After Dark

One

I knew exactly what my parents were going to say the second they called for me to come downstairs and sit around the dinner table.

"We think it's another great opportunity for the whole family. We'll get to see another part of the country, make new friends and transform another derelict site into somewhere beautiful."

"But we've just got settled here."

"I know sweetheart and for that I'm really sorry," my dad shifted nervously in his seat. Despite the fact that we would be moving once again for his job. I'd spent my entire life being shipped here, there and everywhere in pursuit of his dreams. No matter how settled we became in one place, he would always find somewhere else to go.

My dad was part of a global programme to transform deserted, abandoned buildings and wasteland into sustainable, aesthetic, green spaces that boosted both the environment and the people that lived nearby. It was a worldwide initiative backed by almost every governmental body on the planet in a bid to help tackle climate change and contribute to our planet's healing. People, like my dad, would approach local councils with a design idea for empty land or building in their area and if they liked it, would sell it a reduced rate to that person. That person would then transform their plot into something sustainable and then sell it back to the council at a much higher rate. After all, it was easier for the government to pay somebody else to sort it all out than to manage it themselves.

So that was how my dad made his money, and good money it was too. Too good to justify settling down in one place and calling somewhere home for longer than a couple of years. We had lived in Lake Losque for three years now, the longest we had ever stayed in one location. It would have been a little too good to be true if we'd have settled here for the rest of our lives.

"I know that every move we've ever made has taken a toll on the both of you," he nodded towards my little brother who was playing absentmindedly on the dining room carpet. "You've always been sad about leaving your friends behind and I can completely understand that, but remember that every one of those friends has stayed in touch. You haven't really left them behind, you just don't see them in person everyday."

"You promised that this move was the last one."

"I know I did, but situations change Esme. Your mother and I always thought we'd have enough money after this project to finally put down roots somewhere and stop with all the moving around but it's just not the case."

"You said you were getting too old to do big projects."

"I thought I was, turns out that the big boss doesn't think I am."

"He says your dad is too big an asset to the programme to let him slip out the back door," Mom added chirpily. "Isn't that a nice thing to say?"

I nodded. It was all I could muster. My head was spinning with thoughts of all the things I would be leaving behind. My best friend Ella, the only person in Lake Losque who welcomed me with open arms when my family first moved here. She too had transferred to our school not long before I had and was grateful to find someone who wasn't already in a friendship group. We had bonded over the questionable food in the school canteen and true crime podcasts. She was the closest friend I had ever made during any of our moves. She was going to be devastated when I told her that we were leaving.

"So where will we be going this time?" I asked.

"Wooding," my parents said in unison.

My heart sank. Wooding was a small, rural town about ten hours away from here. It was everything that Lake Losque wasn't, dull, isolated and quiet.

"Why Wooding?"

"There's a warehouse complex there that is begging to be demolished and turned into a mini nature reserve. I drew up the plans about four months ago and received the good news that I'd won the land yesterday morning."