The Attic

                                                                             CHAPTER 1. Wisconsin 1961

The strong Wisconsin winter beat against the window. The frigid air sneaking through the walls causing the awful chill to settled within the house. The skin exposed turn to the goosebumps as I search through my closet for a sweater to keep warm. Its only March and winter still has a few more shades to show before the spring would take over. I'm already yearning for the spring. the smell of lilacs filling the air as the sun shines high warming the Earth around me. The sun was beginning to set and the blue hue of the night began to settled in. I took in my environment the place I've called home all my life now laid empty, as boxes take up the room. I never remember seeing the walls so bare so numb to the warmth of having a family. I hated the thought of leaving this place, the memories and the security that arose from the feeling of home. My father lost his job and the family savings have been keeping us a float. It times to take our pride and know when its time to start a new chapter in all our lives. My mother has been in tears for weeks knowing that she is giving up the place where she worked so hard to make her own, where she spent the past 21 years raising me. I know this place will be missed and the thought of leaving weights heavy on my  heart but I must look into the possibilities of what a new start can do for all of us. This may be a chipper change to  bring in some light into the darkness that has swallowed us whole. Already I know this new life will be more, my father found  job at  factory that will promise this new fresh start wil be on the right foot. 

I peak out my bedroom door  a hallway that leads to the living room stands dark. Once a mirror and paintings hung to bring life to the slim hallway bare and I can only feel the darkness painted on the walls. The house is quiet as my parents are sleeping, getting ready to begin the move to a place entirely unfamiliar. Suddenly I fetl a sense of being lost. Leaving a piece of me here has me entirely rattled. I close my bedroom door  to keep the darkness hidden from what little light I have saved in my little piece of heaven. I lay down for the final bed in the room I have known my life with the walls that are like strangers. The winter air howling rattling the windows. I snuggle in deeper into the warmth. I close my eyes trying to ready myself into the goodbye that I know will be here when I wake. As long as I still have my family I promised I'd do anything, even up and leave everything I once knew. I couldn't tell you exactly how long I laid there drowning in the farewells of a simple thing as a house.  I fell asleep with the memories of my childhood replaying. 

I woke up the the morning light shining into my dull room. The world outside had woken up as well. The cars pass down the street and what birds left flying in the winter sky. I stretched letting the cool air touch my warm skin. I almost forgot today was the day my life was about to change. I could hear my mother making last minute checks to see that everything was in order. I still needed to put my bedding and frames away so we can haul them to the new house. I looked out my window to the winter land that stood outside that pane of glass. I felt so close yet so distant. Its amazing how a pane of glass can make us feel so separate from the world around us. I prepared myself to free of the blankets that were trapping in the body heat. The wooden floor sent a chill through my body once my bare foot has touch it. I shivered to shake the cold out and walked to the mirror. There I was Irelynn O'Brien. 20 years old with washed out dirty blond hair with eyes as green as emeralds. My mother was from the Ireland and missed it so much, so when she found out she was having a girl she named after the place she called home. Irelynn Mae O'Brien. My father also had some Irish descent but he calls  Wisconsin home .I see myself staring back from the reflection.. Eyes puffy from not being used to the light that has filled my room and my hair that's tossed up in every direction. I had a dream once with a warning but I feel dazed as if I woke up and suddenly forgot everything. I stare lost in my reflection deep in a thought that made no sense and all the sense in the world. Goosebumps filled my arms as I could hear a soft whisper bouncing off the walls of my own head. I stared into my green eyes and for a single moment they do not belong to me. They see danger, a betrayal so deep its ringing throughout my entire body. The noise from the kitchen brought me back to life. I shake out the confusing day and simply tell myself I'm nervous for the adventure that awaits for me. Not an adventure that I've been thriving to take my entire life but an adventure that was thrown upon me and I must learn to walk forward or tumble into the pit in which a hole will only make me sink down to the Earth's ugly vicious core. 
"Irelynn are you getting yourself ready?" my mothers voice sounded through the door. I realized that I needed to pull myself together and learn how to take a bed apart in the matter of two hours. 
"Yes mother, just enjoying a bit of the sunshine before I get the rest packed up" I called reassuring her that I won't be the cause of the move being delayed.
"Alright then, your father brought donuts from the Gilly's Bakery if you're hungry, and you should eat something before the ride to the new house we won't have time to stop for lunch." With that I heard her footsteps turn back down the hall toward the kitchen. I had everything but hunger. My nerves were bouncing all over the place. I thought some music would help ease the nerves. I turned the radio on and sung along to "Ya Ya" by Lee Dorsey. Singing on top of my lungs during my final moments in the happiest place I've ever come to know.

The entire morning rushed by and became a blur to me. I spent most of it in my room packing up last minute things while singing to my radio. I could hear my father singing a long in the living room. Our duet throughout the house. I stood watching the movers pack all of our belongings into this big truck. Our lives in their hands as they haul them into the back of this large dirty truck. I wanted to watch every movement in case they were to break anything. I don't understand the sudden protection I had over my families things or so angry at the idea of these strange men hauling them off to some new place. Finally the anger was starting to rise through my heated blood. I didn't want to leave I wanted to stay I wanted things to work out for my family. I must put myself together this is what happens in life and I must go where life takes me. The sun warmed up the winter air a great deal. I could see my breath yet I still have feeling in my nose and ears. The crunching of snow under the footsteps was low and tracked the entire driveway up. At least we'll be staying in Wisconsin. As much as I've grown to dislike long winters the idea of being anywhere else just wouldn't settle in my heart. Finally the truck door fell and locked into place. Everything our entire lives filled the back ready to make a home in a new place. I heard my father call my name, motioning  me to our red 59' corvette. Before I made my way into the car with my parents I took one last look the house, the yard, and the neighbors. I took a deep breathe and made my way. I needed to be strong and excited. People all the time wish they could pack up and start a new. This is my chance.