Tongue Tied

Chapter 1-

"Is this the place?" I ask my sister Grace

"Yep! Isn't it cute?" She asks as she parks our large moving van in front of a small one-story house painted a mustard kind of yellow. It was in a small neighborhood, with little cookie-cutter houses and well-kept lawns.

"Yeah. It's great." I reply in yawn. We needed to get here early to unpack as our moving van needed to be returned tonight by six pm. I check my watch. 6:18 It reads. "So am I getting breakfast or am I gonna starve while unpacking?" I ask playfully.

She rolls her eyes down by her feet and picks up a small bag. She reaches inside and pulls out a square wrapped in tin foil, holding it out to me.

"Thanks, Gracy," I say as I grab it. I felt it warm as I opened it up. I found a bacon and egg sandwich. I immediately take a bite, it was as always delicious. I see her smiling at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Wha?" I mumbled out through the mouthful.

"Nothing, nothing. You're just cute when you're excited about food." she giggles.

I roll my eyes and swallow. She begins to tuck into hers and we finish the rest of the meal silently. I watched the sun start to creep up over the houses. It was probably going to be a hot day considering it was the last week of summer vacation.

"Well, do you wanna get out and go check out the place?" She asked stretching her arms

"Yeah," I say with a small smile, crumpling the tinfoil and tossing it in the bag it came from.

Grace opens her door and steps out. I follow suit opening the door, I slip out, then slam the door behind me. I stared up at the house in front of me. It's my fault we had to move... I thought to myself. I felt an arm sling around my shoulder. I looked up at Grace who was beaming up at the house. She started to walk with me up the pebble path to the white door. Sliding her arm off, she fishes out the key from her pocket, and then slid it into the slot, turning it until she heard a click. She opened the door and stepped inside gesturing me to follow. I proceed inside to a small hallway. I follow Grace, to where the hallway opens into a small living room with only a big beige couch in the middle. There was a large window on the other side of the room which would look great with curtains. With a faint smile on my lips, I continued to the other side of the house, which had a small kitchen and a large white counter. I stepped onto the tile of the kitchen looking at a door that I guessed led out to the backyard.

"Come on Gia, I wanna show you your room," Grace says breaking the silence, I let her lead me into another hallway and stop at a white door. She opens the door that leads to a large bedroom. I step inside in awe, I see there is a door that leads into a bathroom. But that must mean this is the master bedroom.

"You can't give me the master bedroom!" I exclaim stepping into the bathroom.

"You're going to move out in a year anyway! And a teenage girl needs a big bedroom." She says smiling. I turn around and hug her.

"Thank you, Gracy," I whisper into her hair as she wraps her arms around me in return.

"You're welcome." She breathed. "Now come on! Let's get unpacking!" she continues letting me go. I nod excitedly and follow her outside.

Over the next few hours, we brought boxes into the house and I was working up a sweat and so was Grace. After bringing yet another box we both flopped down on the grass, wiping sweat off our brows.

"It's so hot," I whine

"You're telling me!" She complains.

We close our eyes for a second and then hear a voice.