Chapter 3

A Chapter by CassieLynne

Waking up to the sound of a moving truck, I rolled over sleepily in my bed and glanced at my alarm clock. 6:32 AM, it read. I sighed and put my pillow over my face. It was way to early to even think about moving. Ten minutes later, my mother came upstairs and told me to get up.

“Your dad wants to be on the road by 8:00, so that we can be in Nobel around lunch time.” My mom glanced around my room at all of my still packed boxes. “Well, I guess you were right about not unpacking. I had to unpack though. It was the only thing that made me feel at home.” She sighed sadly, and left me alone to get dressed. I unwillingly climbed out of bed. If we had to leave this early, I knew that there was going to be a long drive ahead of us. I got dressed into the most comfortable clothes that I could find, and I quickly threw my hair up into a ponytail. I looked at myself in the mirror. Not bad for a sixteen year old, I mused. My blonde hair accented my blue eyes, and my trim face made me look more mature than I really felt. I wasn’t sure how other people thought about my looks, aside from my grandmother who often found it fun to squeeze my cheeks and comment on how adorable I looked. Well that would soon be ending, because I was older now, and not in the mood for anymore of those silly gestures. A horn outside honked and I peered out my window. My dad stepped out of the car and waved up at me. I hurriedly grabbed a few boxes and escorted them down to the waiting truck. My dad handed me some more boxes so that I could pack what clothes and objects that I had left lying around in my room. My computer was the last to be packed, and after unhooking millions of cords, I was finally ready. I brought the computer downstairs and handed it to one of the workers. They hefted it into a larger box, and I walked away to examine our bare house. It looked so much larger now that it was completely empty. I shivered involuntarily, probably because the front door had been kept open for almost two hours. It was fairly chilly outside for a summer day. At 8:30, we were ready to leave. I sat in the backseat of the car with my pillow, and put my headphones into my ears. That way, I could tune everything out, and hopefully the four-hour drive wouldn’t seem as long as it really was. As we drove away, I watched the small house disappear as we turned the corner. I had no idea where my life was headed now, and all I could do was sit back and wait.

As we drove, I often noticed the change of scenery around us. It changed from our small town, to the city, to the farmland of the country, and now to rocky, forested areas that my dad said were a part of the Canadian Shield. We were almost there, and I was beginning to feel curious as we neared a gas station. I was becoming impatient with all of the frequent stops we were making, but my dad assured me that we would get to the house when we got there, and that I should just relax. I couldn’t explain to myself why I was all of a sudden so anxious to get to our new house. Perhaps the long drive was getting to me, and I just wanted to be out of the vehicle and be somewhere else besides traveling. The movers were most likely already at the house, because they were supposed to drive to their destination, and try to make as little stops as necessary. I urged my dad to hurry up so that we could get going. We finally got back onto the road, and I couldn’t wait to arrive at our new home.

Our house was more than I had expected it to be. It was right beside a beautiful lake and the house was surrounded by trees and had a few dirt paths as well. One path was the road that we traveled on to arrive at the house, another was our driveway, and the third led off into the forest. I’d definitely be exploring that once we were settled and unpacked. As I had guessed, the moving truck was at the side of the road, and in the driveway, was another car. It took a couple of minutes before it hit me that that car must be my new one! It was an old, gray mustang that currently had the top taken off. I went up to examine the car, and scowled at the bunch of dried leaves lying across the seats, making a mental note to get my dad to put the top back on. I stood and admired the car for a couple of minutes, and realized that I didn’t have my driver’s license. I tried to calculate in my head how much I would need for the driving classes when my dad called me from the road.

“Auddi, the quicker we unload this truck, the faster we can have everything inside the house.” In other words, get over here and help us, we don’t want to be here all day. I sighed and made my way over to the truck, taking boxes from my dad, and bringing them inside to my mom. Unpacking was the part that I hated most about moving, and I had good reasons to, because I was the one who had to do all of the transporting from the truck to the house. The movers only moved the bigger things. This was going to take a while.

Around five thirty, the movers were able to leave, and we had just about everything inside the house. We put the appropriate boxes in each room, and started to arrange the furniture. The house was magnificent inside. It had a huge sitting room with a dining room attached. The kitchen came onto the dining room and from there a hallway led to the second floor and a small powder room. I had a choice of three rooms. I picked the one that overlooked the lake, and I could see the beginning of the little dirt path that I had noticed earlier. My room was a pale purple color, and it had a decent sized bathroom attached. While the master bedroom had a jacuzzi, my bathroom only had a shower, but I was fine with that. I quickly found a place for my clothes in the closet, set my computer on the desk, and laid the folded quilt and covers on my bed, which I would make later. As I came downstairs, I noticed that my mom had a pot of macaroni and cheese cooking on the stove, and I aided her in putting away some of the groceries and dishes that we had packed. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do any exploring tonight, but I could still have a look at the property outside. I gulfed down my food and went outside. I walked across our long dock and sat at the end, taking off my sandals and letting my feet into the water. It was cold at first, but then I adjusted to the temperature. I had to roll my jeans up as the waves were starting to come in, and they were going up past my ankles. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but I soon noticed the sun setting, and I sighed happily. This was a very relaxing place to live, and I was looking forward to spending my time here. If only I could spend that time with someone besides myself. I was sure that Isabelle wouldn’t be able to come down for the week, and I wasn’t even sure if we had neighbors. I still had a month before school started, and so I’d just have to do things on my own for the time being. Oh well, I’ve pretty much spent my entire life alone. How would moving here change that? I dried off my feet with the cuff of my sweater and walked inside. It was almost nine o’clock, so I went upstairs to get my computer set up. Maybe I had another email from Isabelle. I’m sure she’d be excited to hear about this place!

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