A New Town
It's a sunny fall evening in this town. Not that I'd noticed because I'd been driving almost non-stop for the last few hours. I always wanted to drive my grandfather's yellow and black 1970 Ford Mustang, but now that I was finally driving it I just wanted to stop. I needed a shower and to change out of this red short-sleeve shirt, gray mini jacket and jeans. I took the opportunity to drive the second half of the trip from Dearborn, Michigan to Mystic Falls, Virginia. My aunt's friend Michelle who had business in Lynchburg drove the first 5 hours of the trip. She agreed (after some strong bribing by my aunt Naomi) to be my passenger in case we were pulled over the second half of the trip. Naomi had decided to ride with my sister Areya, and my little cousin Eric, along with the rest of the things that couldn't fit on the moving trucks in her 2010 Gray Ford 4-Door Explorer.
I made sure to stay close behind my aunt's car as we drove the final lap of the trip. The moving trucks with all of the furniture we inherited from my grandparents was close behind us. We'd finally reached the residential district of Mystic Falls and after driving for a few moments pulled up into the driveway of our new house.
“So this is it.” I said as I parked in front of the renovated old house. On the picture I'd seen before, the house looked different. It was mostly black and white before. I'd heard that even though the house was vacant for a long time, it had still been kept up by the bank. It was a pretty nice looking street and neighborhood so even though it was uninhabited they probably didn't want the house to look abandoned, unlike most of the abandoned houses I'd seen in parts of Detroit.
Naomi had parked in front of me, leaving the driveway clear for the movers as they parked. I saw my sister and Eric get out of the car first. Areya looked glad to see the new house, but I knew that she was worried about her friend Elizabeth back in Michigan. Areya wore a green long-sleeved plaid shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, and a pair of blue-jeans. The bottom part of her shirt was tied up, exposing her belly button. Her hair was tied in a braid which draped down the left side of her shirt.
“I told you we'd be fine.” I said as I opened the door of the car.
“Naomi wouldn't have let me drive here, especially in this car if she thought that we'd have an accident.” “I'm sorry I doubted you. Oh Great One.” Michelle said, jokingly as she got out of the car.
“Wow, this is a pretty nice house." Michelle said as she walked towards Naomi. My aunt normally looks very pretty, but I could tell Naomi was kind of worn out from the stress of the past few weeks. Her red-hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she wore a white blouse and a pair of blue-jeans. She looks pretty young for a 35 year old. I am grateful to her for everything that she is doing for me and my sister. I'm sure it's not easy for her to take care of us and her 8 year old son, but she manages to pull it off despite having a full-time job as a nurse. I guess our thanks to her is taking care of Eric when she isn't able to. That's what a family is after all. People who take care of eachother no matter what.
As they started to talk I approached Areya.
“She's right. It is pretty nice.” I said to her. Areya was silent for a few seconds.
“She'll be fine, and if Lizzie's worried about anything, just mention me the next time you talk to her.” “Get over yourself.” Areya responded. I knew she was joking, but I could tell she felt a little bit better.
“Lizzie's little crush on you ended the moment Robert asked her out, she doesn't even think about you anymore” Areya responded. I could tell that she felt a little better after my reassurance.
“You're right, she'll be fine.” Areya said I got an idea in my head at that moment. In a few months Areya would be 16, and I knew just what to get her for her birthday. Eric came over to nudge us over to the new house. He didn't speak much, he hadn't spoken a lot since his father disappeared a few months ago. Eric took his father Thomas's disapparence a lot harder than Naomi did, probably due to the fact that before he disappeared they started having some relationship troubles. Nobody thought however that Thomas would abandon his son. He was a great father, or at least I thought he was. At times he even reminded me of my father before that day a little more than 10 years ago. I still had some good memories left.
“Looks like someone is excited about the house. Let's go have a look inside.” I said as Eric led me and Areya inside the house.
The movers had already unlocked the doors and were taking things in.
"Not you, Jei." I heard Naomi call me back.
"You're going to help me and Michelle unload the Explorer, and hand 'em over." I didn't get away as fast as I thought I would. I gave her the keys to the Mustang and started to help her unload while Areya and Eric went to explore the house.