Shifts & shades » c.h.

Chapter 1- The move

"I can't believe I'm fucking doing this" I cursed, zipping up my last suitcase. My room was empty, quiet and frigid. I sighed deeply, dragging my suitcases downstairs. The music was blasting through my headphones, just to have a little bit of a nice distraction. I would get depressed if I would only think about these circumstances.

"Are you ready to go?" Mom asked, shooting me an understanding, sympathizing smile. "Nope, never been" I started loading the trunk. "I'm sorry, but this is a great opportunity, probably the only one, please try to understand"

I do understand it, but I don't want to accept it. Mom's a famous writer and she's been asked in America for some reason, but it's just so far away from London, from home. I will never see my friends again. This only has downsides.

After 8 hours on the plane, it finally began to touch down. My ears began to tingle and my stomach was a mess. This couldn't start any better... Suddenly, I felt a big shock under my feet, meaning that we're on the ground again. I looked out the window, not seeing very much because of the bright sunlight.

"Hello America" I whispered, standing up from my seat. "This is going to be fun, I swear" Mom knew I didn't want to move 3500 miles away from home. Nobody wants that, right?

A few hours later, we stood in front of a big house, not like home, where it was small and cozy. This is a huge house, cold and frigid, it reminded me of my room, when it was empty. But there was one asset, namely a quiet forest, just behind our garden, where I can come to settle down.

The house was already furnished with old-fashioned furniture, like an ugly leather couch, some wooden cupboards and closets. It doesn't make sense, the outside of the house was really modern, while the inside was very ancient.

"This needs a huge make over, it's hideous" I frowned. "You're right, but maybe you can still use some of these things. Spruce it a little and it will look really nice" Mom tried to make the best out of it, but that still didn't work for me.

"I'm going to pick a room" I dragged my suitcases along with me, up the stairs. I picked a room that wasn't really big, with a good view on the forest. I closed the door, with squeaking hinges. "Fucking junk" I groaned.

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The next days, we didn't do anything else but shopping for furniture. I tried to like the place, but it's difficult. I know I'll be able to like it, just not yet. After a week and a half, the bathroom and the livingroom were almost ready. We didn't need to change anything about the kitchen, so everything went pretty smoothly.

Our bedrooms were still pretty empty. We only had a bed and a closet, but the walls still needed to be painted and stuff.

"Mom, I'm going to explore the vicinity!" I yelled, before leaving the house. The street where we live wasn't in the city at all, it was an outside neighborhood, so I always have to take the bus or my motor to go to town. But today, I wanted to explore the woods, to blow off a little.

I took my phone and played some sweet, quiet music as I disappeared in the woods. It was the end of August and in a few days, I have to go to another school and start all over. Thinking about that, I sighed deeply, sitting down on the stump of a big cut down tree.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps rustle between the fallen leaves. I looked around, with narrowed eyes. "Who's there?" I asked quietly.

That was a stupid question, of course if there's someone who will murder me, he wouldn't say that he's there.

It was quiet, but not for long, again, I heard the rustling, this time it was closer to me. It's daytime, so I should see immediately if there's someone out here, but the forest felt empty, even though it's full of animals.