PART 1 - First Impressions

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Alexandra sat in the back seat of her parents' 7-seater SUV, listening to music in an attempt to block out the sounds of her younger brother's cries. They had been driving for the past three hours on their trip from South Carolina to Georgia, and Raphael, her younger brother, was complaining the entire ride about how long they were in the car. Her older brother Jackson sat next to her, with Raphael in between them, also listening to music on his headphones. He was probably asleep, seeing as that was his favorite thing to do on these kinds of car rides.

The only difference between this one and the other rides they went on is that they were not going home. At least, not the home Alexandra would hope they were going to. It was a new one off the coast of the Atlantic ocean that her parents got after her father was accepted to a new job around the area. She couldn't find much joy in the move, despite her parents trying to excite her with the thought of being by the ocean and getting to hang out on the boardwalk all summer.

"Everyone listen up," she heard her dad's voice boom over her headphones. She turned her music down and put her headphones around her neck, Jackson did the same, and both of them attempted to look at their parents from the back of the car. Her father was looking in the rearview mirror and had that serious look on his face, the same one Alexandra liked to imagine captains had before sending their military to war. "We are about five minutes from the house. When we get there, I want you to get out and grab your stuff from the back. Your mother will lead you towards where your rooms will be, which has already been decided, so I don't want to hear any complaining, and you can start unpacking. The moving truck should be here around noon, I think? Anyways, you should help move stuff in when it gets here, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. At least I'll get my workout in for today," Jackson said before putting his headphones back on. Alexandra didn't bother because of how close they were to the house already.

Alexandra looked out the car window and saw the boardwalk her parents were talking about. Although she wouldn't admit it, she was excited to be near the beach for the first time. She had been there a few times before when she was little, but the drive there was too much over time, not to mention the sand that came along with it. The view was mostly blocked off by commercial buildings, however she was able to see some people walking along the beach in parts where the buildings split up. There were not too many people out, which made sense because school was still in session for a little longer. It would be really crowded come the first day of summer.

They took a turn down one of the roads leading off the main route. It was a fairly narrow section, and you could see the cul-de-sac at the end without having to drive very far. Alexandra's mother, who was driving, pulled around the circle and stopped in the driveway of one of the buildings near the end. The center of the cul-de-sac had a small park with a few benches, a slide, and some swings. It was nothing very fancy, but it definitely would make her four year old brother happy, which made her happy.

"Alright, everyone get out," Alexandra's dad said as he opened their door and went around to the back to get the trunk open. She groaned a little. As much as she hated sitting in the car, she was dreading moving everything in. Jackson got out first and stretched as his feet hit the ground. She got out on her side and quickly helped her younger brother out as well. He was very jumpy the whole car ride, so it was no surprise that the first thing he did was start running around the car shouting for their parents.

She went to the trunk and looked inside for her things; there were a few boxes left, but most of the stuff in the car was still in the moving truck that was over an hour away. She grabbed a box with her name on it and started walking towards the house. The house was white, though the paint was starting to peel a little in some areas. The porch was run down, to the point where you could see the boards broke through one set of the stairs. She tried to avoid that area. Right inside her mom was putting boxes down. Alexandra looked around at what would be her new home.

The main entrance led into an open room with a chandelier hanging in the center. There was a fireplace on the wall to the right, and on the left wall was a set of stairs going up to the second floor. Underneath the stairs there was a door that Alexandra could only assume led to the garage that was on the other side of the wall. There was only half of a back wall on the other side and part of what she could make out as a kitchen behind it. On the wall behind that, there was a door to outside. The wall to the right opened near where she was standing into another open area.
She put her box down and started walking around. Just as she had suspected, there was a kitchen behind the wall. It was fairly small, but it still had everything necessary; fortunately, they did not cook much, so they wouldn't need a big space. There was another door there that led to a half-bathroom off of the kitchen. She turned around and went into what would most likely be the living room. The room was a little bigger than the entrance room, with windows on the wall on the far side out to the back yard.

"Alex, let me show you where your room will be," Alexandra heard her mom shout from upstairs. She turned around and went to grab her box before heading up the creaky stairs to the second floor. Her mom was at the top of the stairs looking down. On her right was a door, and to the left was a hallway. Alexandra got to the top of the stairs and looked down the hallway, which had two more doors.

"Your room will be the first door down the hallway." Her mom pointed to a door on the right side of the hallway. Alexandra went up to it and opened the door. It was a smaller room with one window centered in the room.

"It wasn't actually a bedroom when we bought the house," her mom started, walking up behind her. "But we thought it would still work. You put your clothes in a dresser anyways."

Great. Alexandra groaned, putting the box down off to the side. Thanks a lot, guys. I didn't really need an actual room anyway. She turned to go grab the rest of her stuff from the car, but not before going into the room at the end of the hallway. Her older brother was in there, starting to take stuff out of boxes. There were two windows lining the back wall, both of which had a view of the thicket that separated theirs and their neighbors house. Well, now I know where they are sleeping.

She went down the stairs and saw her dad had brought the rest of her boxes into the house and moved the car, probably into the garage. She picked up another box and started the long process of moving everything into the house.

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