Harvest had her head rested on the middle seats head rest. Her head was pounding from the long drive, the urge to smoke one of the cigarettes in her pocket was worse than she thought it would be. Being smooshed in the middle of her youngest brother and barely older sister was far what she imagined when they packed their bags, but Tyler picked a argument with her saying how he should get the front seat because he's the oldest.
"Let's play a game." Bodes voice cut in suddenly causing the red headed girl in the middle to jump slightly due to her falling in and out of sleep.
"Bode no." Kinsey's voice said quickly as she scribbled on her notepad.
"We could play I saw a monster." Bode offered as Harvest groaned and sat up better.
"The only monster I see is you." she said as he stuck his tongue out at her.
"Okay serious questions then. Serious question, if you had to lose one sense what would it be?" he asked his siblings and Mom.
"Right now my sense of hearing."Kinsey said in a mumble as she dropped her marker.
"It's a serious question, Kinsey." Bode said to her with a annoyed look as she raised her eyebrows his way while looking past her sister.
"Yeah, i'm serious." she added in as he rolled his eyes.
"Boring. What about you Harvest?" he asked while noticing his only red headed sibling falling back into a sleep.
"Harvey." he said loudly while elbowing her causing a small yelp to escape her lips.
"I don't know, maybe hearing since hearing aids exist." she said while crossing her arms that were covered in a jean jacket over her chest.
"But what if they weren't?" he asked, only getting ignored from his sister.
"Tyler? Tyler! Tyler!" Bode explained while kicking the front seat to try and get his oldest siblings attention.
"One more time, and Gi Joe losing a leg." Tyler spoke calmly yet annoyed as he yanked the headphones off his head.
"I think that's the first thing you've said since Ohio." Nina joked slightly as she smiled over at her oldest child.
"I said something in Ohio?" Tyler asked, trying to regain his memory.
"Yeah, you said 'Look we're in Ohio'." Nina said making Harvest snort from the back seat.
"Huh, I was right. I have a serious question, what would you be doing right now if we were still in Seattle?" Tyler asked while turning in his seat to look back at the three.
"Smoking in the treehouse." Harvest spoke honestly getting a small laugh from Tyler and a look of disbelief from her Mom in the mirror.
"Harvest, honey please not infront of Bode." she said to her making the girl throw her hands up in surrender.
"I'd either be playing Fortnite with Steward and Wyatt or i'd be playing Fortnite with Steward and Chase." Bode said, ignoring the two red headed woman in the car.
"What would you be doing, Ty?" Kinsey asked as she looked at her brother with a eyebrow raise.
"I would be on the French Club ski trip with Sarah Johnson." Tyler commented as he turned back in his seat.
"You wish, Sarah Johnson wouldn't look in your direction unless she had too." Harvest said from the backseat causing Tyler to sneak her the bird.
"You took spanish." Nina said to him with a look of disbelief.
"Why isn't anyone playing for real?" Bode asked with a sigh and a cross of his arms.
"Definitely wouldn't want to lose my sense of smell, smell is tied to memory. When your Father and I would sale a house we'd grind up a lemon in the garbage disposal, covers the smell of the paint. No one likes the smell of paint, but everyone has a good memory of a lemon." Nina said as she kept her eyes on the road, her face falling slightly at the mention of their Father.
"I like the smell of paint actually." Harvest spoke from the back as Kinsey gave a sarcastic laugh.
"Yeah, especially when her cigarettes run out." the blonde mocked making Harvest elbow her in the side with a annoyed eye roll.
"Hey, check it out. We're here." Nina caught everyone attention again as they looked out at the town. Soft streams ran down both the sides of the road as the sun shined brightly against it. The snow stood out agains the ground, covering every inch.
"Let's stop, huh? Cheek out the town?" Nina asked her four kids again only getting a response from Bode as she turned down a less busy road.
"Hey, who wants ice cream?" She asked now, ones again only getting a response from Bode as they turned into a smaller corner lot. Walking into the shop Harvest nearly jumped the guy working the place the second she got in.
"Where's your bathroom?" she asked in a rush, fooling everyone thinking she had to pee from the long drive.
"Right down there, second door." he informed her quickly as she took off quickly, frightening him slightly. She almost complemented his accent but decided against it as she pushed through the large metal door. Pushing one of the stalls open she leaned again the oddly clean wall.
She hurried to light the death stick between her fingers before bringing it to her mouth. A small cough escaped her lips as she inhaled, holding it until she began to feel the burn and exhaled. Leaning her head back she sighed, bringing it to her lips once again.
"We don't need charity."was the first thing she heard as she exited the bathroom, seeing her sister giving the guy at the counter a nasty look.
"It's hospitality, welcome to Matheson." the boy said, his accent ringing loudly.
"How kind." Harvest said sarcastically as she took the strawberry ice cream from his hands before slapping a five dollar bill on the counter, ignoring his protest. Kinsey put some money in the tip jar before following after her sister as they got back in the car.
"Woah, are we rich?" Bode asked with a loud laugh as they arrived at Key House, a mansion their father grew up in. It was oddly creepy and rusty but non the less five times the size of their home back is Seattle.
"I don't know if i'd say rich, so much as very lucky." Nina said to her youngest as Harvest gave Tyler a look which he returned.
"Let me know if you see the psychotic chainsaw killer before I do." she said sarcastically while looking to her brother who hummed.
"I was thinking more Norman Bates, but will do." he said back to her with just as equal sarcasm as they stared up at the large house.
"How come Dad never brought us here?" Kinsey asked as she walked to stand with her two close in age siblings.
"Said it was a depressing shit hole that wasn't fit for family." Tyler informed her with a shrug while Harvest tugged her jean jacket closet to her body.
"I'd say that's accurate." she nodded along, speaking quieter so her Mother would hear.
"Hey, welcome to Key House." the familiar middle aged man said as he ran out of the house, skipping down the stairs as he did so.
"Uncle Duncan!" Bode shouted while running to hug the man tightly.
"How was Boston?" Nina asked with a laugh as she hugged him tightly, the three teens slowly walking over.
"It was good. Oh, I wanted to get you guys something to mark the occasion of coming to your ancestors home for the first time." Duncan announced as he pulled out party hats and blowouts.
"I was gonna get you something like a plant but I was running behind and I didn't wanna miss the the movers so, for you. Red for your hair." Duncan said as he handed Harvest the red party hat making her chuckle slightly and take it from his hands.
"Who wants to see inside?" he asked now with a side grin as he lead the Locke family into the larger than most house.
"Holy shit." Harvest commented as she walked through the squeaky doors, the inside looked just as old as the outside.
"Harvey, language please." Nina said to her as Harvest paid her no mind and spun in a circle to look at everything.
"Movers unloaded the rest of your boxes so all you have to do is unpack." Duncan informed them with a smile as he pulled Bode off of his leg.
"Oh my god these floors are original." Nina commented while looking down at them.
"Oh it's all original." Duncan said back to her as Harvest turned to him.
"Do you know the neighbors?" she questioned as he nodded.
"Sure do, graduated with both of them. Lovely men, they've got a son I believe. Around your age, maybe a little older." Duncan infront her as she frowned her eyebrows but nodded anyway and followed after Kinsey.
"Quick tour, this is the drawing room." Duncan said as he lead them a room over as Bode grinned.
"That's good for you Kinsey! She likes to draw just like you, Uncle Duncan." Bode said as Kinsey sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Drawing room is where people go to drink and smoke cigarettes after dinner, so this is more of a Harvest room." Kinsey said with a annoyed tone making Harvest roll her eyes as Bode gave his blonde sister a look.
"Then why don't they call it that?" he asked her, confused making Harvest laugh slightly at his innocent mind. Ruffling his hair she blew dust off one of the canvases.
"And this, this is the winter study." Duncan said as they were brought to a library. Harvest couldn't help but smile at the many books.
"Harvey likes to read, she says it helps her escape reality." Bode said quickly making Harvest give him a look.
"Well hopefully you take a likely to some of these. Our ancestors amassed a pretty big library. Historical stuff, revolutionary war, books on Matheson, weaponry." Duncan began to list off as Harvest ran a hand over the large library, shelves and shelves of books.
"It's chilly in here, is the insulation ever been replaced?" Nina asked as they followed Duncan down the smaller hallway leading to a larger area.
"Well replaced would imply that it was ever added." He laughed while they walked into a room covered with different antique looking furniture.
"This place is huge! It just keeps going." Bode laughed as he looked around at everything.
"And this is the great room, it's multifunctional. Living room, creepy portrait gallery." Duncan said while pointing to the many portraits on the wall.
"Who are these guys?" Tyler questioned while pointing at them.
"Oh this? This is Devon Locke. He still holds the grand score for the ground machine at pizza town." Duncan said with a slap to Tylers shoulder.
"And this is Snooki, Lemonjello, Snooki the second, Buzz Lightyear, Phoebe, Chandler, and Monic. But, our most famous relative... no ones ever seen. The Lockeness monster." Duncan joked making Harvest hold i'm her laugh while looking around the room to distract herself.
"That's not ever spelt the same." Bode explained dumbfoundly as he grabbed his sisters hand to drag her with them.
"Including our tour in the kitchen." Duncan said as he lead them to the black and white kitchen that looked like it had been pulled from a old timers movie.
"Excellent. Okay guys, unpack.. explore. Let's do this thing." Nina smiled as they began to walk off. Harvest found her room in no time, seeing her things in boxes in the room at the end of the longest hallway. It had two large clear doors at the end, a rusty metal balcony on the other side.
Opening the doors she tested to make sure the balcony would hold her before she walked out. The small snow flakes fell into her vibrant hair and sent small chills down her spin. She looked out on the many miles and miles of land. From where she stood she could see the neighbors house, oddly far she could barely consider them neighbors.
"Hi there!" a voice said from below, startling her and she looked down. A boy with sandy blonde curls and the brightest shade of blue eyes stood in the snow. He was wrapped in all the warmest clothes and sent her a wave.
"Who are you?" she asked him with a odd look, having no clue how he was on their property.
"I'm Logan, your neighbor! My Dads sent me over with a pie." he said making her chuckle slightly.
"My Mom should be down there, i'm Harvest." she said as he sent her one last wave as she did the same before disappearing into the room once more.
•••••
i'm so excited for this y'all i'm like... ah!