Afterlight

Chapter 2. Forks

"Oh my gosh, are we here?" I asked, leaning my head in-between the front two seats of the car.

"We sure are kid. Welcome home." I went back to my window and saw the sign. 'The City of Forks Welcomes You.' I smiled a big smile. Excitement going from my head right down through my arms, legs and all the way down to my toes. I rolled the window down. It was cloudy but not raining. It was June 13th. I was cold, but not freezing. Because Forks is close to the water, its usually always cold here Dad told me. Dads signal had given up on him for the navigator. He slowed as we rolled into the town.

"Honey pull over and ask. We'll just be going round in circles." Mom urged. My Dad hadn't the faintest idea of where we were going. We only knew the new house was just outside of town, not far from the La Push beach. In the middle of the woods. Secluded and peaceful. Dad slowed next to a woman carrying a young child in her arms.

"Hello." Dad said.

"Hi there. You folks alright?" Her voice was deep and husky.

"Yeah we're just looking for the...uh...Calawah River Park?"

"Oh you must be the Snow's." She said excitedly. "I'm Kathy Miller, I work for the Chamber of Commerce." She shook my Dads hand, holding the small child in her free arm.

"Hi Kathy. I'm George, this is my wife Clair, and uh...trouble in the back is our daughter Charlotte." I rolled my eyes nervously but I gave her a smile and wave anyways.

"How'd you do? Yeah so you're on the right path, that's the park just ahead of us. Just keep driving down here past the Sully's Burgers. You go over the bridge and turn the first...no..second right sorry and follow the path for 15 minutes. The moving truck should still be there for you guys." While they exchanged formalities and 'thank you's' I took a snapshot of the town.

I looked up from my phone startled. We were over the bridge and out of town! Dad was turning right. I missed it! I wanted to take a video of us arriving in town.

"Oh I missed it!"

"Missed what honey?" Mom asked.

"The town! I didn't get any pictures. Can we go back?"

"Charlotte we live here now, you can go get photographs later on after we've been to the house okay? Don't run before you can walk." My Dad said. I nodded my head and looked at the tree's outside. Admiring the majesty that they were. They were so tall! Taller than any building around here. Their colour was royal green, with drops of water falling from them. The ground below them was dry, the tree's were so thick that the rain seemed to slide down the side of them. Missing the woodland below completely.

"I see it." Mom perked up. "There! It's up there. You have to take the side road George." My Dad took us down a path, well at least, it was once a path. Now it was just mud.

"Dammit. I'm gonna have to slab that over." He said as he managed to pull the car forward out of the dirt. I couldn't hear anything but the sound of my music in my ears. I was listening to my score music playlist. Movie themes are my favourite music pieces to listen to. Ryuichi Sakamoto was playing something beautiful in my head. It was the perfect song for the first time I clasped eyes on my new home. Elegant, excited and buzzing. The music set the mood perfectly. Dad and Mom got out of the car and walked towards the movers. I got out slowly taking it all in. The car was parked on a side path behind it. No straight road went to the house.

The house, which used to be a ranger station, looked like something out of an old musical. It was a brown wooden house with faded white window panes. A front porch with stairs leading up to the front door. A stone chimney on the right hand side of the building. Two windows on either side of the door and two windows directly above. All around us were tree's and mountains and laid out in the front was a large field, with some white flowers sprouting out the ground. I fell in love with my home at that moment.

I walked all the way around the cottage. The kitchen had been extended out the back making it larger in size. I peered inside. Apart from a fridge and an old looking table, the place looked relatively new. I headed back to the moving van to my parents.

"I love it!" I said as I wrapped my arms around my Mother.

"We knew you'd like it. We love it too. It's so beautiful."

"It's our home." I said.

A couple of hours had passed and we were on our own. The moving truck had been unloaded and our house was filled with our belongings. We were worried that there would be no room, but the outside looks smaller than the inside. The couches had been placed, so had the TV, the table, the rug. The crockery boxes had been put in the kitchen, our beds and mattresses were taken upstairs and left in the hallway up there. And there were lots of boxes laid out at random. Mom was sorting the clothes, Dad went out to grab some food and I was in the kitchen wiping down the insides of the cupboard with a damp cloth.

"Okay you." Mom said loud enough to get my attention. Go and choose your bedroom and while you're at it, take this box up to the attic for me would you please?"

"Sure. Can I have any room?"

"There's only two up there, take your pick." She placed a box in my hands and I headed up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs you could go left or right. The door in front was the bathroom. I turned right first and saw two doors. I assumed the open one with all the light was the first room. When I walked inside, I realised that BOTH of the front upstairs windows were in there. The wall that was once here had been knocked down to make this space larger.

"Found my room!" I yelled out.

"Front two windows?" She called back, knowing well enough which one her daughter was more likely to choose.

"Yes!" I called back. Her light laughter was the only sound I could hear after that. I put the box down for a second and took a walk around. The walls were painted a cream colour. I liked it. No need to change any of that. Although the inside of the windows were a grey colour. I'd paint them white soon so they matched the windows in the front too. I liked having two windows. I was already mapping out where all of my stuff could go. I walked out into the hallway and looked up at the ceiling. There was no hatch to the attic. I walked into the room at the back of the house that was my parents but I couldn't see a hatch in there either. I went downstairs.

"Mom?"

"Mmm?"

"You sure we have an attic?"

"Oh yeah!" She said as if she just remembered something. "The closet in the hall? The stairs are behind that door." I was amused. Stairs in a closet? But sure enough, when I went back to go and check, there they were. Brown and narrow. They were steep stairs. I walked up to the attic with the box Mom gave me in my hands. There was a door at the top of the stairs and a skylight facing the back to let in some light. The attic didn't look creepy like I'd pictured. It was warm looking. The floorboards were a yellow dusty colour, but nothing a broom couldn't fix. I could stand upright in the attic too. I wondered if my parents would mind if I turned this into a reading room for me if I made space for it. I put the box down on the floor and proceeded to head back down when something caught my eye. It was another box. It was blue. Light blue. It was about the size of 4 shoeboxes all tied together. It wasn't ours.

"Where did you come from?" I asked it softly. I kneeled down beside it and lifted the lid. Inside was a sheet of white parchment paper. I lifted it and found a photograph. It was a wedding photo.

"Charlotte where did you go?" I heard my Mom shout.

"I'll be right there Mom!" I yelled back. I took the photo out. The couple were models I think? I turned the photograph around to see if I could find a name or date. There was nothing on it. I looked at the bride and groom again. He was wearing a morning suit with a white flower on his lapel. She wore a while long sleeved dress. Buttons running down the back. Her brown hair tied up with braids and nestled in an elegant bun above the nape of her neck. She had a comb in her hair, holding up the veil. Behind them were green trees. The same shade as the ones in Forks. They were married here. They were young. They looked like teenagers. At least 17 years old! Both of them had their eyes closed. The tips of their noses just touch ever so gently. I wanted to cry looking at their beauty. Their happiness and love fell off the page of the photograph.

"Charlotte!" Moms voice made me jump.

"Coming!" I put the lid back on the box and left the picture inside. I slid it behind a panel in the wall and ran downstairs to the living room.