The City's Allure

Chapter One

"But I dont wanna go!" Jeremiah screamed down the stairs. Stomping his tiny feet down the wooden planks, for a six year old he was feisty.

"Its boring! There's never anything to do" He protested as he reached the last step. His mother, Aurora stood before him, glaring at the little gremlin.

"Athena will be there" she taunted, secretly hoping he would fold. Jeremiah had grown tired of his mothers teasing about Athena; he didn't care. He didn't want to spend his Saturday night in some boring restaurant in which he had to sit and do nothing. Six year olds hate sitting and doing nothing, it drives them insane.

He opened his mouth, about to protest the current situation. Aurora cocked her left hip and crossed her arms, daring the child to speak more. Frustration kept up Jeremiah as he slowly shut his mouth, deep frown lines drawn on his face, he new better than to push her. Aurora smiled and crouched down to his level, taking her thumb and smoothing out the lines.

" Don't frown, you are too Bellissimo amore, it simply doesn't suit you"

She stood up and walked down the hallway, her heels piercing the marble floor.

***

I didn't want to go to dinner either. No one wanted to go to dinner, yet here she was again, Aurora putting us all through something that was unbearably long and completely unnecessary. I mean come on, who even cares about public appearances. It is 100% useless to uphold this tradition of Saturday night dinner with the neighbours. The Augusts.

I rolled my eyes just thinking about it. Normally I didn't agree with Jeremiah but just on this topic we could always come to an accord. Azariah however thought differently. He was all for the dinners, I mean I couldn't blame him, he'd somehow managed to make friends with their sons. Rome and Joesph August. Rome was a year older than me, 17, and Joseph was 15. Even though It was mostly Joe and Riah that clamoured on for ages, Rome would join in too. They would always find some ingeniously immature fantasy of theirs to debate and just chat the night away to. And I was stuck, in between my uncle and his superficial wife, fully integrated in her element, and my cousin talking about some girl that he got with at a party last week. Athena was sweet, and even though Jer hated to admit it, they had fun together, running in and out of the restaurant or whoever's house we were at, they got along too.

That leaves me.

I pulled on a knitted jumper and some jeans. I walked over to my mirror and inspected myself. I considered makeup for a while but eventually I decided against it. All I would want to do when I got home would be to sleep, and make-up would only take more time to take off. I combed through my hair and slipped on my favourite ring. My mother gave it to me before she left. I couldn't exactly blame her for leaving me here, her life wasn't easy and I still loved her even though she probably could have done a better job at the whole parenting thing. It was a beautiful ring though. Delicate golden branches, wrapped around my finger. Each branch had multiple leaves sprouting out, all decorated with small diamonds. Emeralds actually. Sighing at the memories I grabbed the door handle and headed downstairs.

I loved this house. My room was at the very top of this makeshift city mansion. Four full floors and a damp cellar, all accessible by a light oak staircase that never ceased to creak. There were big windows everywhere, vast and large, embracing the sun at all hours. Especially sunset, right now for example. The warmth of the light flooded the walls and the light wallpaper where traces of various wild flowers had been painted. My room was at the corner of the floor, and right next door was my bathroom. Jeremiah also slept on the other side, although most nights he went to wake his parents up. There was a bookshelf just outside my room, filled to the brim with escapades from reality. The house itself was a little messy, well actually it was very tidy, apart from what I liked to call 'little things'. They belonged to everyone and no one, they could be anything too. A book, an old compass or a flower pot. These were just antiques that lay around the house, waiting to be claimed. For example, there was a great window on the wall in front of my room, no one could access it because it stood above the stairs, but on the sill, there was a huge plant, no one knew how it survived or how it even got there, but it went well with the scenery and left us in peace, so no one tried to move it.

Down on the third floor was Azariah's room, It was much bigger than mine but I didn't mind. Next to his was one of the living rooms. The walls were a navy blue and there were several intricate gold patterns, it could also be known as the library. I loved to sleep in there. After that was my uncle's and his wife's room. I'd never really been in there but from what I had seen and deduced, it was big. It had really high ceilings and a sort of 1920's aesthetic. It was a little odd but strangely enough it fit the style of the house.

On the ground floor, there was the kitchen and the living room, several studies and dining rooms. It was a maze really and I could sit here and describe all of it in the most intricate detail but I'm afraid I would bore you. I'd never really counted but I think there were four studies/ offices, two dining rooms and another connected straight with the kitchen, and two guest rooms. Add in four or five hallways with other random rooms that no one really knows about and you're all set. The cellar was dark and damp if I remember well but I never went down there, not really much of a drinker although I knew for sure Aurora was. There was a huge garden In the back, the trees were pretty and I loved to sit by them in the summer. I'm pretty sure there was a tree house somewhere up there.

8 Holland Park street. That was the address for this crazy mansion that I loved more than anything else. The one next door, number 9, belonged to the Augusts. Number 10 was inhabited by the Kanes', a strange tribe. They were part of our little makeshift club Aurora had put together. They had four daughters, the two youngest never came to any dinners, but the older ones were atrocious. They were mean and honestly made me very uncomfortable. They would sit together at dinner and whisper, judging me like there was no tomorrow. We could've been friends, I mean we were the same age so there was no harm in trying, they had other plans I guess.

Just as the last step creaked under my foot, Aurora came waltzing out of the kitchen. She wore a crimson suit with black stilettos. For a Saturday night dinner, with kids, sure. To be fair maybe she wasn't too much, maybe the rest of us were too boring compared to her.

She coated her bottom lip in front the hallway mirror with her lipstick. I rolled my eyes again at her tackiness. Her spiky nails clicked away at her phone, meanwhile I went to find Jeremiah.

I found him by the patio outside, the sunlight dancing over the bright colour in his eyes.

"Hey" I prodded

" I don't wanna go June, it's so boring" he complained,

" I know, I know, It sucks, I don't wanna go either" I sighed, lending my hand out to him.

"Here come on, lets just get it over with, I'll even give you some of my ice tea at dinner if you want.."

His expression grew a little lighter as she gave me a small nod, taking my hand, I lead him outside to the car.

Three families, eight kids and their parents with egos bigger than their houses. Saturday night,'fun'. Let the mayhem begin.