from my window. He was reading a book, a very think book, like it had the answer to the universe. He was holding it about an inch from his face and he had incredible creases on his forehead. He had light brown hair and a beard, well, a beard in training. He looked like he could be about twenty. He also looked like your Average Joe, but the thing that struck me the most about him was that he was wearing a leather jacket and black jeans and it didn't look like he was sweating at all.