"Yeah, so like, Uncle Mac says everything is set to go. It seems all that should be done is sign paperwork, which I'll send through email, and after you can move any time. I was thinking that maybe I'll check it out with you, but at the same time, my assignments are piling up wayyy bad and..." Alison chirped in conversation, but later trailed off after no response.
"Helloooo!" winced Alison through the phone and pulled from her thoughts, Kacey replied,
"Okay, so just send the papers over, and I'll sign them," managing to stay calmed.
"Yeah, also when are you going to move to New England, I mean with your study's luckily you're almost finished, right?" she questioned though received a quizzical screech from Kacey.
"Wha- what do you mean by move to New England?" she asked in an almost devastated tone.
Alison explained that, the mansion she had inherited was located inland, New England. Kacey began to giggle in an almost trance like state. She flopped back to lay in bed, and told Alison she'll call back later.
After she hung up, her laughter subsided and eyelids grew heavy.
She hazily drifted into a deep sleep, the previous memory she recalled in her car crept in silently like a broken record replayed, and in a more vivid light.
Kacey noticed a familiar presence lurking behind her mother's shadow as she chased after her. A sort of mirage that mirrored her mother's movements and seemed to float about as the spectra that swayed back and forth.
Kacey awoke from her nap in darkness, that left her head throbbing. The sun had gone down, and the evening ambience set in. She felt a swirl of emotions, from anxious to fearful, and all for something that seemed to have slipped her mind. She got out of bed, proceeded to turn on the lights in each room, and settled on the living room couch.
Her hands ruffled through her hair, brought down to her face, slapping her cheeks hard.
"What is going on?!" Kacey exclaimed aloud.
A beeping sound went off in one of the rooms, recognizing that it's her phone, she rushed to her bedroom. An email notification from Alison Jones, read across her screen.
Kacey's face lit up as she regained haphazard memories and pondered on them.
The first was an email regarding papers for the mansion, she left her bedroom and into the living room once more. Second was a car accident, "Gotta make a call for it tomorrow morning," she said out loud to herself.
While pacing back and forth in circles on the rug, adding thirdly, "dream memory before the accident turned creepy a few hours ago before the nap," spoken with an irked shiver.
"Fourth, something to do with my phone?" she asked quizzically and with a loud groan she said, "New England!"
She plopped against the couch and grabbed a beige pillow to hold on to for comfort.
'Ding Dong'
The front door's bell went off and followed by muffled patting knocks. Kacey got up the couch, choosing to take her 'comfort' pillow with her to the kitchen. The two boys outside wondered if anyone was home, and the one who preferred knocking on the door with his palm rather than fist yelled, though cut off when the door swung open.
"TRIC-!" he began to say, though his voice broke in falsetto after seeing Kacey. The boy beside him broke out in laughter and finished his jingle in the same enthusiasm, "TRICK OR TREAT!," holding out an orange jack-o-lantern plastic bucket.
The boy next to him do so and unison and Kacey queried, "What exactly are you supposed to be?," to 'squeaky' boy.
He replied confidently, "A scarecrow," the boy wore stripped chequered jumpsuit- style overalls, yellow straw stuffed inside the pants, white dress shirt, and a large straw hat on his head. Kacey looked down and noted him barefoot, and before she asked, he answered with a grin, "Oh, scarecrows don't have feet."
Despite, herself, she let out a giggle and nodded her head in agreement.
"Vampire," the other added while holding his red and black cape out.
"Of course," she smiled.
After she generously poured their chocolate and candy, the two mentioned that they were in their freshman year and were off to attend the party afterward their rounds. Kacey explained that she had a lot going on and bluntly stated she was far too old. The vampire boy hadn't believed her, as her short height of one forty-nine centimetres, made her seem short of a year or two older than them.
"Yeah, there was something in water before you guys were born. I'm sure of it," said Kacey awkwardly to the two fifteen-year-old boys who towered over her.
After leaving, Kacey noticed straw falling from the boy's pants and was certain he knew of it, though hadn't minded it. She closed her door, ate her meal of a veggie salad and T- bone steak, had a bath and sent off the signed paperwork to Alison. The weekend had just rolled in, and a much-needed attention to her assignments would keep her busy.
While turning off all the lights in her home, with a towel in hand, used to scrunch and dry off her hair. The last light was in the living room, Kacey turned it off and as it faded an eerie atmosphere that shrouded her life became something to be concerned for.
The next two days for Kacey was spent snacking on take out pizza and desserts, her surroundings a clutter of books and pages, and the occasional getting up to hand out Halloween candy. Her workstation had been in the living room and sleep-sector the couch.
The weekend had come to a close, she got a call from the mechanics (one she forgot to call), her car had no damage, and they would drop it off at her home. 'One less thing on her hands', she thought.
Kacey managed to complete all pending assignments, after tidying up the mess of her living room she decided to end her day eating a tub of infamous Mr. Qpids chocolate fudge ice- cream. Her tub in hand, she kicks open the door to her room and a room she forgot to clean up.
"Still looks like crap, Aunt El!" she yells while settling in the middle of her bed with thick blankets wrapped around her.
She had called Alison amidst her process of papers due, and she explained that the only way for Kacey to inherit full ownership of the mansion, was to permanently move to New England residency. It's something she would have to do, the eviction notice stated she only has till the end of January to move out.
To her dismay, it was something they wanted her to do.
In the early hours of morning, the crisp dew of the front lawn pierced her bare feet as she walked. Her eyelids squirmed against the penetrating rays of the sun.
Her legs ached and gave in at times. Breathing heavily, her heart pounded furiously in her chest. The echoing siren- like voice crept on her, calling to her in whisperers and gently getting closer to her.
"Mandisa..."
Kacey shot up in the comfort of her bed. Wide-eyed, she was searching around her bedroom then, arms and feet burrowed in the blankets. She dreamt of Mandisa, the girl who helped her with the car accident, and concluded that she was not only in her dream, but she was her.
"Almost as if I hitch-hiked a ride or went on autopilot mode in some way inside Mandisa's head?" she questioned out loud, in hopes of an answer and only to be met with silence.
Flopping against her pillows behind her, she had an eerie feeling that seemed to have followed her from the dream. Slowly closing her eyes, she pondered, not wanting to leave for classes.
Her backup alarm on her phone went off laying on the bedside table. She reached for it, alarmingly read one 'o clock, and scurried out of bed like a rabbit out of its hole.
"Yeah, so like what are you going to doing now?" asked Alison and chewy on chocolate chip toppings from her coffee cup. Kacey and Alison sat in the campus lounge at the end of the day, as Alison waited for her boyfriend to pick her up.
"I'm going to arrange an online- learning course with the University, I already made an appointment and everything else..." Kacey let out a sigh and attempted to carry on, but Alison got up, sprinting over to her boyfriend outside.
"Bye Kace," she added and with her boyfriend, much younger than her Kacey noted, waved to her.
"Yeah, uhm- bye" she softly said in return.
Kacey spent the rest of her afternoon in a meeting with the varsity board, managed to arrange schedule classes for her last year. They said she had to physically write her end of examination, and she was set to go. While she was on her roll, she called in a moving company to move all of her home's furniture and so on in advance.
All she had left to do was buy aeroplane tickets, box up her clothing and personal belongings, making sure her car was to be sent over there as well.
In the weeks, she had been preparing for her leave. She took one last look at her home and bid farewell, on a visit to her parents graves she had pleaded for strength.
A much-needed strength she would soon need for the adventure she's soon going to embark on.