Deep

Introduction

I slumped, reluctantly gazing out the window, watching the scenery around me change far too swiftly. It seemed to transform from pine trees to maple trees to palm trees. I sighed and rolled my head, neck rested on the back of my seat, over to groan at my brother, Chandler. He angrily pointed at the earbuds which were stuffed in his ears, and then put his finger to his lips, telling me to shut up, basically. I rolled my eyes and shifted my focus back to the window.

"I think this is pretty exciting, Juliette," my mother squealed as she rolled down one of the car's barely lucid windows, encrusted with the filth of ominous substances that the trees dropped onto us. She breathed in a whiff of the salty, beach air and released it in a sigh of relaxation. I just crossed my arms because the caw of the seagulls wasn't nearly as comforting as the sweet chirps of bluebirds back home. 

See, we were moving from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. That's a huge difference, but my parents were acting like it was a 'fresh new start.' Really, it was just us relocating because my mom got fired from her job in Erie as an artist. Why? Because she always went way over her deadlines for her artwork. Due to this, I have to be the mature one in the family. It's not exactly a 'fun' role for a fourteen-year-old. I have to have a backbone to deal with my brother's mischevious antics, like my homework randomly disappearing from my bookbag, for example. It doesn't exactly pass right with "My seventeen-year-old brother stole my homework."

But enough about my jerk of a brother, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Juliette Mae Fonding, and I was about to engage in the most insane adventure of my life. It's one of those things that defy all you believe in and actually makes you question your sanity - but then again, most people don't encounter 'one of those things.'

However, instead of just spoiling a pretty darn good surprise, I've de-cided to narrate my entire story of how I ended up in such a...'unique' situation.

Anyways, for the rest of the ride, I dozed off into dreamland, in a world where I was still in my old town, where I was perfectly content. I had grown up with everybody there, I had a good life going there, and even already had my eyes set on a college back there. But no, now I have to move. Good things never seem to last.

I was dreaming about hiking and hunting when all of a sudden, my best friend whom was with me in the dream started repeatedly speaking my name. That's curious, I barely had time to think when I slowly lost grip on my subconscious and faded back into the real world.

"Juliette, Juliette!" My mother was shaking me and calling my name. "Oh, good, you're awake. We're here!" She smiled the kind of smile that a cheerleader would give - so perky that it surely had to be fake.

I yawned, stretched, and fumbled for the seatbelt buckle to unlock it. As I practically slid out of the vehicle, I saw my dad, who was already to work at cleaning it off. I grinned at him; he always had to have a clean car and that was all that mattered. (Well, after family, of course.)

The rest of us approached our new house - while he frantically hurried and blurted, "wait, wait, I'm almost done!" It was a big, mansion-like building, placed flat out on the sandy beach, I realized as I surveyed my surroundings. 

The house had, of course, a bit of a nautical feel to it, with faint aqua-marine-colored exterior walls, a sand-colored roof and shutters, and a white Helm of a ship right smack-dab on the door, which was the color of sand, too.

My mom unearthed a key from her pocket and jiggled it in the key-hole, right as my dad came jogging up to us after finishing cleansing our car of its sins. The door opened, with a puff of sand attacking us from the inside. Coughing and sputtering, we weaved the smoke away by batting it with our hands and my mother entered first.

She gasped excitely and said, "Daniel," (my dad,) "Chandler, Juliette, come see this! Isn't it just perfect?"

         Gradually, we entered and examined the house. It was entirely empty. I hate to admit it, but I actually found it to be pretty roomy and very appealing to the eye.

Quite frankly, though, my mom was a little too excited about this relocation, but I wasn't about to just ruin it for her. So I plastered on a false smile and made slight humming sounds of content.

"See, Juliette, I told you it wouldn't be too bad!" My father patted me playfully on the back. I faked a nod of agreement and then went to take a seat on the steps.

The swaying of the waves was somewhat comforting and I found myself once again dozing off, with my head resting on my hands, me resting on the stairs up to the house.