The Ring

Prologue

I always loved family reunions. I loved how all of my relatives came to visit us for a couple of days. How the house was always filled with comforting commotion. How me and my brother and sister would go extatic when we got to show our rooms to our cousins. I would show off my books and the dried flower wall. My younger sister, Aurora, would show off her paintings and swimming competition trophies. My older brother, Luke, would show all of his comics and toy cars. Then we would have the awkward "looking at your things" silence, which was broken by our parents calling us for dinner. Dinner had to be one of my favourite parts of the reunion. We would sit down, eat, and share memories and stories of our annual trips. And that warm and crispy sent, that filled the air. Weirdly, I can't smell that sent anymore, I guess it was once in a lifetime sent that is there only in your childhood. I think about my childhood every day. I think about the mistakes I've made. What life changing lessons I've learned. And most importantly, what people I've met. And what houses I lived in and what memories I made there. Every house has different memories. Sometimes, when I reminisce about a memory, I can't remember in which house it took place. Me and my Family move around a lot because of my moms work. She works at a bank that has multiple headquarters around Europe. My mom does get a pretty penny for it, but it does require moving from one country to another. Originally, my family and I came from North Carolina, United States. In the past three years, we moved from the United States to the Netherlands, from the Netherlands to Sweden, from Sweden to England, from England to Germany. Finally, last year we settled in the southern countryside of France. We bought a beautiful modern farmhouse that has a big garden and a small but beautiful pond. Luckily, we live near a city - Arles. Arles is beautiful with its scenery of the Rhône River and arhicture. But even the beautiful cities I've lived in and the amazing countries I've moved to don't fix my broken heart, that is willing to spend time with her relatives back in United States. I'm pretty sure my mom has noticed this because two weeks ago I found out that my relatives are coming to visit us for my sixteenth birthday. Only four more days until a family reunion.