In My Head

Nothing New ~ Kaden

Nothing sucks worse than going down in Oregon and waking up in California. Nothing. By the time we reach our new house, I'm ready to go back to sleep, and I have to try twice to sit up. My mouth falls open. We're parked in a huge driveway with a three-car garage. The house is humongous-brick with tons of windows and a high roof.

My stomach sinks. This house is too nice to be temporary. I grab my medic alert necklace and squeeze the pendant.

Logan joins Mom and Dad in front of the garage. I push my door open and pull myself up. Mom turns around, shades her hazel eyes with her hand, and squints into the sunlight at me. Her curly brunette hair swings at her hips, shining from the sun. She comes over, pulls me away from the car, and hugs me gently, but she still hurts my shoulder. I let my head fall forward against her shoulder and clench my jaw. My temples pulse so hard that I can hear it.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" she asks.

I ignore her stupid question. Of course I'm not okay.

"Let's go inside," Logan says. He runs his hand through his short spikey brown hair, the way he always does when he's hyper-excited.

"We should go in the front door," Dad says. "It's more impressive that way." He points to a wide sidewalk that runs off to the left and joins a sidewalk from the street up to the front entryway. Two steps framed by pillars with double doors. Impressive? More like unnecessarily massive.

The movers are carrying in a couch. Mom rushes forward to tell them where to put it. Logan follows Mom, but Dad turns around to look at me.

"Isn't the driveway great?" He gazes over my shoulder. "Perfect for our basketball hoop, don't you think? We could even get a second one for the other side. Can you imagine? A full court right in our front yard. It'd be great."

I haven't played basketball in half a year, but he talks about it like nothing's changed. It's like it didn't happen, as far as he's concerned.

I go past Dad, up the steps and through the doorway. The entryway is tile; one step down to cream-colored carpet. I kick my shoes off, step down, and drop to my knees to run my hands over the thick, spongy carpet.

Logan stumbles up to me and grabs my shoulder. His face goes blank; he lets go and stands up. Oh, he thought that I was going down. Great. I can't even touch the carpet without freaking someone out.

"Kaden?" Mom kneels in front of me.

"The carpet's really soft," I mumble with my eyes on the floor.

"We had the whole house re-carpeted; two layers of padding." Mom stands up, but she keeps her eyes on me. "The only stairs in the whole place go up to a small apartment over the garage, so it'll be really safe for you."

It's so big, there's an apartment over the garage? I'll practically be alone even when she's actually here. I push myself to my feet and stare past her.

From the entryway, I can see the kitchen across a large open room-the great room, Dad calls it like he's giving a ritzy tour.

Off to the right, one long step divides the dining room from the living room. The whole house feels really open, like it's all one big abnormal polygon. No, not polygon, it's three dimensional, so it's a polyhe-something . . . Polyhedron. Yeah.

Logan walks into a patch of sunlight from the skylight in the great room. Dad goes back to the entryway and opens another door. "This is my office," he says and goes in. Mom finally stops staring at me and follows him into the office.

"Oh, sweet," Logan says as he unlocks a sliding door to the backyard. I hesitate when I see the pool, but I go after him and step across the deck. The pool is a really odd shape, a perfect match for the rest of the house.