Fallen: In the beginning

In the beginning.
Tulsa-1998

16 year old Lacey Burbank and her mother Chrystal moved to Tulsa in the summer of 1998 to get away from Chrystal’s estranged alcoholic husband Len. In an attempt to get their lives back on track Chrystal moved herself and Lacey to Tulsa to live near her old friend Diana.

‘Mom! Where do I put all this stuff?’ Lacey called out to her mother. ‘Just put in the hall closet!’ Chrystal replied. ‘But it’s already full!’ Lacey mumbled as she tried to stuff the box in. Finally she managed to get it in and bounded back up to her bedroom to take a well-earned rest. As she lay on her bed, exhausted, she gazed out her bedroom window and into the yard of the large house next door. Her mother’s friend Diana and her family lived there, but they were away at the moment, apparently on tour, as they were the pop group Hanson. Scowling, Lacey recalled the blond trio she saw in every magazine she opened. Personally, she was not a big fan. ‘Give me the Beatles any day.’ She thought, despising her mother for making her live next door to the despised group. ‘Oh yay!’ she’d said. ‘MMMBop twenty-four hours a day!’ Lacey jumped up off her bed and wandered over to flip an old Beatles LP into her sound system. The first strains of ‘Come Together’ filled the room. ‘Lacey! Come down here please!’ she heard her mother bellow. ‘What mom?’ ‘Come here!’ Grumbling, she trudged downstairs. ‘What?’ she asked as she entered the kitchen where her mother was sitting at the table. ‘Come sit down honey.’ She did. ‘I was just going to remind you to unpack some nice clothes as we are going to the Hanson’s for dinner tomorrow. You remember I told you about the Hanson’s?’ ‘How could I forget? MMMBop singing, long haired pansy boys with about twenty brothers and sisters.’ She rolled her eyes and slouched on the table. ‘Lacey! I would appreciate if you would talk about my friends with a little bit more respect! There is no need for that kind of talk!’ her mother scolded. ‘Diana is one….’ ‘Yes mom! I know! Diana is one of your oldest, closest friends and you would really appreciate it if I would make an effort to get to know her and her family and her boys are really lovely yada yada.’ Lacey stood. ‘Are you done?’ she asked, edging out of the room. ‘Lacey! Why are you like this all of a sudden? You’ve changed so much lately. We never talk anymore! What have I done?’ ‘What have you done? What, doesn’t dragging me halfway across the country to some hick town to live next door to the All American, We are so wholesome and talented sissy Hanson clan and making me leave all my friends classify as something you could have done wrong?’ Lacey’s eyes flared and she stood with her hands on her hips. Her mother just stared. ‘Are you quite finished?’ she asked softly. Lacey didn’t respond. ‘You have to be the most ungrateful, self centered….no, forget it. I’m not giving you the satisfaction of lecturing you on what a bitch you are. You can just get out of my sight. Now! Go!’ Lacey spun on her heel and fled up to her room. Her mother put her head in her hands.

Isaac Hanson leant his head against the cool window of the van he and his family were traveling in. Not too much further, thank goodness. He thought blissfully. Home. A place so rarely seen, it was almost a mirage on the horizon. Up in front, his younger brother Taylor had spotted the sign signaling the remaining miles until they reached their destination. ‘Twenty miles to Tulsa! Twenty miles to Tulsa!’ he cried gleefully. ‘Yeah! We’re nearly home!’ the third member of the group, Zachary shouted in response. The two started yelling at the top of their lungs and it wasn’t long before the remaining family members, younger sisters Jessica and Avery and little brother Mackenzie had joined in too. ‘Can you please keep it down?’ Ike called over the noise. ‘I have the worst headache!’ The noise subsided to a dull roar and Ike closed his eyes for the rest of the tiring journey.

About twenty minutes later, the Hanson van and its over excited passengers pulled into the driveway. ‘We’re home! We’re home!’ Taylor screamed, jumping out of the van barely waiting until it stopped and running onto the lawn. Zac joined him, falling to his knees and kissing the grass repeatedly. ‘Ah! Home grass! I love you home grass!’ ‘Taylor! Zac! Get over here and get the bags out of the car!’ Walker Hanson commanded his sons. They reluctantly agreed. Ike took his time getting out of the van, helping his little brother with his belt. As soon as he stepped out, he took a deep breath of the clear Tulsa air. ‘Ah! Home!’ he cried, tilting his face to the cool blue Oklahoma sky. ‘Ike! Earth to Ike! Take this.’ Taylor threw a duffel bag at Ike and broke his daydream. Walking up the path to the front door, Ike directed his gaze to the house next door. He remembered his mother saying there was a new family moving in there soon. He hoped there would be someone around his age to hang out with, he was a little tired of his brothers after spending two months straight with them. He wanted some different company.

Lacey watched as a white van pulled up into the Hanson’s drive. ‘Great.’ She muttered. ‘The famous pop stars are back.’ For some reason unknown to her, she continued to watch as one, then two then about seven people got out of the van and went about various things. She recognized the youngest Hanson kid, what was his name? Zac or something, climb out of the car and start kissing the grass on the front lawn. She suppressed a giggle. ‘What a bunch of freaks!’ she muttered. A woman and the blonde, girly looking Hanson kid started getting bags out of the back of the van while the father struggled to control three hyper little kids. ‘They’d better not expect me to baby-sit!’ she thought disgustedly. There was no way she was watching these little brats. The eldest member of the group seemed to be looking in her direction so she quickly hid behind the curtain. She knew she had to meet them sooner or later, but better later than sooner. The last thing she wanted was to be invited over to ‘hang out’ with them. If she had to live here long, she was determined to have nothing to do with them at all. No MMMBop for her.

Ike thought he saw something moving behind one of the windows but it was gone before he could be sure. Shrugging, he turned away. Diana saw her son looking towards next door and called out to him. ‘My friend Chrystal and her daughter moved in there last week. Lacey’s her name. She’s sixteen. I invited them for tea tonight. Maybe you could show her round or something. You never know, you two might hit it off!’ she smirked Ike. ‘Mom. Please. But I guess I could show her round. Until she goes back to school anyway. She goes to school I guess?’ ‘Yes. As far as I know. Come inside and help unpack.’ Ike, on the one hand disappointed there was no guy to hang out with living next door, but on the other pleased at the possibility of a cute girl living there instead, followed his mother inside.

Later that night, after trying desperately to get out of going to the Hanson’s, Lacey reluctantly followed her mother to the house next door. ‘They’d better not expect me to baby-sit.’ She warned as her mother rang the doorbell. ‘Lacey! Please!’ ‘Chrystal!’ Diana Hanson greeted her old friend with a warm hug. ‘Diana! It’s so great to see you!’ Chrystal returned to hug. ‘This is my daughter Lacey. Lacey, this is my old friend Diana.’ Lacey shook Diana’s hand with mock sincerity and smiled at the woman. ‘Nice to meet you.’ she told her. ‘You too Lacey! Wow! You sure look like your mother! Oh! My sons are outside, just go straight through. They’re waiting to meet you.’ ‘Great.’ Lacey mumbled under her breath, earning a stern glare from her mother. Diana and Chrystal were off and chatting happily, ignoring Lacey, so she decided, against all her morals, to go outside and meet these wholesome, angelic pop stars they called Hanson.

Ike, Tay and Ike’s friend Mark threw the ball between them, forcing Zac to jump to try and get it off them. ‘Guys! Please! This ain’t fair!’ ‘Isn’t fair Zac, this isn’t fair.’ Tay corrected, passing the ball over the younger boy’s head to the waiting Ike. ‘Tay!’ ‘What? I haven’t got anything!’ Tay held up his hands to show he didn’t have the ball anymore. ‘Dad!’ Over at grill, Walker turned. ‘Ike! Tay! Give Zac a turn! Now!’ Ike, however, was paying no attention to his father. His attention was directed to the hot looking girl who had entered the yard. ‘Wooah!’ he muttered. Tay and Mark, curious as to what had taken Ike’s attention away from teasing Zac, followed his gaze and were greeted with a girl of sixteen scowling in the doorway. Zac also found her. ‘Helloo! How may we help you?’ he called, bounding over to her. Lacey took a step backwards. This kid was weird already. Walker, hearing Zac’s comment, also turned. ‘Oh! You must be Chrystal’s daughter Lacey! I’m Walker, come on in!’ he grinned. Rolling her eyes, Lacey sidestepped Zac and headed towards Walker at the grill. ‘I’m Zac!’ Zac informed her, following behind. ‘I know.’ She replied curtly. ‘OH! Are you a fan?’ he asked cheerfully. ‘No. Actually I’m not.’ Zac was a little taken back by her bluntness. Usually people who weren’t fans at least lied and pretended they were, just to be nice. ‘Oh. Ok…… Uh, you wanna play ball?’ he asked, pointing to Ike, Tay and Mark, who were gazing in her direction. ‘No thank you.’ she replied.

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