Claire Emerson

Two

"Mom can we go check out the amusement park later?" Claire asked her mom as she broke apart a candy bar she had picked up at the store.

"If we get everything unpacked at a good time then sure honey." Lucy smiled at her daughter in the rear view mirror.

"Okay mom." Claire smiled back.

Lucy wasn't one to say no. She knew her kids were wild children and wanted to live but she always made sure they knew to stay safe and beware of their surroundings. All three of her kids took care of each other so she knew she didn't have to worry about them fighting very often.

They finally pulled into their grandpa's house and Michael wasn't far behind on his bike. Michael turned off his bike and got off while Lucy, Claire and Sam got out of the car. Sam of course waited for Nanook to get out but Claire made her way over to her twin and they took in their surroundings.

"What a place." Michael whispered to his sister causing her to stifle a laugh. She played it off as a cough but thankfully her mother didn't notice. Lucy did however notice a notice a body laying on the porch of the house. The family walked over to check if he was okay.

Lucy went to her father's side and bent down. "Dad? Dad?" She called to him.

"Looks like he's dead." Michael said. Claire hit her brother's arm giving him a glare. "Ow. What?"

"No honey, he's just a deep sleeper." Lucy spoke putting her hand on her dad's chest.

"If he's dead can we go back to Phoenix!?" Sam asked excitedly.

Claire smacked the back of his head causing him to groan in pain. "Claire!"

"Sam!" She mocked the same time of voice her younger brother had and pushed him.

"Playing dead." The three noticed their grandpa's head come up and faced towards them. "And from what I hear doing a damn good job of it too." He laughed loudly.

"Dad!" Lucy hugged her Dad and the boys looked at each other while Claire just laughed. Michael and Sam helped their grandpa up and they started to take their stuff inside the house.

"This is a pretty cool place." Michael said to his siblings as they walked inside.

"Yeah for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" Sam shot towards his brother.

"Sam give mom a break." Michael told his younger brother.

"What's wrong with this picture!?" Sam asked his siblings. "There's no TV! Have you seen a TV? I haven't seen a TV! You know what it means when there's no TV? No MTV." Sam placed the plates he had on his head down at the table.

"Sammy! We're flat broke!" The twins told him in unison.

"We're not going to be able to live a luxurious life when we're broke kid." Claire walked over to him and put her arm over his shoulders. "Now, I call dibs on the biggest room." Claire pushed him and ran up the stairs with her brothers not following very far behind.

The three kids picked out their room. Well Claire and Michael picked out their's and Sam was left to the last room available. Sam had apparently done something to Michael and the two ran into Claire's room almost knocking her over.

"Sam!" She yelled.

"It was Michael! You gotta help me Claire!" He had the biggest smile on his face as he was running away from his older brother.

"Whatever you say Sammy." She rolled her eyes and was hit on the head with a small ball.

"What the?!" She looked at the floor and saw one of Nanook's tennis balls. "Oh you didn't." Michael smirked and ran after Sam who ran out of the room. "Michael!"

The three siblings ran down the stairs laughing. Sam and Michael ran in front of their mom who immediately scolded them for running in the house. "Sorry mom!" Claire called back as she ran around her and chased her brothers.

Sam had opened the door to a room causing all three of the siblings to stop and stare. There were animals all over to room. They weren't alive though. There were bones around and the animals looked real but they could tell they weren't really alive. Taxidermy.

"Talk about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Michael spoke softly to his siblings. Sam and Claire laughed but stopped when their heard their grandfather speak.

"Rules! We got some rules around here." He spoke with a small fake glare to the kids. They followed him around the house as he spoke all of his rules until they made it to the kitchen.

Grandpa opened the refrigerator and started talking, "the second shelf is mine! That's where I keep my root beers and my double thick Oreo cookies. Nobody touches the second shelf but me!" He closed the door causing Sammy to stumble as he was leaning on the small door.

"Now, there's another rule around here." Claire and Sam's attention was called upon by their brother who pointed out the window to a plant. He signaled that the plant was weed and Sam pointed to Grandpa and the three laughed again. Michael put his arms around his siblings and they all walked back to where their grandpa was.

"Hey grandpa! Is it true that Santa Carla is the murder Capitol of the world?" Michael asked with a small smirk on his face.

"Eh. There's some bad elements around here." Their grandfather agreed.

"Wait a second. Are you telling me we moved to the Murder Capital of the world? Are you serious grandpa?!" Sam asked questionably.

"Well, let me put it this way, if all the corpses buried around here was to stand up all at once, we'd have one hell of a population problem." He explained.

"Great dad." Lucy spoke to her father before walking away.

"Yeah, thanks grandpa. Exactly what I needed to hear." Claire rolled her eyes.

"Now, on Wednesdays, when the mailman brings the TV guide. Sometimes the address label is curled up just a little like that. Now, you'll be tempted to tear it off, Don't. You'll only wind up ripping the cover and I don't like that! And stay out of here." Grandpa had led them to the room they discovered and tried to close the door but Sam stopped him.

"Wait! You have a TV?" Sam asked his grandpa.

"No. I just like to read the TV guide. Read the TV guide, you don't need a TV." Grandpa closed the door and the siblings looked at each other.

"Crazy." They said to each other before going to help their mom finish unloading the car and start unpacking their belongings.