The Aftermath

New Beginnings

The renovated home was straight ahead the hood of our pale yellow Honda Accord. I was surprised at the size of the track home, it stood out from all the rest, which was one of the few things that made me give some credit to my mom. The paint was all fresh with a modern grey color and white trim, compared to the other track homes that seemed as if they took a dip in mud. It also included a vivid red door that appeared like it had a glow brighter than the gloominess of the neighborhood. The new house in the hellish town we had arrived in, might have actually been bigger than our home back in Australia.

The car's engine made a small hissing sound before it halted, and powered down in the driveway. I sighed, looking down at the dirty floor and kicking a small pebble into the streets. With a downed expression on my face, I gently lifted up Toby and placed him on the gravel of the driveway so he could explore his new territory.

"Jeez, come on Ezrah cheer up! I'll let you choose any room you want, alright?" My mom chuckled while rummaging through the trunk grabbing our stuff we had decided to take with us. And when I say we, I mean her. Well, at least I did get to choose a room, not like that small feature makes anything better, including the fact that my unknown father left us to go work somewhere and never came back, and that I was an only child, so I basically got first pick anyways, no matter what my mom said to be convincing.

I managed to get out of the funk I was in, and start grasping small trinkets and things I had brought for myself, comic strips, a black electric guitar, a decorated and badass-looking skateboard, and some small items I had collected from STEM in earlier years of middle school, including a few things I bought myself in the subject. I had always been interested and invested in making inventions and learning about engineering, it can make a person truly contemplate about an issue that may be an obstacle before, turning into something that could possibly be an advantage.

I held my breath while taking a brief glance at the doorway. Here it was. My new home. I slowly stepped in, my breath still tightly held in my chest and my eyes squinted. After the minute of overreaction, I chose to simply just get over it, and find myself a room before my mom gets pissed and shoves my handful of items in a random crappy room herself. I was never one to be truly scared of any room in a home, in fact, I had been infatuated by common 'horror' trope rooms like basements and addicts. In fact, I was one that really enjoyed any sort of horror I came by, and I was even obsessed with the recently released Child's Play movies back in 1989 for Australia. I had even purchased myself a Good Guys shirt that looked like a mirror image compared to the one that Chucky wore in the movies, although my mom didn't exactly approve since she always had hated anything that even merely related to scares or horror.

I was quite fortunate to find out that there was both a basement and an attic in the house as I focused my gaze on my surroundings. And, this meant I could quite possibly claim both, due to my mother's great fear of these rooms.

Toby trailed close behind my feet, sniffing the scents of the new home. I shuffled further in the house, deciding that the attic would be my main room for now since it seemed a bit more airy up there. I climbed up the staircase, and then cautiously up the ladder as I balanced the items in my arms as I looked up. I flung everything I had held out of my arms as soon as I was close enough to the top to let it go, so then after I could climb up myself. It was dusty, filled to the brim with spider webs, and had an odd stench that was hard to explain in words; but it was perfect. Just the creepy attic type area I had hoped for.

"Hey Ezrah you doin' alright?", my mom yelled from downstairs, and the sound echoed through the walls.

"Yeah I'm fine mom, I just am getting myself settled in the attic", I replied, starting to unbox a few things and lay out trinkets and random items around the room. I knew I wasn't going to finish revamping the room in one day, but it was a start. Yet, no matter what happens that may seem good and prosperous in this town, it could never make me believe that this situation was better than the last.

Word count: 822 words