The Diaries Of An Eccedentesiast

Chapter One: New Neighbours

I stared lethargically at the room full of empty boxes, sunlight dimly filtering in through the open window causing particles of dust to dance in its fading rays. My arms ached and my head pounded, a headache beginning to from. Shuffling my feet across the glossy timber floorboards I made my way to my bed and collapsed, exhausted.

Lying on the sprung mattress I stared at the pale white roof, my eyes slowly un-focusing the room, instead picturing the days events as they ran through my mind…

The lock clicked a dull metallic sound as my mother slid the key into the front door of our new house, the mahogany double doors swinging open, barely a sound coming from the hinges. The room that stood before me was fairly large, with a polished marble floor and a sweeping staircase up the centre. Two doors lead off the main room, one set into the left wall, one set into the right, behind the staircase to the left, was an open doorway which lead into what the I assumed was the back of the house with the open plan kitchen, living room and study.

I stifled a sigh and subtly shook my head. For three people this house was vastly oversized and spacious, but I knew my parents were planning on fostering children soon, so they had accommodated. Once settled into the new house and my father had adjusted to his new job, the parents planned for another child, but I'm 16 now. Adoption was the easiest thing for us all.

Slipping my canvas shoes off and setting them next to the front door I padded up the staircase to explore the top level and find a bedroom. The coffee coloured carpet was soft against my feet and the warm neutral colour scheme of the hallways calmed my house moving jitters as I wandered the hallways.

In total I counted 6 spacious bedrooms, and a large bathroom but I already had my heart set on a room. It was about 6.5m long and 5m wide and the walls painted a soft shade of white. A large window stretched across one of the far walls. Among my various finds I discovered a dusty staircase that lead into the roof which had been completely floored in timber, an entire whole level supported by wooden supports dotted around in important support points, giving the home a quaint cottage like feel to it. My doubts about the house began to fade and slowly I felt myself falling in love with it’s quirky charm, though it still felt empty.

‘More people need to live here before it becomes a home…’ I thought.

 Clambering back down the various staircases and walking into the foyer I couldn’t help but noticed that one of the moving trucks had arrived and skipped down the steps to help collect boxes. In the back of the truck sat various pieces of bulky furniture and plenty of brown cardboard boxes with scrawled writing on the top of them, indicating what each contained.

“Start with this,” one of the men said, handing me a cardboard box labeled ‘bathroom’. I bobbed my head once and took the box from him with a simple mumbled thank you.

8 hours and two empty removal trucks full of furniture later all the boxes had finally been brought inside the mansion and unpacking had begun. Leaving my parents to organize their bedroom and the lounge room furniture I began to put her bedroom together, deciding where the bed would go and all the other various pieces of furniture. After an hour and a half of rearranging and putting all  my clothes in the built in wardrobe there was only a few boxes of books and other trinkets left to unpack in the morning.

My eyelids slowly begin to flutter shut when my mother called my name from downstairs, a soft groan was my only response as I used what little strength I had left to haul myself up. Swinging my legs off the side of the bed I padded across the hallway to stand at the top of the staircase where I could see down to where my mother was closing the front door.

She turned to look at me, “Tyler, that was Joanna from down the road, she has invited us for dinner to welcome us too the neighborhood, she has 4 daughters and a son so I am sure you’ll have plenty of people to talk to. We are leaving at 6.”  I nodded and headed back to my room to get ready.