A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Two cities. One dream. Which one is real? The city with the beautiful ocean. The one with the beautiful green grass and the smiling people. Or the city that is dark with dark gloomy skies. No ocean and no green grass.

No smiling people. Only sadness and despair. I open my eyes and see my reality. The reality that I live in the worst place known to humanity.

This is my reality. Grand Junction, the city I call home is a horrible place to live. Life in Grand Junction is not peaceful.

Fights breakout almost every day for stupid reasons. Robberies are a common occurrence. Jobs are almost at zero. You will be lucky to find a job.

Don't even get me started on healthcare. Death is a way of life. The police don't protect us at all. They are as corrupt as the mayor.

I hate it here. I hate everything about Grand Junction. There is no way out. The people are stuck here. I'm stuck here.

I was born in Grand Junction at a time when the city was beautiful. When the air was clean. When the skies were blue and when crime wasn't part of everyday life.

What happened to the Grand Junction of the past? My parents used to tell me of a place long ago filled with the most beautiful parks. Flowers lining the entry way.

A place filled with so much laughter. Kids playing. Grown-ups holding hands. Music everywhere. The tallest most beautiful buildings.

Stores filled with the most exquisite clothes. Food vendors that had the most delicious foods. A place that had the most beautiful lakes and the tallest trees.

That place is gone. I wish for that place to come back. The old Grand Junction was a dream. The Grand Junction of now is a nightmare.

I wake-up to this nightmare every day. I do the same thing every day, wake-up and go to work. Change is something that doesn't happen here.

My parents worked their whole lives in Grand Junction's most toxic industry and now their health is deteriorating. With no doctors to help them my parents are going to die.

My parents did everything for me. They worked themselves to death for me. My only wish is to help them. To save their lives.

There is talk in Grand Junction of a place, a city that is the total opposite of Grand Junction. Where the people live a happy life. Where crime is not rampant.

Where healthcare is the best. Where there are plenty of jobs but most importantly it is a place where my parents can get the help they deserve. How do I get to this city?

SeaBrook City, the city by the ocean. The city that is filled with peace and hope. This city is what I need to heal my parents.

Every day my parents are getting worse and worse. I hate seeing them like this. Leaving Grand Junction and going to SeaBrook is the only way my parents will survive.

Today, I spent my entire pay check on fixing my car. Tomorrow, I'm taking my parents to SeaBrook. It's time I pay my parents back for everything they did for me.

I packed my car with everything I need for the trip to SeaBrook. I packed my parents health records. It's not much but it's all I have.

I read more about SeaBrook. It's pretty amazing. In Grand Junction the people are taken for all they have. Nobody helps anyone. We have to hide our most valuable possessions.

SeaBrook on the other hand has no problem helping people. They take care of everyone. Yea, there are a few bad apples but the police is there to protect its people.

SeaBrook has a program called The Angel program. This program helps people that don't live in SeaBrook. The Angel program helps non-SeaBrook residents with finding jobs and getting healthcare.

This is exactly what my parents need. I'm excited to get going. I re-check my belongings and my parents belongings. All good to go.

Today is the day of my trip to SeaBrook. I wake-up before the sun rises. Grand Junction is still asleep. I wake-up my parents and tell them we are going on a trip.

One by one I help my parents into my car. I look back at my parents and give them a small smile. My heart is beating rapidly. I hope I'm making the right decision. I start my car and leave.

The coast is clear. Only a few people are out. I turn my car left. I'm keeping an eye out for any robbers. They can jump out from anywhere.

You can do this Peyton. I check on my parents again. They are fast asleep. I make another left then a right. I'm almost out of Grand Junction.

Eight hours later and I'm finally on the out skirts of SeaBrook City. The ocean looks beautiful. The smell of the ocean is intoxicating.

SeaBrook city is three miles away. I can't believe I'm almost there. Look at the sun. It's beautiful. I never seen such a blue sky. My parents are still sleeping. Soon, I will have to wake them up.

I'm entering SeaBrook City. Wow, simply wow. Reading about SeaBrook doesn't do it justice. Where do I go now? I keep driving until I see a sign. SeaBrook Hospital next right.

I turn right at the next block. There it is, SeaBrook Hospital. I stop my car and wake my parents up. I tell them why we are in SeaBrook.

I drive up to the hospital and stop my car in the front entrance. I flag down one of the nurses. I tell her about my parents and where we come from. She goes to my car and looks at my parents.

The nurse tells me "You came to the right place." The nurse hands me paperwork to fill out. I ask her about the Angel program.

The nurse whose name is Laurie tells me she works for the Angel program. I smile. While I fill out the paperwork Laurie and the other nurses help my parents out of my car.

Two weeks later, my parents are feeling better than they had in a long time. The doctor tells me my parents have a long road to recovery. They are doing better than expected.

In the meantime, I explored SeaBrook. I got to put my feet in the ocean for the first time in my life. I got to see marine life. I got to see green grass, a blue sky, the tallest trees and the cutes birds. I got to see and eat things I never had the pleasure to do in Grand Junction.

The best part of it all besides my parents getting better is that I got a job. The Angel program helped me. Me and my parents are staying in SeaBrook. We are never going back to Grand Junction. SeaBrook saved my parents lives. It was the worse of times. Now it's the best of times.