As our car pulled up in front of our new house, I sighed. Yet another move, another place away from home, another place where dad wouldn't be there. We had just shifted to Georgia and things were going well for a while now but the accident happened and my mom decided to shift again. This time to Florida. To say I was not excited about the move was an understatement. All of this was hard enough as it was.
We got out of the car and my eyes wandered straight to the house next door. It was a white picket fence house with a kid around 6 years old playing with a football. The fences were surrounded by flowers of all types all over. It was too...ugh bright and cheery. I started to turn away when the he looked up and smiled sweetly at me. I simply ignored it and started walking up to the entrance of our new 'home'.
It was a small two-storey house with a brick exterior. The walls were white and there was a some space for a vehicle to be parked. I entered slowly, not sure whether I should or not, considering it felt like we were moving on. My mom said something from behind me but I ignored it altogether. I was getting good at that now. Huh. Not what I expected but 'Home Sweet Home'.
The kitchen was towards the right and opposite to that was the living room. Going further, I found a hallway which lead to a bedroom most probably. Climbing up the stairs proved to be a little difficult considering that the space there wasn't very wide but I managed it. There were two doors. One led to yet another bedroom and the other was empty. It was cozy but I'm not sure whether I would be able to call it my home.
"Zoe? Where are you, honey?" I sighed. "Up here." I could hear her coming up. Another conversation where we ignore the fact that dad is dead. I turn around just as she's at the top of the steps. There's this weird tension between us that I'm sure is never going to go away.
"So..." she said as she laughed uncomfortably. "So?" I replied, already done with this conversation. "How is it?" She said while playing with that locket she always had on. A nervous habit of hers. "The house? Oh yeah, it's fine. I'm assuming this one's my room?" I said while pointing in its direction. "Yeah, yeah. Uh if that's the room you want then sure sweetie."
The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. I spent the rest of the time I had unpacking. My room was an attic bedroom which honestly was pretty cool. There were two windows on the sloped side of it and just below that was the bed. There was a small bookshelf beside the bed on the wall and another wall that separates the bedroom from the washroom inside. It was small and cozy. Something which I would have enjoyed before.
When I was almost finished unpacking and there was only one box left, I found that it was filled with some of dad's old stuff. It was a lot of good memories. The wooden dove he'd made for me was one of my favourites. The day he gave it me was pretty special. I had a nightmare that day and in it, he left me all alone and went somewhere far away. The next day he'd given me this beautiful wooden carved dove and said that it signified his everlasting love for me and that he'd always be with me every step of the way. I smiled faintly as my mind drifted back to when he was alive but as reality came crashing down, I dismissed those thoughts far, far away.
The last thing I found was a camera. That's new. As I opened it, it played a video of my...5th birthday? As I went through all the other videos, I realised he'd recorded almost every single moment that we'd spent together. I didn't even realise I was crying until I felt my tears dropping down on the ground. God, this was hard. When I couldn't bear it anymore, I ran down the steps ignoring my mom's worried voice altogether. But when I opened the door to get out, there was some random guy at the door with his hand in the air almost like he was about to knock.
I pushed him out of the way and run away from this stupid home and my stupid memories and the worried voices. I ran and ran until I was in the middle of what looked like a clearing in a forest that I have no idea how I reached. I looked up at the night sky. The stars were shining and I felt like they were smiling down at me. Suddenly feeling exhausted, I lied down on the ground and kept my eyes closed when someone said, "Hey." Startled I opened my eyes and pushed myself away from the voice. "What the.."
"Hey, hey. Easy there." Said the same guy who was at my door moments ago. "How'd you know where I was? Are you a creep? Oh my god you totally are, aren't you? That explains you showing up at my door at 8 in the night. Don't kill me. I'm innocent." I rambled as I tried to figure out a way to run away from him.
"Whoa, calm down there blabbermouth. I'm not gonna harm you or whatever you're thinking of. I followed you here when you, well, when you pushed me and ran like you were on fire. Just calm down ok?" I sighed. Could this day get any better?
"I'm Alexander." Now the guy was introducing himself. Great. "Zoe." I say as I go back to lying down on the ground. I can practically hear his thoughts. 'Should I?' Then he does come down and lies beside me. "So you're my new neighbour." He says trying to fill the silence. "I guess I am." I say while sizing him up secretly. He's tall like 5'8 kind of tall. Looks around 15 yrs maybe. The little guy I saw earlier was most probably his brother or something. He has grey eyes, raven black hair and a lean body. I think a see tattoo peaking out of his shirt as well. He has this distinct accent that says that he's definitely not from around here. And by around here I mean not from USA.
We say nothing for a long time and I think he's fallen asleep or something but when I turn around to look at him, he's looking at me. His eyes look like a storm of raging emotions and I think I smile at him because he starts smiling as well and in that moment I felt like things could actually get better.