Winged

The Move

Nathan and Etheriel help me pack the boxes into a small moving truck. Every once in a while my dad (the real one) helps me carry a box and when we accidently make skin contact I feel all the hairs on my arms stand on end and he just smiles at me. Every once in a while I see Nathan and Etheriel staring at him which makes me confused, but I just ignore it. When everything is packed and set to go, I turn to my real mom, Margaret, and she just smiles sweetly at me.

"Where are we moving?" I ask.

"About 30 minutes or so from here." She says and puts a hand on my arm. "We bought you a car since you're old enough to drive. Do you have a license?" I stare at her. They bought me a car without even knowing if I can drive.

"Uhh... Yeah." I respond. I got my license two years ago. She smiles wide and I feel like her face is about to get frozen like that.

"You ready to go?" my dad says. I found out his real name is Michael. Nathan stares at him before coming to me and pulling me into a rib-crushing hug before pulling away and planting his lips on mine. I blush with him being so bold in front of a lot of people. He pulls away hovering his face an inch from mine, staring into my eyes. "I'll visit you, just give me your new address the next time you see me." He looks at Michael again before backing away and smiling sadly at me. Etheriel walks up and pulls me into a tight hug, but not as tight as Nathan's, He pulls away and kisses my cheek before also glancing at Michael. I furrow my eyebrows, wondering why they keep looking at him. I turn to him and nod. My foster parents each give me a hug and look like their floodgates are about to open which would make me start crying.

"Come back and visit whenever you want, you're always welcomed." My adoptive dad says, giving my shoulder a squeeze. Nathan and Etheriel give me one last squeeze before I get into a car with Margaret and she starts the car and follows behind my dad driving the small moving truck.

"I'm so excited for you to come home with us. We bought a cat when we moved in and we have an in-ground pool in the backyard and a green house for vegetables and plants I want to plant with you. What do you think for vegetables? Zucchini? Tomatoes? Onions? Maybe some herbs?" she continues on while watching the road until we pull into the driveway of a huge house. I stare up at the house and she gets out of the car and up to the moving truck, opening the back. I slowly get out of the car and stare up at the dark blue Victorian house with white accents and a wraparound porch. Michael walks up to me and smiles.

"Nice isn't it." He laughs a little. "Got it pretty cheap for what it is. Supposedly it's haunted." He laughs more and I just stare at him wondering if that is true. "Just kidding." I smile and look back up at the house to see a cat in one of the windows sunbathing. "I'll give you the tour. Follow me." He walks up onto the porch and pulls out his keys, unlocking the door. We walk into a pretty big entryway. I see an open area that leads into a living room and another that leads to the kitchen and a small hallway that leads somewhere. "That's the dining room obviously and that is the kitchen." He gestures and then walks to the small hallway and we come into a room with a sliding glass door leading onto a deck and a pool after the deck ends. "This is the living room." There is a couch facing a huge T.V. and a recliner also facing the T.V. "Now to the upstairs." He says and walks back into the entryway and goes up the stairs that break in the middle into a landing before continuing up to a long hallway. He stops at the first door on the left.

"This is my office and some boring books. That is the bathroom is yours." He points to the door across from his office, I nod. He walks to another door on the left, next to his office, and opens it. "This is your room. It's kind of bland because we didn't know what you liked." The room has light green walls and hardwood floors like the rest of the house. There is a bed right under a window on the wall across from the door and there are side tables on each side with lamps. A empty bookshelf sits in the corner closest to my bed, but across from a sliding door closet. He leans out and points to the last door on the opposite side of the hall. "That's our room if you ever need us in the middle of the night." He smiles. "So... What do you think?" he ask gesturing around.