What Hides Behind Her Eyes

That House

"So, what do you think about the town so far, Mina?" Mrs. Queenston glanced back at Mina and smiled. "Do you like it?" Mina then quickly nodded and looked out the car window.
The town was very old and often you would see on the news a story of part of a house collapsing in on itself. Because of that, very few people lived there; and those who did were more often than not the elderly, which wasn't a bad thing. Every day, it would be so quiet that you could almost hear a pin drop if I wasn't for the birds. As the day progressed, it wouldn't get much louder than an everyday conversation. The main industry that kept the town from collapsing was an old paper factory. Most of that paper went to the thousands of books you could find in the library; which was the second largest building in the town. The town itself was built in 1983 which caused it to have quite the backstory.
"Yes, it is amazing..." Mina mumbled under her breath in awe. Her eyes were fixed to the window as she was taking in all the buildings like a sponge.
"Ha ha, I told you she'd like it." Mr. Queenston said as he nudged his wife in the arm.
"Oh hush, Brian." Mrs. Queenston smiled and rolled her eyes at his nonsensical behavior. "What's your favorite flavor of ice cream, Mina?"
"I prefer chocolate chip..." Mina said, still staring out the window.

***

"Mm!" Mina said, eyes wide as she watched the waitress come over with their ice cream. "Thank you so much for this!" Mina said as she giggled.
"Have a great day," The waitress said then turned around and headed back to her stand.
"She was nice." Mr. Queenston said as he took a bite of his ice cream.
"She was." Mrs. Queenston nodded in agreement.

***

"Thank you for the ice cream, Lydia." Mina said as she got back into the car and repositioned herself beside the window. As they were driving, Mina noticed an old almost abandoned-looking house separated from the rest. "Brian, why is that house all alone?" Mina softly tapped on the window.
"Hm?" Brian looked back and out the window a second before the light changed. "Oh, don't worry. It's just a house."
"But-"
"Listen to your father." Mrs. Queenston said in a strict tone.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Mina hushed herself and looked down at her lap the rest of the way home.