Starbird

Chapter 3

“Hey, Cam. Wake up, we’re here.” My head rolled off James’ shoulder, which I didn’t even remember putting it there. Squinting against the bright, setting sun, I peered out to see where exactly ‘here’ was.

A classic brick building stood in front of the car with large windows with white crowning. Every apartment had a iron wrought balcony, overlooking all of London. We didn’t seem to be in the center of the city though as everything seemed to be mainly residential where we were. Not a lot of people were out and it was only early evening.

“I missed driving through London?” I grumbled, shifting out of my seat and out the car door. James merely chuckled.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. You’ll see it for the next couple months.” James pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door as if he had always lived there. “Welcome home.” He threw the keys in a little decorative bowl on a small mahogany table by the door as he walked through the house.

“This place almost looks normal.” I remarked on the size and decor of the apartment. The main floor only consisted of a random bedroom, a bathroom, and then just an open sitting area. Yes, it was far nicer than most apartments I’ve ever seen in my life, but it wasn’t as insane as our house back in Los Angeles. That house could easily fit a hundred people and we were housing four, except for the occasional guest. 

“It’s only going to be us. And Dad, whenever he can make it. Hey Mom!” James called down the hall to wherever our mother had disappeared to.

“What?” She called back, coming out from behind a corner.

“When is Dad coming?”

“He’s on a huge project right now in Zurich. He phoned me the other day and said it’s not likely to be done until end of April. Maybe May.” My dad was a history professor at UCLA and every now and then he would take big trips to the other side of the world to get a better, rounded idea of what he was teaching. He usually only took a couple weeks, but we could all tell he was excited about this current trip and that’s why this trip was taking nearly all of the semester.

“So.” Mom put her hands on her hips. “What do you want for dinner?” I gawked at my mom, wondering how she was possibly awake enough to make us dinner.

“Mom. We just got here. Let’s just order in some food. Besides, Rick is going to crash our party anyway when he brings over my schedule and our luggage.” Mom tossed James the phone. 

“Alright, you know any good pizza places? Or do you feel like Chinese?” James smirked as he dialed in a number. “Why don’t you go explore the house, Cammie? You can pick your room.” I took off up the stairs to find the kitchen, dining room, living room, and an office. Most likely that was solely for Mom who was a journalist. I was already amazed by the size of the place. I thought this was a little apartment, not some giant mansion that’s just a little more compact! However, I continued on my way up the stairs to the bedrooms. The top floor had a large open area with a simple couch, arm chair, and coffee table filling it. There wasn’t anything necessarily special in the room, but that’s when I saw it. The large, double doors leading out to the balcony. The balcony lead out to the front of the house, overlooking London, but more importantly a nice park. Then I remembered my Monster, sitting in the bottom of my bag slung on my shoulder. I instantly fished it out, focusing on different parts of the city and snapping away. Narrowing my eyes, I realized I didn’t get enough out of a mere picture. I wanted to attempt to capture this skyline on my own.

“Mom! Are our suitcases here yet?” I called down the stairs.

“No, why?”

“I want my sketchbook!” I could hear my mom laughing to herself downstairs. It was always me and my sketchbook or my Monster.  Whichever I could get my hands on first. If I had neither, I would have to settle for phone pictures or sketches on a random piece of paper with a borrowed pen. As for that moment, I suppose my Monster would have to do.